"YANGSZE Choo? Like, THE Yangsze Choo?" I could feel the excitement coursing through my veins the moment I spotted the email in my inbox, recently sent by a representative of this year's Singapore Writers Festival — an event that spotlights literary talents across Southeast Asia.
And the pitch? An invitation to interview one of the Malaysian panellists who'd be featuring in two of the festival's programmes — "For the (Young) Love of Southeast Asia", where writers from the region discuss how tear-inducing romance stories set in this part of the world enrapture our inner romantics; and "Beware the Smell of Frangipani at Night", where they (writers) will be going from pontianak to toyol, in order to dissect Asian folklore and urban legends that haunted them as children, and now also haunt their work.
But it was the name Yangsze Choo that caught my attention. The Ghost Bride, her haunting and unusual romantic debut, a historical fantasy set in British-ruled Malaya and published back in 2013 — and undoubtedly one of my favourite all-time novels — immediately came to mind. I recall thinking just how awesome it'd be to get the chance to meet this master storyteller.
Incidentally, sales of The Ghost Bride, which took three years to complete, enjoyed a spike after Netflix announced that it had started filming an adaptation for a six-part Mandarin serial. Copies of the novel literally flew off the bookshelves and into people's homes.
So, here's my opportunity. And fast forward to today.
BEING YANGSZE
The moment I clap eyes on the author's beaming face from my laptop screen, I knew I was going to be in for a most enjoyable session.
It mattered little that I hadn't showered yet, or that my hair had been hurriedly tied back and probably resembled a cockerel's comb for this early morning interview. Choo's reassuring grin makes me feel like I'm in the company of friends — good friends.
"What time is it there?" I couldn't help asking the California-based author, whilst trying to contain my excitement. She apologises profusely for dragging me out of bed before breathlessly replying: "It's 5pm here. Don't worry, I've blocked my time and told everyone I'm not picking anyone up! I've a few things scheduled after this; some calls to make and my son to pick up… but all good!"
The mother of two — she has a 14- and 15-year-old — is the definition of a soccer mum, busy running around her children's schedule and, at the same time, feeling harried over her own book deadline.
I duly learn that Choo's in the midst of completing her third novel, which, according to her, she's supposed to have passed to her publisher "…like yesterday!"
Chuckling, the 40-something author shares: "Whilst I'm really grateful to be able to work from home, it's also quite challenging. There was a time when my kids were doing Zoom schools and my husband was working from home. We don't have a very big house, so you can hear everyone!"
Continuing, she adds: "I actually started writing my latest novel during the pandemic. It's been about two years now. I found that I had to start writing later at night because that's when everyone's sleeping. At one point, I'd start work at 11pm and went to bed at 2am. And then of course, at those times, I could text and chat with my parents and friends in Malaysia and Singapore!"
IDEAS AND INSPIRATION
So, what's the latest book about, I couldn't help interjecting. Her expression of surprise is disarmingly charming. "Oh," she exclaims sheepishly before beaming again and replying: "The book is set in northeast China in 1908. I ate a lot of northern Chinese food like pancakes, noodles, pau and spicy lamb during the course of my writing!"
Adding, the author, a fourth generation Malaysian of Chinese descent, and known for her penchant for weaving in food — a lot of food — in her writing, confides: "I really enjoyed that part of the process! It's not just the eating but the taste, the aroma, and wondering where the ingredients are from. There's probably too much food in my books!"
Returning to my question, Choo explains that she'd always wanted to write about the shamanistic cult of the fox. Smiling at my confusion, she elaborates: "It's like a folk religion. I realised that the heart of this folk religion was in northeast China. I actually visited China before the lockdown started."
So, what triggered the idea for this particular book?
"Oooh, now I'm debating how much I should say because I might have to change the novel!" admits Choo, eyes widening in mock horror. But she shares anyway. "The plot was actually triggered by stories of foxes that I used to hear about when I was a child, namely women who turned into foxes. And what happened to them."
Adding, she elaborates: "The classic story goes something like this: There's this scholar and one day, he hears knocking at the door. It's a beautiful girl but of course, she's not a woman, she's a beast. They go on to have many adventures, but it would always be told from the man's point of view."
And that piqued her curiosity. As Choo admits, she was intrigued about the identity of this woman. "Who's this woman who knocks on the door at night? What is she? Where did she come from? Is she really a beast? These questions plagued me." And then adding with a chuckle, she confides: "Oh, by the way, this is a detective novel!"
Choo, who has a degree from Harvard and worked as a management consultant before penning The Ghost Bride, her first novel which became a New York Times best-seller, muses that ideas for her books are generally triggered by things that sound interesting to her, or questions that beg answers.
