Episode 05 - Lived Experiences Shape Fiction with Vanessa Hua
"I think I needed to become a mother to have written all those drafts, to have gone through the pandemic or the Me Too movement, or lived under the rise of demagoguery, to understand this historical novel, which is set in 1960 China, in a new way. I fully believe that I needed to live through those years in order to write the book that I'm very proud of today."
~ Vanessa Hua
As writers, we are always bringing so much into the work that is not just that time that you're sitting at your desk, or wherever it is that you work.
Join us as Kaitlin talks with Vanessa Hua, an award-winning columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, and the author of the national bestseller A River of Stars. She wrote, and most recently published a novel Forbidden City.
Vanessa and Kaitlin met in 2009 at the Breadloaf Writers conference in Middlebury, Vermont, and continued their writerly friendship in LA, where they were both living at the time.
You can expect to hear all about the new novel, Forbidden City, the inspiration behind it, and Vanessa’s tips on how to write a successful novel while juggling motherhood and other care responsibilities.
Vanessa and Kaitlin talk about:
The mental shifts and practical processes Vanessa puts in place to help her be more centred & intentional about her writing while juggling the many competing demands and distractions in her life as a mother, wife, daughter, columnist, teacher, sister, friend, etc.
The significant impact that our lived experiences have on our practice as writers and creatives; seeing the work we do through this lens helps us reframe our interaction with the world as valid, valuable, and ‘productive’.
How Vanessa navigates the private and public in her work, especially when she's both a novelist and a journalist, which require different hats and different sets of writing tools.
…and of course, what postpartum and productivity mean to Vanessa.
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You can find Vanessa at her:
Her website: http://www.vanessahua.com
Her instagram: @mononoke97
And check out her new book, Forbidden City: http://www.vanessahua.com/forbidden-city
Related resources:
A River of Stars: https://www.amazon.com/River-Stars-Novel-Vanessa-Hua/dp/0399178783
Forbidden City, http://www.vanessahua.com/forbidden-city
Middlebury Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference: https://www.middlebury.edu/writers-conferences/
Hedgebrook Writers Residency: https://www.hedgebrook.org/
Low residency programme at Warren Wilson: https://www.warren-wilson.edu/programs/mfa-in-creative-writing/
Listen to episode 4 with K. Lorraine Graham for more about reframing our interaction with the world as valid, valuable, and ‘productive’: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/work-in-progress-a-new-model-of-being-a-mother/id1622299413?i=1000567403797
More about Vanessa’s musings about Chairman Mao and his love of dancing: https://lithub.com/the-chairman-had-no-rhythm-what-it-meant-to-dance-with-mao-zedong/
Some stories by Vanessa: https://www.sfchronicle.com/author/vanessa-hua/#:~:text=Vanessa%20Hua%20is%20a%20former,prompted%20investigations%20by%20the%20FBI.
Vanessa’s piece on Disneyland: https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/at-disneyland-these-days-megabucks-are-the-key-to-the-magic-kingdom
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