Colombian author Pilar Quintana strongly believes AI could replace writers. During her session with poet and activist Meena Kandasamy at Manorama Hortus on Saturday, Pilar cited an example to show why she believes writers are replaceable. 

"I have a friend who works on AI. When my novel 'Abyss' came out, he gave AI the first chapter and asked it to write the rest. It did, but the chapters were bland, without the spice. But I was surprised that it can do the job," said Pilar. Meena was not convinced. "Can it be as brazen as we are capable of?" she asked.

Her novel 'Abyss' won Premio Alfaguara de Novela and was also a finalist for the National Book Award. She is also known for her novel 'The Bitch', which was longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award and was a finalist for the Premio Nacional de Novela in Colombia and the National Book Award in the USA. 

Pilar said she was tired of explaining how women writers work. "I am a writer who happened to be a woman. It would be great if people see me as a human being. Male writers don't have to tell others how they write, why are we constantly asked to explain this?" she said.

Pilar's most enjoyable part of creation is not writing but rewriting. "I am a planner. I plan my stories, but sitting in front of a computer to type them down is excruciating. But I thoroughly enjoy the process of rewriting," she said. Pilar, who has dealt with themes of motherhood in her works, said that she abhors the concept of glamourising mothers. "We look at those advertisements of baby products where mothers come dressed up and looking good. No, we don't look like that as mothers. It is pain and effort," she said.

Elaborating on her taut style, she said that the use of sparse language is something that comes to her naturally. "I began as a script writer. We don't have to be poetic or elegant in a script. The idea has to be clear, and the director should be able to work based on your script. When it comes to fiction, you can afford beauty and elegance, but some writers forget clarity. Language must be used to serve the story, and it doesn't distract me. I want language to be invisible so that readers can live inside the world we create," she said.