Member Spotlight: Khan Wong

Why is writing important to you and why do you think it’s an important medium for the world? Reading was how it started for me, as it probably did for all of us here. When I was a kid, books of the myths of different cultures, plus stories by Jules Verne, C.S. Lewis, Judy Blume, S.E. Hinton, Lois Duncan, Carson McCullers and others took me to worlds and lives beyond my own and fired up my imagination. In that time, I also fell in love with words, and language. The feelings a really good story stirred up in me were the hook. I think writing brings us into the worlds and experiences of who we read about and connects them with our inner lives in a more active way than other narrative forms (film, theater, TV shows) which tend to be more passive. By writing I mean both fiction and non-fiction including (but not limited to) biography, history, reportage, and essays. Copywriting and instruction manuals are writing too, but I’d wager the emotional connection for most of us is not to those things! Writing and crafting stories and worlds is how I process reality and my own inner life and is how I know best to express and reveal our common humanity. All the arts do that in their own way, but writing is what I’ve fallen in love with doing.

What are your tried and tested remedies to cure writer’s block? There are two kinds of writer’s block: the kind where no idea for a project comes, and the kind where the writer is quite clear on the project, and has begun writing it, but doesn’t know what comes next. For the first kind, taking a break from writing altogether and reading widely is the thing that sparks new ideas for me. That includes reading about topics you’re even mildly curious about, and also reading material that’s different from what you typically write. If you write some kind of genre fiction, read a different genre or non-fiction. If you write literary work, try a SciFi or Fantasy or Mystery. Read poetry if you’re not a poet. Read history if you are. Looking at visual art also inspires stories for me – sometimes specific ideas, sometimes just the “vibe.” For the other kind of block – where you’re in a project but don’t know what comes next – one strategy is to walk away from it for a spell. Exercise or take a walk. Listen to music or watch a movie that’s something totally different than what you’re writing. Another thing that works for me is to throw my characters into a party scene. I often have parties in my stories, but sometimes I write them and don’t include them in the final product. A party gets characters talking to each other, and reveals personalities, relationships, and agendas of which the writer may not be fully aware.

What is your favorite time to write? I’ve settled into mid-morning to mid-afternoon. When I worked full time, it was late at night, but I’m no longer the night owl that I once was. Very occasionally a phrase or sentence or snippet of dialogue might spring to mind, and I’ll go to make a note of it and (if I’m not supposed to be anywhere) it will turn into a surprise writing session.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever received and would like to impart to other writers? Finish the thing! Get it down from beginning to end, then worry about fixing it, polishing it, if it’s “good” later.

What excites you most about being a writer in today’s age? We are like mages and sorcerers in Fantasy novels. Attempting to master an arcane language, and make magic with them. To conjure worlds, to help us experience the lives of others – it is powerful magic. I do fear that in today’s age our tomes will become like the sacred texts in those stories: dusty, neglected, unknown by most. But for the ones who spend the time and attention and take in the words – their minds and hearts are illuminated. In this hyper-mediated time, writing feels like a dying technology, tradition, art. But that makes me feel and love it more.

Khan Wong’s Down in the Sea of Angels is out now with Angry Robot.