Riddhi Katore, a fourth-year University of Rhode Island student, published her first novel, “The Lost Star,” inspired by her sister’s life, back in December.
The book follows a woman, Tara, who lost her parents and separated from her brother, and she only has her sister Gauri. To deal with the pain, she moves to New York City, where she finds love with both a university professor and a businessman. As the story progresses, she has to face her past and present while she wants the two men to be her future.
Katore came to URI during COVID as an international student from India majoring in biotechnology and minoring in psychology. Coming in, she found it very lonely, she said. There were barely any people on campus and it was hard to talk to people, so writing was her getaway.
“I would say, through fiction, you can live as many lives as you want,” Katore said.
“So whatever I couldn’t have [in life], the characters I wrote could have it.”
Katore’s sister Srushti was her role model. Katore showed the book to her friend and she said Katore just wrote a book about Srushti. It’s Katore’s version of the way she respects her.
Besides her sister, Katore also took some inspiration from the show “The Vampire Diaries,” without copying the plot. The book has a vampire setting and includes magic.
The inspiration for the title comes from the main character Tara, according to Katore. Tara translates to star and in the story, the character thinks she’s lost her way until she meets Titus, another name for a star. They both think they’ve guided each other to different places, calling themselves “Lost Stars.”
The process of writing the book started with a summary of how she wanted the book to look and how the characters would act within the story, Katore said. Once she started writing the plot, it got to a point where the book started writing itself. Katore was also influenced by a trip she took to Korea.
“This is what many authors say, and it was weird for me to believe how a character can just write themselves in a book but it happens,” Katore said.
Balancing school and writing wasn’t super difficult, Katore said. Whenever she had free time from schoolwork, she would work on the book. If she isn’t writing, she’s reading books.
Katore’s writing experience started in high school where she wrote various poems. However, when she got to URI, the only writing class she took was WRT 106. She didn’t think it helped find her writing style.
“It was just a process of reading a lot of other authors’ books and learning how each one was different,” Katore said.
Katore is currently working on another book she started before “The Lost Star,” titled “Extraordinarily Ordinary Life.” This book focuses more on her own life with a take on aliens and magic. She hopes to publish it in May.
For anyone who wants to write their own book, they need to be consistent, according to Katore. They should keep a tab on what inspired them to start the story and not lose it. Even if they’re toward the middle or end, they can’t give up.
“Don’t hurry or rush writing it,” Katore said. Just take time and it’ll unfold.”
Katore’s “The Lost Star” is available for purchase on Amazon in paperback or Kindle.