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Suchen Christine Lim Talks about #amwriting in #Singapore

As part of my ongoing writer’s guest post series in this blog,  Suchen Christine Lim, one of Singapore’s best known authors, spoke to us about her writing journey last Thursday. Today, she answers questions on various topics of writerly interest. Feel free to leave your questions for her in the comments section, and I’ll do my best to get answers for them.

In October this year Suchen Christine Lim’s latest novel, The River’s Song was launched in Singapore (click here for video) and below she answers questions about her writing in general and her new novel in particular.

1. You’ve written novels, short stories, children’s stories and plays. What sort of writing do you find the most challenging, and why?

Writing a novel is the most challenging. Not just because of its length, but also because of the necessary chaos that one has to go through before one can see the beauty of the form and substance woven and integrated into an organic whole. And that journey through chaos may take a year or two or three or four. The novel’s demands are many, and each novel has its own unique set of requirements. Having written a novel doesn’t mean that the next novel will be easier to write. The novelist is forever a beginning writer.

2. Your work shows a fascination with history. What role, in your opinion, does an author play in the recording of a country’s history?

There’s a common saying that history is written by the victor.  Official history textbooks present the official point of view.  Individuals with political, economic, and religious power and influence are identified, named, and honoured. The powerless are always referred to as ‘the masses’.  Faceless and anonymous.
Literature, however, is the great leveller. To the novelist and playwright, the beggar or the king, the rich entrepreneur or the poor labourer, the powerful dictator or the powerless citizen, all are worthy subjects for one’s art. The novel often offers multiple points of view, and historical novels often interrogate the official view of the past.  In fiction, the defeated could rewrite the victor’s version of history. 

3. As an established creative writing guru, what do you look for in your students? What do you think makes a successful writer?

I beg your pardon. I’m not an established writing guru.  I run the occasional writing workshop when universities or organisations such as the Arvon Foundation, the British Council or the National Arts Council invite me.  What I look for in aspiring writers is passion and commitment.  Many young writers are highly talented, but few have the discipline to sit down and wrestle with their writing till the complete draft of a novel emerges.

4. There are various opinions on whether creative writing can be taught. As someone who has long taught creative writing, what are your thoughts on this?

No one can make us creative. But a creative writing course can teach us to hone our writing and storytelling skills.

The River's Song by Suchen Christine Lim

5. What part of your writing life do you enjoy the most, and why?

What part of my writing life?  The first part when I am alone and writing, or alone and walking with a story about to come to birth.

6. Could you tell us something about your latest novel, The River’s Song?

The image of a wiry, bare-chested, sun-browned man crouched among his pots of wilting chilli plants, his lost and vacant eyes gazing through the railings of a 12-storey apartment block, had haunted me for a long time. This memory of a squatter farmer evicted from the Singapore River in the 1970s led me to write ‘The River’s Song’. The novel is both a moving love story between a music professor in UC Berkeley and the master flautist in the Singapore Chinese Orchestra, as well as a fictionalised account of the eviction of boatmen and squatters from the Singapore River.  Today the river is a tourist attraction and a prime residential area of expensive condominiums.
__________

Suchen Christine Lim

Author Bio: Born in Malaysia but educated in Singapore, Suchen Christine Lim was awarded the Southeast Asia Writer Award 2012. In 1992, her novel, Fistful Of Colours, won the Inaugural Singapore Literature Prize. Critics have described her first novel, Rice Bowl, as “a landmark publication on post-independence Singapore”, and A Bit Of Earth as “a literary masterwork as well as a historical document” that was “un-put-downable – a sure sign of a master storyteller.” A short story in The Lies That Build A Marriage, was made into a film for national television.

Awarded a Fulbright grant, she is a Fellow of the International Writers’ Program in the University of Iowa, and its International Writer-in-Residence. In 2005, she was writer-in-residence in Scotland, and has returned to the UK several times as an Arvon Tutor to conduct writing workshops and read at the Edinburgh Book Festival. Her new novel, The River’s Song, will be launched in London and New York next spring.

What are your thoughts on Asian authors? Do you have any questions for Suchen Christine Lim? Leave them in the comments.

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Damyanti Biswas

Damyanti Biswas is the author of You Beneath Your Skin and numerous short stories that have been published in magazines and anthologies in the US, the UK, and Asia. She has been shortlisted for Best Small Fictions and Bath Novel Awards and is co-editor of the Forge Literary Magazine. Her literary crime thriller series, the Blue Mumbai, is represented by Lucienne Diver from The Knight Agency. Both The Blue Bar and The Blue Monsoon were published in 2023.

I appreciate comments, and I always visit back. If you're having trouble commenting, let me know via the contact form, or tweet me up @damyantig !

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19 Comments

  • Claire says:

    This was a beautiful interview!! I love hearing about the writing experience of people in other countries. Even just reading the responses provides an entirely new perspective on how to manipulate language. Thanks for sharing this 🙂

  • cherished79 says:

    Thank you so much for following my blog, I will be visiting yours often. Take care. Deb

  • Suchen Christine Lim:I will be checking out The River’s Song! I can tell just from the interview how eloquent you are with words.
    I could so relate to you saying you most enjoy when you are “ alone and writing,.. or walking a with a story about “ to be born. I’ve written two recent blogs related creativity and need for solitude: http://cindamackinnon.wordpress.com/2013/12/03/introvert-alert/

  • Meaningful answers. Thanks for this Damayanti

  • D.G.Kaye says:

    Wonderful interview, thanks for posting it, 🙂

  • Dear Readers of Damyanti’s blog, thank you for all your encouraging and insightful comments. Writing is a solitary journey most of the time so it’s lovely to stop a while as though we are meeting in a halfway house to have a drink and meet fellow writers.

  • ilakshee says:

    Thanks Damayanti for bringing this forward! It has been very helpful. found her journey to emerge as a writer very inspiring.

  • kimmerlyaj says:

    Hi, Damyanti! Thanks so much for following my blog. I feel honored and blessed that you felt a connection. I’ve looked over your work here and just wanted to say: keep it up! You’re obviously committed to your writing and work, which will show in all that you attempt to achieve in the future. I saw that your hope is to step into Fiction! If you ever need advice or a guide to getting you there, please feel encouraged to reach out. My e-mail address is kimmerlyaj at gmail dot com . I’d be happy to chat. 🙂 Best to you, dear one.

    Amanda
    http://www.polishedpearcreative.com

  • Harsha MP says:

    Great!!

  • Susan Scott says:

    Thank you – this was most interesting.

  • Anita says:

    Really nice, Damyanti. Loved reading Suchen’s answers. Appreciate her humility and views. 🙂

  • I’m not certain that Asian writers are much different from other writers. For example, when she says: Not just because of its length, but also because of the necessary chaos that one has to go through before one can see the beauty of the form and substance woven and integrated into an organic whole. And that journey through chaos may take a year or two or three or four.
    I think this is true for all novelists.
    But it’s good to be reminded of the chaos because that’s often the time that I tend to doubt my writing the most.
    Of course, the setting is different and that is always exotic for a North American writer.

  • I want to read your book just because of the title. Did you come up with that yourself?

  • Arlee Bird says:

    Good insights.

    Lee
    Tossing It Out