18 April 2015

Author Q&A Session #39: With Lisa See



Good morning everyone,
On this bright morning, I had a rarest opportunity to interview the best-selling author, Lisa See for her new book China Dolls, which left me mesmerized with the beauty, charm and history. Let's get deeper into the conversation to know more about See's life as an author, about her book and life beyond books!

Read the review of China Dolls




Me: Hello and welcome to my blog, Lisa. Congratulations on your new book,
China Dolls.
Please share with us the story behind your book, China Dolls.

 
Lisa: I usually have a project in the back of my mind for many years before I decide that this is the one I’m going to write or that I’m ready internally to write it.  I had this idea floating around in my head and was collecting bits of information about it for five years or so before I committed.  Writing a novel isn’t a one-night stand, you know!  We’re in it together for the long haul, so we’d both – the idea and me – better be sure!  Once I decided that China Dolls was the one, then it took about three years.




Me: What was your source of inspiration for your book, China Dolls?


Lisa:
I started with the idea that I wanted to write about three friends.  That triangle is so complicated – for men and women!  I recently learned that NASA even did a study on the subject and learned that they should always send two not three astronauts into space, because otherwise the two-against-one scenario always arises.
But I’d also been thinking about writing about the Chinese-American nightclub scene of the 1930s and 1940s for years.  I have fans who have sent me photos of their mothers, aunts, fathers, and uncles who performed.  There were so many great stories. I also felt that if I didn’t do this now, then I might not have a chance to interview some of the earliest performers.  I interviewed Dorothy Toy and Mary Ong Tom when they were 93; I interviewed Mai Tai Sing and Trudi Long when they were 88.  I count myself very fortunate to have captured their stories and had a chance to experience their humor, courage, and persistence firsthand.  Those four women were my greatest inspiration for China Dolls.  


Me: The timeline of China Dolls is of the 1930s to 1940s, how did
research for this time period of history and portrayed the period so
strikingly in your book?


Lisa: I did all kinds of research—on fashion (a lot just on undergarments), makeup, costumes, dance styles, music, movies, nightclubs, popular drinks, how people traveled, what it was like for Asian-American entertainers to arrive in a town that had never seen an Asian before.  Also, my old editor was an airman during World War II, so he was able to explain in detail how someone like Joe would proceed through his air training.
And then there was all the history on the internment of people of Japanese descent in America. My family knew a lot of Japanese, so I grew up hearing stories about the camps—Manzanar and Hart Mountain in particular.  But I also found oral histories given by people who’d been interned at Topaz. I interviewed Trudy Long, who described to me what it was like to arrive at a camp in a blinding sandstorm, how she wrote to anyone she could think of to help her get out, and how Lee Mortimer—an entertainment reporter for the New York Daily News—eventually sponsored her to come to New York, where she went to work at the China Doll nightclub as one of “Lee Mortimer’s China Dolls.”  While the rest of her story bears no resemblance to Ruby’s plotline, I was able to use wonderful details that only Trudy would have been able to give me.


Me: Tell us one trait of your main protagonists- Grace, Helen and Ruby, that intrigues you the most?



Lisa:  Grace, who is the most talented, has experienced some terrible things in her life—her father’s beatings, the racism of her small town—but she remains optimistic, even a bit naïve, throughout.  I love how Helen is so secretive; she’s a classic unreliable narrator.  (I hope that isn’t too much of a spoiler.)  And Ruby is just so…RUBY!  She lives BIG, despite everything.



Me: How will you describe your journey so far as an author?
Lisa: We tend to learn history in terms of wars and dates, but history is something that happens to individual people. It’s something that happened to my family. It’s something that happened to the families of every single person who’s reading this right now.  So what I learned from writing On Gold Mountain, my first book about my family, is that the deeper I go with the individual story, the better I can reach those emotions, relationships, and experiences that we all share as human beings.  With each new novel, I try to follow what the 17th-century women writers in China believed was the key to writing: cut to the bone, and remember that the “individual” is “universal.” 
 

Me: Was it always your one true dream to be an author?

Lisa: My mother is a writer and my mother’s father was a writer.  I guess like most kids I didn’t want to do what they did.  I wanted to be a costume designer or maybe a landscape architect.  Then, two years into college, I took off for Europe.  This was back when you could do it for under $5 a day.  I was nineteen and thought I knew everything about myself. In fact, I was certain I knew everything about myself!  I didn’t want to get married, I didn’t want to have children, I didn’t want to be a writer, and I wanted always to live out of a suitcase.  There came a point when I was living in Greece, staying in a house for $35 a month. (Cheap!)  But I keep thinking, How will I support myself?  How will I support my dreams of being footloose and fancy free?  Then one morning I woke up and it was like a light bulb went on:  Oh, I could be a writer!  When I came home a year later, I got my first two magazine assignments within forty-eight hours, thanks to my mom.  I’ve been writing ever since.  But here’s the thing:  I was still just a kid when I came home.  I clearly didn’t know myself very well, because I’m married, I have children, and I’m a writer.  I actually do spend a lot of time living out of a suitcase, but the bloom is completely off that rose. 

 

Me: What was your initial reaction when you heard that you've been named
as the National Woman of the Year by the Organization of Chinese
American Women in 2001 and was the recipient of the Chinese American
Museum’s History Makers Award in Fall 2003?


Lisa: These are huge honors, and I was very humbled and honored.



Me: How will you describe your normal writing day? And how do you get
away from the stress of a long day's work?


Lisa: I get up early and work on my e-mail for an hour or two. Then I write 1,000 words a day.  That’s only four pages. Some days I write more, but I try never to write less. I usually have an outline, and I write from beginning to end without stopping to edit. Some writers won’t move forward until they get one page absolutely perfect, but I think you can spend a lot of time questioning yourself and making things perfect before going on. Also, if you write straight through, you allow magic to happen.
To answer your second question, I go for walks and play tennis.  I love movies, and I used to see about 100 a year.  But frankly, I don’t have much free time.  I’m a L.A. City Commissioner.  I also curate the occasional museum exhibition and do tons of speaking events each year.  I’m also a freak when it comes to letter writing.  I write lots of letters, and I think I’m pretty good at answering my e-mail in a timely way.  My days are extraordinarily full with all sorts of things. These days, I have to say no more than I’d like so I can write. 


Me: What is next up on your writing sleeves? Please tell us briefly about it.

Lisa: I’ve finished most of the research for the next novel, and I can tell you a few things. The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane (working title) has three main elements:  the mother/daughter relationship, tea, and the Akha ethnic minority of Yunnan province.  For the mother/daughter story, I’m writing about a woman who gives up her baby for adoption in China, the woman in California who adopts her, and the girl herself.  Tea will provide the historical backdrop. Tea is the second most popular drink in the world after water, and I’m writing about one particular and very valuable type of tea called puer.  Yunnan is considered to be the birthplace of tea.  It is also a global biodiversity hotspot.  That biodiversity extends beyond flora and fauna to human beings.  Of China’s 56 ethnic minorities, 40 of them live in Yunnan. The Akha have an extraordinarily interesting culture, which is completely separate and different from Chinese culture.  

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Lisa's Bio:


In her beloved New York Times bestsellers Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Peony in Love, and, most recently, Shanghai Girls and Dreams of Joy, Lisa See has brilliantly illuminated the strong bonds between women, romantic love, and love of country. Now, in CHINA DOLLS, which is about Asian-American nightclub performers of the 1930s and 1940s, she returns to these timeless themes. The San Francisco Chronicle praised the novel, stating,“China Dolls plunges us into a fascinating history and offers an accessible meditation on themes that are still urgent in our contemporary world. The women’s story explores burning questions about the possibilities of friendship, the profound effects of betrayal, the horrors of prejudice and the nature of ambition—especially female ambition. . . . These Asian artists were true pioneers, breaking ground, chasing vast dreams, subverting stereotypes simply by appearing onstage against the odds. Here, in China Dolls, they have found another stage of sorts, another place to rightfully shine.” The Washington Post commented,“This emotional, informative and brilliant page-turner resonates with resilience and humanity,” while O Magazine called China Dolls “a spellbinding portrait of a time burning with opportunity and mystery.” The novel is Lisa See’s fourth instant New York Times bestseller.

Ms. See has always been intrigued by stories that have been lost, forgotten, or deliberately covered up, whether in the past or happening right now in the world today. For Snow Flower, she traveled to a remote area of China—where she was told she was only the second foreigner ever to visit—to research the secret writing invented, used, and kept a secret by women for over a thousand years. Amy Tan called the novel “achingly beautiful, a marvel of imagination.” Others agreed, and foreign-language rights for Snow Flower were sold to 39 countries. The novel also became a New York Times bestseller, a Booksense Number One Pick, has won numerous awards domestically and internationally, and was made into a feature film produced by Fox Searchlight.

Ms. See was born in Paris but grew up in Los Angeles. She lived with her mother, but spent a lot of time with her father’s family in Chinatown. Her first book, On Gold Mountain: The One Hundred Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family (1995), was a national bestseller and a New York Times Notable Book. The book traces the journey of Lisa’s great-grandfather, Fong See, who overcame obstacles at every step to become the 100-year-old godfather of Los Angeles’s Chinatown and the patriarch of a sprawling family.

While collecting the details for On Gold Mountain, she developed the idea for her first novel, Flower Net (1997), which was a national bestseller, a New York Times Notable Book, and on the Los Angeles Times Best Books List for 1997. Flower Net was also nominated for an Edgar award for best first novel. This was followed by two more mystery-thrillers, The Interior (2000) and Dragon Bones (2003), which once again featured the characters of Liu Hulan and David Stark. This series inspired critics to compare Ms. See to Upton Sinclair, Dashiell Hammett, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Ms. See has led an active and varied career. She was the Publishers Weekly West Coast Correspondent for thirteen years. As a freelance journalist, her articles have appeared in Vogue, Self, and More, as well as in numerous book reviews around the country. She wrote the libretto for Los Angeles Opera based on On Gold Mountain, which premiered in June 2000 at the Japan American Theatre followed by the Irvine Barclay Theatre. She also served as guest curator for an exhibit on the Chinese-American experience at the Autry Museum of Western Heritage, which then traveled to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., in 2001. Ms. See then helped develop and curate the Family Discovery Gallery at the Autry Museum, an interactive space for children and their families that focuses on Lisa’s bi-racial, bi-cultural family as seen through the eyes of her father as a seven-year-old boy living in 1930s Los Angeles. She has designed a walking tour of Los Angeles Chinatown and wrote the companion guidebook for Angels Walk L.A. to celebrate the opening of the MTA’s Chinatown metro station. She also curated the inaugural exhibition—a retrospective of artist Tyrus Wong—for the grand opening of the Chinese American Museum in Los Angeles.

Ms. See serves as a Los Angeles City Commissioner on the El Pueblo de Los Angeles Monument Authority. She was honored as National Woman of the Year by the Organization of Chinese American Women in 2001 and was the recipient of the Chinese American Museum’s History Makers Award in Fall 2003.

Ms. See lives in Los Angeles.

Connect with Lisa on: WebsiteGoodreadsTwitterFacebook


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