Work in Progress
This month, I'm diving into the line edits for my novel, When Sleeping Women Wake. Every day, I still can't believe this is really happening—it's like a dream coming true over and over again. If you've ever watched 50 First Dates, that's pretty much how I feel whenever I remember my book is coming out next year. As an editor, I absolutely love doing line edits; it's one of my favourite parts of the process. However, as an author, it's a much more challenging task. Editing your own work objectively is nearly impossible, so I'm incredibly grateful to have such fantastic editors and publishers supporting my novel. This month is all about perfecting those line edits, and next month, we'll dive into cover design discussions! Stay tuned!
Tip of the Month
Remember to take breaks regularly. Burnout is real and completely unnecessary. Take a moment to pause and breathe. (For those with extremely barky dachshunds, maybe try taking a break in a different room.)
Author Feature
I had the absolute pleasure of catching up with author Eve J. Chung. Her novel, Daughters of Shandong, was published earlier this month. This extraordinary debut novel tells the gripping story of a mother and her daughters’ harrowing escape to Taiwan as the Communist revolution sweeps through China, based on Eve's own family history.
Here’s our discussion:
What motivated you to write Daughters of Shandong?
The idea for this story came about when I was visiting my mum with my two kids. We began talking about my maternal grandma, who had helped raise me. Since my grandma passed away ten years ago, my relationship with my mum has changed, and she tells me things that she might have withheld from me as a child. As I learned more about my grandma’s life—details that I hadn’t heard before, I thought about how amazing grandma’s story was, so I decided to try to write it.
How did your novel explore the bonds between mothers, daughters, and sisters?
This book was written as a tribute to the women in my family, who love each other but also disappoint each other. My great-grandmother—who the mother in my book is based on—suffered from decades of domestic abuse at the hand of her mother-in-law, who Nai Nai in the book is based on. At first, I was surprised by how much readers hated Nai Nai; I never thought of Nai Nai as a villain because as terrible as she was, Nai Nai was a product of her surroundings–a system that was reinforced by men and women alike. That does not excuse her behaviour, but Nai Nai’s type was fairly common in the 50s; women like her were often mistreated by those before them, perpetuating a cycle of cruelty because they felt like they “earned” their positions by enduring their own elders, and birthing heirs. My great-grandmother’s financial dependence on her husband was one of the reasons that she stayed in an abusive situation. From a young age, my mother emphasised that I needed to have my own job, so I’d have money if I needed to leave. In the end, tradition often binds a lot of people, more than money does, and I tried to reflect that in my book—the stigma of being a single mum was what kept the mother in my book tied to the family that treated her so poorly. Like Hai, I love the women in my family, but also have been disappointed by the extent to which they adhere to traditions that are harmful to them.
How did you capture the resilience of women facing adversity in your story?
This book was the product of grief and anger that I’ve held inside me about how women and girls are treated in the culture that I grew up in. I hope the story helps people learn about a difficult time period in Chinese history, but primarily, I wanted to give voice to women—not just women from my culture, but any women who has grown up feeling like they were worth less because of their sex. It is a form of discrimination that is so ingrained that many women don’t consider it to be unfair, and might perpetuate similar practices. I hope readers understand that I am not trying to attack my culture, or my ancestors—I am very proud of both, but I want to emphasise that we can still respect our roots while adjusting our behaviours to conform with established human rights standards. The women in my family ultimately survive because of the selfless love they have for each other, and the sacrifices that they are willing to make.
Balancing historical accuracy and storytelling can be challenging. How did you approach this in your novel?
The research for this book was extensive, but luckily I already had a background in Chinese history and culture—I majored in international relations, with a focus on East Asia and anthropology. The shift from family history to a fictional narrative was actually easier than I thought it would be, in part because my grandmother’s life had so many amazing details packed into it, but also because there were many real stories from that period to draw from. I ended up borrowing true elements from other members of my family, and also doing research to see what refugees went through during that time period. In many cases, truth can be stranger than fiction, so I didn’t feel a struggle between being accurate and storytelling.
How did your connection to your grandmother shape your writing, and what message do you hope readers receive from her story?
As a child, I watched my grandmother use a heat lamp on her knees every night. She did this while watching Chinese period dramas, and I didn’t think much of it. My grandmother was a hoarder of food (and almost everything else), and was always paranoid that my cousins and I were too frail, despite all of us being medically overweight. As an adult, I realised that many of her quirks were the result of trauma. After her father abandoned her, along with her mother and sisters, in mainland China, my grandmother lived on the brink of starvation until she made it to Taiwan. Her knees were irreparably damaged from kneeling on the ice during denunciation rallies run by the Communists, and she had liver disease from malnutrition.
My chosen profession as a human rights lawyer and my family history are intertwined. My passion for telling this story overlaps with my desire to expose human rights violations, and right the wrongs in our societies. Progress in the human rights field however, is often incremental—in many cases, it is far too slow, and remaining positive can be a challenge. In that sense, I could see the hopeful messages in my grandmother’s story by looking at change as something that takes time to build, something that happens over the course of generations. I hope this book helps draw attention to the entrenched sexism that women face in many cultures worldwide and encourages us all to keep fighting for change.
Quote of the Month
As featured on my Instagram, this month's quote comes from one of my all-time favourite authors, Amy Tan:
"Writing is an extreme privilege, but it's also a gift. It's a gift to yourself, and it's a gift of giving a story to someone."
Until next month, stay happy and healthy!
Emma, x
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