Episode 486: Vauhini Vara

Vauhini Vara is a contributing writer at Wired and author of the novel The Immortal King Rao.
“With a magazine story, it might be like six months or a year or two, if it's something that took you a long time. With this [novel], it was 13 years for me, but the sort of emotional arc felt similar, where there were these periods of despair and a sense that like, this wasn't going anywhere, and then these periods where like, I'm a genius and this is going to be the best book ever written. You go back and forth, as we do with our journalism. But then with every draft of it, I always felt like, all right, this is better than the last draft at least. I don't know what the next one is going to look like, but this is definitely an improvement. And I feel like that's what kept me feeling like I was at least moving in the right direction.”
Show notes:

@vauhinivara

vauhinivara.com

Vara on Longform

01:00 "Bee-Brained" (Harper's • May 2017)

11:00 "Special Counsel" (California Sunday • Jun 2015)

30:00 "New Workers of the World" (Bloomberg Businessweek • Jul 2017)

32:00 "Can This Startup Break Big Tech’s Hold on A.I.?" (Fortune • Jun 2018)

32:00 "Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control: Inside Shein’s Sudden Rise" (Wired • May 2022)

37:00 "Ghosts" (The Believer • Aug 2021)

37:00 "The Political Awakening of Silicon Valley" (California Sunday • Sep 2017)

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Vauhini Vara is a contributing writer at Wired and author of the novel The Immortal King Rao.

“With a magazine story, it might be like six months or a year or two, if it's something that took you a long time. With this [novel], it was 13 years for me, but the sort of emotional arc felt similar, where there were these periods of despair and a sense that like, this wasn't going anywhere, and then these periods where like, I'm a genius and this is going to be the best book ever written. You go back and forth, as we do with our journalism. But then with every draft of it, I always felt like, all right, this is better than the last draft at least. I don't know what the next one is going to look like, but this is definitely an improvement. And I feel like that's what kept me feeling like I was at least moving in the right direction.”

Show notes:

@vauhinivara
vauhinivara.com
Vara on Longform
01:00 "Bee-Brained" (Harper's • May 2017)
11:00 "Special Counsel" (California Sunday • Jun 2015)
30:00 "New Workers of the World" (Bloomberg Businessweek • Jul 2017)
32:00 "Can This Startup Break Big Tech’s Hold on A.I.?" (Fortune • Jun 2018)
32:00 "Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control: Inside Shein’s Sudden Rise" (Wired • May 2022)
37:00 "Ghosts" (The Believer • Aug 2021)
37:00 "The Political Awakening of Silicon Valley" (California Sunday • Sep 2017)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices