Why I Write
Tuesday, 24 November 2009 01:11
Written by JFK Miller, Photo by Kim Junho

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In our continuing series of Web exclusives we talk to authors writing in or about the Middle Kingdom about their literary habits, preferences and peculiarities and examine the question at the heart of being an author – why they write

Mishi Saran's Chasing the Monk's Shadow follows in the footsteps of Chinese Buddhist Xuanzang whose seventh-century pilgrimage to India along the Silk Road inspired Journey to the West. Saran interweaves her own epic journey with that of Xuanzang's on a personal and spiritual quest through China, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Why I write
It’s a bad habit I wish I could kick, because it means I live a split life. First, there’s me, walking, looking, chatting, eating, sleeping, cooking. Then there’s the dwarf clamped to my shoulder – a mini-me – hissing into my ear: “You could use that.” Very few moments in my day are purely, fully, simply lived, because each one must be dissected for its potential to feed the blank page.

Paradoxically, the only time I’m not “split” is when I’m writing. 

The other day I went for a facial. The girl was from Hunan – or Hubei – and she smeared lotions and creams on my face as I rested, eyes closed, under the tap-tap of her fingers. Working with the hands loosens a person’s tongue and this chatty girl from Hunan – or Hubei – began to tell me her dream. There were gold wheat fields, an attempt to reach a blue temple, a man with hooves, a ring of fire, conversations with dead people. Poof! There was the dwarf on my shoulder, shoving aside a relaxing, innocent moment, squawking “Use it, use it, use it.”

I write to silence the dwarf, betraying all else.

Do you write every day? If so, how many hours?
Yes, I do. It’s like therapy. I carry a little notebook around with me, just in case I need a quick dose – like a hip flask. I aim for a word count rather than a number of hours. Mornings are best.

Worst source of distraction?
I’m my own worst enemy, being a flighty creature who enjoys people and food, and who will sacrifice much for a good conversation. My tricks: I don’t write at home. I rarely lunch with friends. I avoid those three toxic letters, www, and I turn off Skype. The other day, for the first time, I left my phone at home, so I would not be temped to check messages.

Best source of inspiration?
Being in love, of course. Then, there’s natural beauty. Give me hills, lakes, forests, seas, give me typhoons. Writing residencies too: I’ve found that writing daily on a sustained basis, surrounded by other writers is a potent fuel.

How often do get writers' block/doubt your own ability?
Every. Single. Day.

Contemporary writer in any medium who you never miss?
Tough one. I don’t read everything by an author I like; so it doesn’t really apply to me.

Favorite Chinese writer?
Ma Jian.

Best book about China?
Yu Hua’s Brothers. Or perhaps it’s just the most recent best book. I’m a Jonathan Spence and Lynn Pan fan too.

Favorite book?
The answer changes with the hour. Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina.

Favorite writer?
I’m fickle. I went though a Graham Greene phase, I’m currently in a Nikos Kazantzakis phase (but just for a single book I read this summer.) But if you held a gun to my head I’d say Virginia Woolf.

The book you know you should have read but haven't?
Dostoevesky's The Idiot. It’s sitting on my bedside table gathering dust.
 
You look back at the first thing you had published and think...
“I didn’t write that. Somebody completely different wrote that.”

What are you working on now and when is it out? 
Novel 1: Mostly finished, tweaking.
Novel 2: A third of the way through a first draft.

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