“Write what you know.” That’s the most common writing advice one hears. But I also say, “Write what fascinates you.” The Goddess and the Sea is a story I wrote because Malaysian Chinese gods fascinated me. It began as a play called The Council of Eminent Gods. I had been reading Arthur Miller and Anton Chekhov, and decided to try my hand at writing a play. For Home Groan, I adapted it into a 3,000-word short story and changed the title completely. Chinese gods were absent in my Christian household, and that was why they fascinated me. But growing up, I would hear names like Tua Pek Kong, Natuk Kong, Ti Kong, Kuan Kong, and Kuan Yin. I decided to dig deep, and found through research that some of these deities were unique to the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia. Hence, I felt it even more important to write about them. In Penang, there is a famous temple called Kek Lok Si. It stands on a hill in Air Itam and is famed for its 120-feet tall statue of Kuan Yin. That place fascinated me as a teenager, where I have many fond memories seeing the Chinese New Year lights and taking photos with my zodiac animal. I often wondered about the Kuan Yin statue; about what would happen if the goddess opened her eyes, and what came out of the little vase in her hand. On my mother’s side of the family, her relatives practised Buddhism and Taoism. I used to see Kuan Yin sitting in a globe on my cousin’s dashboard. I also saw Kuan Kong standing guard like an action figure on another cousin’s dashboard. These cousins were young men; progressive millennials to say the least, and I always mused at how prominently their gods featured in their lives. Many things about Penang, my hometown, fascinate me. The people I know, the culture they practise, and the Penang Bridge of course. I don’t know what it is about that 13-kilometre stretch that is so intriguing and mysterious, but it’s appeared many times in my short stories. Many suicides and accidents tend to happen on the bridge too, and because I’m quite morbid, I like writing about them. These elements all feature in The Goddess and the Sea. To me, it’s important to write my world, and tell my readers about the things that fascinate me about this world. I suppose the writing teachers are right when they say to “write what you know.” Hopefully, readers will find it as captivating to read a good story about another culture. No matter where we come from, sometimes, we’re not so different after all. Read an excerpt of The Goddess and the Sea here.
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