I am K. Asok Kumar, a writer from Chennai, India. I write between two worlds—Tamil historical fiction and English science fiction and The Color of Waiting lives somewhere between them.
What inspired you to write this story?
I’ve always felt that science fiction doesn’t have to be only about advanced machines or distant planets. It can also hold very human questions. The Color of Waiting grew from that idea. Even in an imagined future, people will still love, wait and miss those who matter to them. I wanted to explore those feelings through a world that was unfamiliar, but where the emotions remained recognizably human.
If the story can make a reader feel that science fiction can touch the heart as much as the imagination, then I’ve achieved what I set out to do.
Did the story develop in any surprising ways as you wrote it?
Yes. While writing, I realized that the most interesting part wasn’t the futuristic setting, but how the characters lived within it. I imagined a species whose emotions appear as colors on their skin. Since every emotion is visible, there is little room for deception.
Then I began wondering how such beings would see us. That question changed the emotional core of the story. What began as an exploration of an unusual alien culture gradually became much more about trust, vulnerability, and the things people are unable to say openly.
Is this story similar to your other writing, or were you trying out something different?
This story reflects the kind of science fiction I feel most drawn to. I enjoy imagining new concepts and unfamiliar worlds, but I’m even more interested in how ordinary human emotions survive inside extraordinary circumstances.
In that sense, The Color of Waiting is very much like the kind of fiction I hope to continue writing, even though its setting and characters are different from my other stories.
Would you like to dedicate the story to anyone in particular?
I’d like to dedicate this story to everyone who has experienced the quiet weight of waiting for someone they love, and to those who found the courage to cross the distance, even when they did not know if anything waited on the other side.
Interesting! Thanks, K. Asok! Be sure to check out "The Color of Waiting" and the rest of the August 2026 stories!
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