Interview with Yangsze Choo (English version)

Atenção: Essa é uma versão para quem quer ver em inglês a minha entrevista com a escritora Yangsze Choo, para ler a versão traduzida, é só ir em: Entrevista com Yangzse Choo ♥

Yo minna! (Hi guys) This is the version of the interview in English, exactly how it was made, I already have the translated version for Brazilian readers as well, I was very happy with this interview! Thank you for visiting my blog.♥

1. To begin with, I have a question that I love to ask the writers I interview, how did you find out that you wanted to pursue a writing career?

I’ve always enjoyed writing, and used to write short stories in my spare time. They were mostly for my own amusement, though sometimes my family and friends would read them and give comments. I never imagined that I could write a whole book... But I kept writing, and with the encouragement of friends, submitted this book to find a literary agent - the wonderful Jenny Bent. She’s the one who sold my book (and my upcoming second one - more news on that later!) and I’m very grateful to her. I’d like to encourage anyone who is writing a book to keep writing - you never know what will happen :)

2. How was the experience of re-creating life in 1893 for your book? And what was the hardest point about re-creating the past?

Malacca is an interesting old town that’s rich in history. My uncle used to live there and we would visit him from time to time, and climb up to see the ruins of the Portuguese fort, as well as St. Paul’s Church. You can see the names of long-departed Dutchmen still written on stone tablets, and I always used to wonder what it must have been like to live at that time. What did they think about? How did they feel? There were a number of traveler’s accounts that I found very helpful, most notably Isabella Bird’s letters about her visit to Malaya in the 1880s, and I also went to the Peranakan Museum in Singapore, which has many items from that era. The hardest part of recreating it was in some ways figuring out how far people had to walk to get from one point to another, but thankfully, Google Maps gave me some approximate distances, and the rest I figured out by going back for a research trip before the book was published!

3. Do you think about the possibility of your book having a movie, a series or even an animation?

I’m a huge Hayao Miyazaki fan, and my secret dream would be to have it made into an animated movie. That would be absolutely wonderful.

4. I read that initially the book was not going to be called "The Ghost Bride" beyond the name, did it have any point where it had a big change compared to the idea you had first?

Yes, I had called it “Tales of a Malayan Ghost Bride”, thinking that it would be something like the Arabian Nights, with adventures leading to more adventures, and many ghostly happenings in the world of the dead. Then it turned out that book was going to be too long, so I had to cut some of the side stories. And then, when it was published, my editor and agent both suggested “The Ghost Bride” as a shortened form.

5. Do you have plans for future books?

The whole world of The Ghost Bride was so colourful that I really enjoyed writing about the characters. In fact, when I was writing it, I thought of it almost like a newspaper serial, with more and more adventures happening. Unfortunately I ran out of room in this book, but there’s more to be told about Li Lan and this world of ghosts and demons, and I’d certainly be open to writing a sequel.

The Ghost Bride, brazilian version

6. Your book stayed among the best of the year, was described by those who read as a book that presents a delicate, and passionate, beauty.Did you ever imagine this kind of public reception when you wrote?

That’s very kind of you! No, I never imagined that it would get this kind of reception - in fact, when I was sending it out to agents, I actually wondered “who is going to want to read about an obscure cultural practice in my small SE Asian country??” I’m very grateful that people have enjoyed it, and I particularly appreciate my Brazilian readers, and Darkside, who published such a beautiful edition!

7. At what time did you get the idea of ​​writing The Ghost Bride and what was your inspiration for the book?

I stumbled upon a reference to ghost marriages in an old newspaper - at first I wondered what they were talking about, and then I realized it was the Chinese marriage of the dead, that I’d heard about before. I was so intrigued that I had to write about it.

8. What was your biggest inspiration when to create Li Lan?

Li Lan was a bit of a surprise to me - a character who just appeared, her voice sounded in my head when I was thinking about what it meant to be married to a ghost. Up to that point I’d been working on a detective novel about an elephant (and writing from an elephant’s point of view!) but I had a picture in my head of an oil lamp at dusk, and a girl talking to her father about a ghost marriage. I sat down and wrote out the first chapter of The Ghost Bride pretty much as it appears in the book.

9. I knew that you did a lot of research before writing the book, do you intend to continue the subject in some future book?

I’ve always thought that the Chinese idea of the land of the dead was so strange, frightening, yet compelling, It would be great to write more stories set in this odd universe.

10. For those who do not know yet, can you explain better what a ghost bride is?

A ghost marriage occurs in Chinese customs when the dead are married. Most often, the dead are married to one another - for example, you might have an official marriage ceremony for two lovers (like Romeo and Juliet) who had already died. Or someone in the family might have a dream about a departed relative, who asks to get married. More rarely, the living are married to the dead. Usually this is because of some pre-existing relationship, e.g.  if one person died and their grief-stricken partner wanted to be united even after death, but sometimes in the past, a living girl would be married to a dead man, so that he could have a “family” to take care of his grave. I hear that even nowadays in mainland China, with the shortage of women, that young women’s bodies are sometimes resold on the black market to provide “brides” after death. It’s a fascinating and rather tragic custom.

11. To finalize the interview, is there anything else you would like to tell my readers? It may be about you, about your writing career or about The Ghost Bride, if you wish, you can talk about all three, feel free to leave this message here on the blog.

My second book, THE NIGHT TIGER, is almost done, though I have to do some edits with my publisher first. It’s set in colonial Malaya, 1931, and is about an eleven year old Chinese houseboy who suspects that his master is a man-eating tiger. There are many tales of were-tigers and beasts who turn into men in Malaysia (I wonder if you have the same stories in Brazil?) and if you look carefully, you may find Li Lan in it. I’m excited about it, and hope that I’ll have some more news to share with you soon!

  

Yangzse Choo was very kind to answer my questions and I had a lot of fun with this interview, Its amazing to have the chance to know a writter who is already so beloved by Brazilian fans.

When I heard about the book "The Ghost Bride" I went to research and read a lot about the book and the writer, I found some very interesting interviews (one of them in Portuguese and the others in English) and then I admired her work and I had the idea of the interview, I admit that I thought "she already has many fans here in Brazil has several blogs and channels talking about her book, and out there too, she should not have time to answer my message" but as I wanted so much I decided to send, I was really surprised when she accepted!

I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I liked minna-san, it's so good to bring you some special posts here! ♥

                                                                                                                           Beijos da Kira. (Kisses from Kira)