Celeste Ng's Blog, page 8

On Poets & Writers: Writers Recommend...

Here's my secret to getting unstuck when writing, as shared in Poets & Writers' "Writers Recommend" column: eavesdropping.  You can read the full piece on the Poets & Writers website--and don't worry, I'd never eavesdrop on you...

EVERYTHING I NEVER TOLD YOU is an Ingram Premier Pick!

Everything I Never Told You has been selected as an Ingram Premier Pick for March!  This means that Ingram (the largest book and media distributor in the world), will be sending advance reading copies of the novel to 200 libraries across the country.  Exciting! 

Huge, huge thanks to everyone at Ingram and Penguin Press for this honor!

In the Glimmer Train Bulletin: "Writing the (Quiet) Omniscient Narrator"

I'm very excited to have an essay in the latest Glimmer Train Bulletin (#85), on "Writing the Omniscient Narrator."  Here's an excerpt:

I'd given each of the characters a voice, but the voice that was missing from the novel was mine: the author's. This novel needed someone to tell the story purposefully, framing it for the reader, weaving these different stories—which took place over more than a decade—into one. In short, what this novel needed was (gulp) an omniscient narrator.

The idea made me incredibly uncomfortable. To me, omniscient narrator called to mind the Dickens model: a Big Booming Voice who bossed the characters around, a know-it-all who judged everything. Someone very unlike me. 

You can read the full essay online on Glimmer Train's website, along with essays by Natasha Tamate Weiss, Molly Antopol, and Peter Sipe.  

On Salon: 2-sentence Holiday Fiction

Salon asked me and several other writers to compose holiday stories in just a few lines.  The results? Salon's Two-sentence holiday fiction. Here's mine, along with pieces by Lauren Groff, Elliott Holt, Edan Lepucki, Own King, Kelly Link, and many more. 

On the Ploughshares Blog: "One Year In"

Fellow writer Rebecca Meacham (author of the collection Let's Do), graciously posted a Q&A with me as part of her "One Year In--Writing the Novel" series on the Ploughshares blog.  The series asks writers about where they were--draftwise and mentally!--one year into the process of writing their novels.  

Rebecca and I chatted about where the draft of Everything I Never Told You was at the one-year mark, whether I stayed faithful to it through the long writing process, and what on earth took me so long to finish it. You can read the whole interview here. (And be sure to check out the other Q&As with Allison Lynn, Dean Bakopoulos, Cristina Henriquez, and many others, too.)

Thank you so much for the opportunity, Rebecca! 

Guest post on Bleed: "When Stories Grow Up"

Bleed, the blog for Jaded Ibis Press, was kind enough to feature my essay "When Stories Grow Up: Letting the Writing Go." Here's an excerpt:

At a certain point in parenting, you have to accept that what you want and what your child is may not be the same. Instead of a pro athlete, you have a circus acrobat. Instead of a painter, you have a cartoonist. Instead of a doctor, you have a veterinarian. Your job, as the parent, is to love the child anyway, to support it in what it wants to do, to help it become the best circus acrobat, or cartoonist, or veterinarian it can be. To let go of your dreams for it and let it follow its own path instead — or at the very least, to not stand in the way. Your job as the writer is the same.

You can read the whole post over at Bleed.  Thanks to Elizabeth Earley, the editor of Bleed (and a Jaded Ibis author!) for the opportunity.  (And check out Elizabeth's novel A Map of Everything, due out in March 2014.)

New short story, "How to Be Chinese," in Gulf Coast

The new issue of Gulf Coast  (Winter/Spring 2014) includes my short story "How to Be Chinese."  I'm honored to appear alongside Justin Carroll, Alan Heathcock, and Melanie Rae Thon.  Here's the cover--isn't it spooky? Thank you to Aja Gabel and the editors of Gulf Coast for this opportunity!

Visit my "Stories" page to read an excerpt of this and some of my other work.

 

Upcoming Reading: Rooms Down the Hallway (Jamaica Plain, MA)

I'll be reading on November 21 as part of the Rooms Down the Hallway reading series, at the Hallway Gallery in JP.  Visit my events page for full details--and hope to see you there!  

On The Millions: "Five Series You Probably Missed as a Kid (But Should Read as an Adult)

I'm so excited to have a post up on The Millions, a site I've admired for years!  

Did you miss these great kids' book series when you were young? Don't worry; you didn't miss your chance. They still hold up, I promise. And if you have your own recommendations, consider leaving a comment over at The Millions: Five Series You Probably Missed as a Kid (But Should Read as an Adult)

Upcoming Event 10/23: "What Is Ethnic Writing?"

Next week I'll be part of a panel on a subject very dear to me: "What Is Ethnic Writing?" How, as writers, do we infuse our stories with the authenticity of culture without overdoing the ethnic elements of our work? How do we bring to the fore our thoughts on our backgrounds and experiences-- from race-related ones to sexuality-related ones and beyond-- while keeping our stories true, assured, and thought-provoking?

Come discuss these questions and more with me, fellow panelists Pablo Medina and Adam Stumacher, and moderator Jenn De Leon. The panel is Wednesday, October 23, from 6pm-8pm, the 3rd floor of Grub Street headquarters.  It's free--just click here to register and learn more about the panel and participants. 

Hope to see you there!