Choo, who loves reading cookbooks and cooking, explains: "For example, take The Ghost Bride. I happened to be doing research for a novel, which had elephants in it. It didn't work out, by the way! Anyway, during the course of my research, I read a line about spirit marriages among the Chinese. It took me a while to realise that it was referring to a marriage of the dead."
Brows furrowing, she shares that sometimes, ideas are triggered by a single line or thought. And that sets her curious mind wondering — and wandering.
"It's like when you hear your grandma or aunty saying, 'By the way, so and so's daughter was married to a dead man!' and then they'll say something like, 'Oh children don't need to know anything about this!' Of course, you get curious!"
LURE OF HANTU
As the conversation turns to her participation in this year's Singapore Writers Festival, Choo's eyes light up. It's not her first time, she says, having attended the event some years ago. This year, however, with the pandemic still blanketing the world, it'll be a virtual attendance for the author.
Enthuses Choo: "I remember it was so nice being in the company of fellow book lovers; lining up and seeing other authors, and talking to people. This year, I'm on two panels. One we've already recorded, and the other I'm looking forward to because it's a hantu thing. It's called "Under the Frangipani". I always find it really fun to hear other writers' interpretations."
On the subject of hantu (ghosts), does she actually enjoy writing about other-worldly beings? I couldn't help asking Choo.
Her second outing — The Night Tiger published in 2019 — is another work of historical fiction which combines magical realism and draws on Malaysia's mythology and folklore, featuring not only a disembodied finger, but also weretigers.
Her uproarious laughter takes me by surprise. "You know, my mum always asks me why I can't write about something more cheerful! I'm just fascinated about the intersection of the spirit world into our everyday life, which I think in Asia, particularly Southeast Asia, it happens almost effortlessly."
Continuing, she elaborates: "You do things and you also watch out for stuff. It's like, 'Oh, by the way, I've blocked up my front door because the Feng Shui master said to... etc.' All these are part of our everyday life and yet, when you think about it, it's another dimension. As a writer, I'm always drawn to whatever's interesting and sparks question."
DREAM DIMENSIONS
The author has enjoyed roaring success with her historical/fantasy outings. It's a genre that she loves and excels in. "I love writing historical fiction because it gives me the opportunity to escape to somewhere else," muses Choo, dreamily.
Adding, she says: "It could be somewhere that's familiar to you and yet, different. And I think we're always very curious about the past. For example, if you go somewhere like Batu Gajah (Perak), people might comment, 'Hey, we used to have all these big trees there.' And then, they naturally can't help imagining what it looked like when the big trees were there, and there were no roads. I think that's a natural thing."
Much as she enjoys it, Choo concedes that it's also a challenging genre. "You have to get the historical fiction right — at least for me that's important," she admits, adding: "Like not using things that weren't around, and making sure I have the right brand of tinned butter etc, in the story. All these things bring another world to life and although it's very enjoyable, you have to be as accurate as you can be."
She recalls the time when she was writing The Ghost Bride. "It suddenly dawned on me that they didn't have bicycles in Melaka in the 1890s. Or at least they were quite rare," shares Choo, adding: "Bicycles weren't imported until much later. I thought to myself, 'Well, maybe nobody would really care about that minor detail.' But then, I decided it was better to just stick to what they definitely did have back then, which were rickshaws."
Mischievously, she adds: "I guess if I set my story back as far as the Palaeolithic age, then it wouldn't really matter right, because nobody would really know what they had!"
Her happy chuckles slice through the screen that separates us and I couldn't help but be charmed by the author's blithe disposition.
A big smile lighting up her petite face, Choo confides: "You know, I run a lot of things by my parents — including my books. For example, The Night Tiger, which was set in Ipoh, where my mum comes from. I remember thinking to myself I'd better make sure that my mum and her friends don't say, 'That's the wrong street!' So, keeping it real is important!"
For The Night Tiger, which took her almost four years to write, Choo shares that she actually returned to Malaysia and walked around Ipoh and Batu Gajah to ensure that she got the distances right. In addition, she pored over a lot of old maps and photos as many things had changed.
Recalls Choo: "I realised that many of the buildings that were previously there had been torn down, and there were trees that were no longer there. I think all of that adds to the colour and flavour of escaping into dream dimensions."
Asked whether there's a period in history that she'd loved to travel back to, the author replies: "I don't think I'd want to travel too far back in time. Maybe the early 20th century would be interesting because a lot of things were happening then.
"However, I always end up wondering that if I went back in time, what would happen if I got sick or needed to see the dentist? I guess then it boils down to how long I have to be there for. Maybe one day is okay. But to live there? Maybe not!"
CHILDHOOD YEARS
Choo's father was a civil servant and the family had never been in one place for too long. The author herself was born in the Philippines, raised in Thailand and Germany, and spent a fair portion of her childhood in Japan until age 15.
