Author Stuti Changle’s latest book navigates love in an AI world

In 2017, Stuti Changle wrote her first work of fiction, On The Open Road - Three Lives. Five Cities.

Inspired by YourStory, with startups as its theme, the book told the story of Sandy, Myra, and Kabir who set out to pursue their dreams, battling against all odds to start a company.

Five books later, Changle gets even more contemporary. Her latest book, Stars Will Guide You Home (HarperCollins), is a romantic fiction set in the AI age. 

Here, the protagonists, Kiranjeet and Nirvaan, break up as teenagers only to meet on AILENA, a cutting-edge AI-powered dating app, as Kiana and Neer, unaware of their past. They are single and successful, yet their hearts are disconnected from love.

As time passes, love blooms, and the virtual bond deepens, AILEENA turns villain, deeming them incompatible and cutting them off forever. 

Stars Will Guide You Home deftly navigates love in the digital age, the crossover from the virtual world to reality, and promises hope for incurable romantics with its ‘happily ever after’ ending.

Lonely in a connected world

However, it also explores a paradox that defines modern relationships—we are now more connected than ever, yet increasingly lonely. 

“I can keep a tab on you online, I can find out what you are doing. But I will only touch you at the surface. I will never know your struggles or your internal problems. So much superficiality has increased with time,” Changle tells HerStory.

Centred on AI and dating apps, the book has allowed Changle to explore how technology shapes romantic connections. 

“In the end, they find each other in the real world. They are not really able to find each other through the app. While they navigate their problems through their digital connection and fall in love again, the final discovery of each other happens in the real world,” she says.

While technology is useful, there is also danger when one depends on it too much. In the book, AILEENA makes a decision to supersede her creator. Changle believes that the inherent danger will always be there. “It will behave the way you don’t want it to,” she says.

Love language has changed

With her books largely targeting Gen Z and millennial readers, Changle continues to observe how digital communication has transformed romantic expression.

“The love language has completely changed. Nobody's writing a letter anymore. You share a reel with the person you love. You share a reel with your friend, you share a reel with your boss, you share a reel with your colleague. And that's how the connection is being built. So from love letters, to calls, to messages, to reels—this has been the evolution of love language in our times,” she points.

This observation is crafted in her story-telling approach.

“I want to inspire personal growth through life-changing stories. So anything I do, even if it’s a short bit of content for Instagram, I want to make that impact, because for me, my readers are not just people who’ve tagged along for one or two books,” says Changle. 

The title of the book is both optimistic and evocative.

“I specifically chose this because I believe stars are the intuition, the guiding voice, or the light within you that always guides you home. So always listen to your heart, your gut, or your intuition.”

As a best-selling author, does she find it difficult to always write for a younger audience? 

Changle believes innovation is the key to her evolution as an author.

“I wrote about startups in the fiction space when nobody did. It’s a different story that I was first a self-published author with very little access to resources. During the lockdown, I wrote, Where the Sun Never Sets softly touching upon mental health during the pandemic. I choose topics that are relevant, and sometimes also difficult,” she elaborates.

Writing is a lonely journey

She emphasises that when content aligns, the audience comes on board because they are attracted to the particular subject. At her core, she admits she is a contemporary writer who wants to cover whatever’s happening around her right then.

Despite her success, Changle admits writing is a lonely journey. “We lead very lonely lives, eating lunches and dinners alone. It’s not like a proper office setup with colleagues to gossip with.”

Her daily routine reflects this dedication. “I write four hours minimum every day. And it doesn’t even have to be a story. Even if it is something very interesting that happened to me in the morning in the shower, I want to write about it.”

She maintains a connection to traditional writing methods. “I love the feel of paper and pen and just scribbling my heart out. I make sure that even if it’s not a book I’m working on, I’m writing about something.”

Changle believes social media has helped connect young authors like her with their audience. “Instagram has become very helpful in the sense you are a DM away if somebody wants to give you feedback on your new book.”

One particularly meaningful encounter involved a reader who had followed her work from the beginning. “He said that when he read On the Open Road, he was in college. Now it’s been six years of him working. After reading the book, he decided to join a startup,” Changle shares.