Editor's note: This e-mail interview was conducted in September of 2004.
When did you first know/realize that you wanted to be a writer, or that it was what you were meant to do?
I always knew I wanted to write; but that's different from saying (or even thinking) "I want to be a writer." Actually, the realization that I DID want to be a writer came much, much later, long after I'd been writing for a number of years. Each event in my life somehow confirmed to me that I WAS a writer.
First, getting accepted to the UP [University of the Philippines] Writers Workshop when I was only 17. Then, getting accepted to the Creative Writing Program at Stanford when I was 25 (and I only found out AFTERWARDS that many of the people who were in my "batch" at the program had applied twice, some even three times, before getting in!).
Then, after I got married and had a child, I felt so consumed by demands on my time that it was important for my emotional survival to carve out a little space for just myself, and that space, which was my writing, saved me. And it's been that way through the years-- writing has continually "saved" me. So I guess now, in retrospect, I would say that I AM a writer. And this becoming a writer was really like a "hardening" process that took layers and layers of tough skin to build!
Where do you get your story ideas? How do you develop them into full-blown stories?
I get my story ideas from everywhere-- from newspapers, from things I myself have experienced. Basically, my stories start with some kind of suppressed emotion that needs to get out. I sit down one day and I'm not sure what I'm doing or what I'm going to write about, but after a few minutes the words just come and I let them flow, not really trying to shape the thoughts or ideas. All my stories begin this way.
How do I develop them? Well, after that initial writing, I let the words sit for a while and do other things. Sometimes the words sit for years (as was the case with my O. Henry [Awards] shortlisted story,"Silence".). When I come back to the words, I have a new way of looking at them. That is, I see them "cold." Then I try to write a little more. And a little more each day. Until I feel satisfied. It's a long, slow process.
Regarding basing your stories on your experiences, do you find it hard to transform reality into fiction?
Not at all. Even when I start telling people about experiences I have had, I find myself already changing (tweaking) the events, as if to make them into better stories. In fact, what's hard for me is STICKING TO REALITY. What's hard is to resist transforming reality into fiction.
How do you do it [transform reality into fiction]? Do you deal with issues like "I don't want to reveal too much of myself." or "This character is based on someone I know and he/she might not take it too well."
Well, no one in my family reads my stories (No kidding! Not my husband or my son or my brothers or my aunts...) so I'm lucky that way. I have a lot of freedom to "borrow" from family material. The only one who actually reads my stories is my mom. And since she is an artist, too, she understands where the impulses for my stories come from, and she is never angry if I "use" aspects of her personality in some of my stories. As I said, I'm really lucky!
Writing in the States is also a big advantage because no one knows me here. Here, you can "disappear." No one knows (or cares) what your personal life is like. So all that people have to go on is the writing itself. And that gives me confidence.
Are you following up "Ginseng.." soon with another collection? If yes, how is this new collection different from your first one? What kinds of stories are you writing now? Have they changed over the years?
I have another collection coming out later this year. It's called MAYOR OF THE ROSES, and it's being published by Miami
University Press. This collection is REALLY different from my first one. First of all, most of the stories take place in America. They have a more "contemporary" feel. There's a lot more personal angst.
Right now, I'd like to go back to writing stories set in Manila, but I have some difficulty capturing a "voice" that is believable. I'm still experimenting, still having fun, though. I don't think I can write in the same way from one book to the next. That's because I myself am always changing, and developing new ideas, and so that change HAS to be reflected in my writing.
What are you writing now?
I'm trying to write a novel! It's taken me YEARS. The idea came five years ago. I'm so slow because I always start out with a PLOT, and the plot turns out to be the WRONG one. Of course, I only find this out after I've written, like, 50 pages. So I have to go back.
How do you find writing a novel? How is it different from writing short stories?
Writing a novel is fun. It's actually easy, since it's more "plot-driven." I know I have to get a character from Point A to Point B, so a lot of the writing is "nuts and bolts" and might even appear more mechanical. I do have to stop now and then and let the narrative "breathe" -- that is, I have to allow some element of uncertainty and surprise. So I don't like to write the sections straight through.
But writing short stories is truly my first love. The process of writing a short story is explosive-- the idea comes in short bursts, and if I don't get the words down on paper right away, I lose the thread of whatever I was trying to say. So it's like a balancing act. And I love that thrill.
When I'm working on my novel, I'm calmer. It's just a different emotional state entirely.
What's your advice to aspiring writers?
My advice to aspiring writers is: don't put all your eggs in one basket; and be patient. I'd not give up my day job, for instance. It's good to have financial independence, and if you get frustrated about not having enough time to write, be patient! It is much better to be frustrated because you don't have time to write, than to have time and have nothing to write about.
I once quit my day job and stayed home to write, for about a year. The lack of stimulation (I live in a California suburb) was deadening. In retrospect, it might have been worth it because it was during that year that I finished my story "Silence." But I think I finished only three stories, tops, during that year-- which was about my level of output when I was working full-time! And I could have used the money, for sure!
And your advice to readers on how to appreciate fiction more, in particular the short story?
How to appreciate fiction more -- hmmm... I kind of think this is like preaching to the converted. If you already love the short story, you don't need me to tell you that reading short stories is one of the most pleasurable experiences one can have. On the other hand, if you dislike the short story, then nothing I can say will change your mind!
I think the short story reader enjoys an element of playfulness in his fiction, at least that is what I find myself looking for when I read a short story. I want to be surprised, amazed-- not just by the subject matter, but by the technique, the form. I want to see a writer who takes risks, who shows me what is possible. That's why I am always hungry for short story collections. It's much easier for me to appreciate experimentation in a short form than in a novel.