"After boarding school in Singapore, I came to the United States to study, which is where I got married and now live," shares Choo, adding that despite being so far away, she continues to have a close connection to Malaysia and her family there, whom she used to visit quite often before the pandemic hit.
"Writing wasn't really a career that I thought about when I was growing up," recalls Choo as she takes me back to her childhood years. Smiling at the memory, she continues: "That said, I really enjoyed reading and books were my solace every time we moved to new places. The first thing I'd look for wherever we ended up was the nearest library."
Chuckling, Choo, the younger of two sisters, confides that her biggest fear as a child was running out of books to read! "I'd be like, 'Oh no, what am I going to do if there's nothing to read? Would I need to resort to reading the back of the Cornflakes box?'"
She remembers forever rationing her books because there weren't a lot of English books to read at the time. Growing up in countries where English wasn't the main language, Choo had to contend with reading whatever she could lay her hands on. Like old Victorian novels and Chinese ghost stories.
Shares the author: "I often borrowed from my school library. They'd let you take out two books at a time. But when I got to the US, I discovered that the public libraries there had no limit on the number of books you could borrow. I was the happiest child!"
Her parents, recalls Choo, were also voracious readers — even to this day. The family used to cart around a very old collection of National Geographic magazines, which Choo would read and re-read.
"Incidentally, there's lots of animals in my books too," she whispers, again with that infectious chuckle, adding: "That's probably thanks to the NatGeo magazines I used to read."
Her fondest memories growing up are connected to libraries and helping her mum — originally a school teacher and later, home-maker when the family moved abroad — cook.
"My mum made us do a lot of stuff like cleaning squid, fish and other things," remembers Choo, whose favourite subjects at school were Art, History and English. Adding, she says: "I appreciate the fact that she was at home and liked to cook. We did a lot of things together."
When she was younger, Choo dreamt of being a cartoonist. "I used to draw terrible cartoons!" she confides, peals of laughter emanating from the screen.
Grinning, she adds: "I remember showing my drawing to my sister and she was like, 'Are these people?' and I'm like, 'No, they're animals!' I wanted to write a comic strip, but wasn't able to execute that too well. At the same time, I also enjoyed creative writing and wrote lots of short stories."
This was the format she gravitated to because she'd always wanted to write a detective novel. "Like short detective stories," explains Choo, adding: "Having read a lot of Agatha Christie as a kid, I thought having lots of dead people was normal! Actually, before I wrote The Ghost Bride, I did write a number of really bad short stories — just for myself. I don't have a formal degree in writing. Much of what I know came from reading good books."
LESSONS AND PASSION
"Do you know I spent eight years trying to write a book about an elephant detective?" Choo poses before bursting into laughter at my bewilderment.
"Yeah, for some reason I believed that the world needed a first-person pachyderm narrative," she confides, adding: "It obviously didn't! But I guess I was just writing as a hobby to amuse myself at home."
She eventually discarded the idea for the whodunnit upon realising that it was simply not working. But, of course, some good did come out of that process because it was during that time that she stumbled upon the tradition of spirit marriages. That's a good lesson for other aspiring writers, I muse aloud, and Choo smiles.
"When I talk to aspiring writers, I always encourage them to write what they want," she says, adding: "Write what's deeply interesting to you and not what you think other people want to read. Explore!"
Where do you do your writing? I couldn't help blurting out, an image of an opulent oak-panelled study suddenly swimming into my periphery.
"Err, I actually sit on the floor at a coffee table when I write," replies Choo, immediately dashing the image that had just started to form. "When my kids were younger, I had to move from one room to another, especially when they'd built something from their Lego bricks!"
Eyes dancing, Choo, who cites cookbook author Madhur Jaffrey and Japanese author Haruki Murakami as being among her favourite writers, continues: "I wish I could tell you that I have somewhere really glamorous to work from. But I don't! Sitting on the floor means I can roll around and cry when things don't work out!"
Does that mean you're not averse to having a writer's block too? I ask. Her head bobs vigorously. "Sometimes I do. When that happens, I try to take some time away from it. I'll go for a walk but most times, I'll just eat dark chocolate!"
Chuckling, Choo continues: "Sometimes I walk to the fridge and eat chocolate! Thinking about the pandemic, I remember my husband asking how much chocolate did I really need. I was actually very worried that the shops might run out of chocolates during the lockdown so I stockpiled!"
Any other passions, I blurt out, casting a furtive look at my watch and noting that my time with the author is nearing its end.
"I like gardening," replies Choo, before concluding with a wail: "Oooh, all these aunty hobbies! We have a very small garden and I like to grow vegetables. I plant tomatoes, but the squirrels come and spoil everything. I guess I would be pretty good at gardening too if it weren't for the squirrels!"
The Singapore Writers Festival will run until Nov 14 and is a hybrid mix of in-person and online events. Details at www.singaporewritersfestival.com.