CULTURE CLUB
Following the release of her debut novel Peach Blossom Spring last year, Edition catches up with Cambridgeshire-based author Melissa Fu A Cambridge WRITER’S DIARY
I adore going into Cambridge – it’s a jewel of a city and just a stone’s throw away, as I live in a village on the outskirts. Michaelhouse Cafe is one of my favourite places to write, especially when I’m lucky enough to get one of those tables upstairs that are great for people watching. In 2014, I was very lucky to find a local writer’s group called Angles. Though I’m less active now, I was a member for years and it was great to be surrounded by so many people who had studied creative writing and were well-versed in giving helpful critiques and workshopping. I learnt so much about the craft of writing as well as the art of giving and taking feedback. Sometimes, I think working with Angles was like earning a mini master’s degree in creative writing. I can be quite erratic with when I work best – it used to be in the mornings, but now that I have a dog, he has kind of wrecked that morning writing routine! I guess you could say that I do ‘thinking writing’ when I’m walking him instead. It’s a struggle to find the time to sit and write and then protect that time when you do have it. When I have a certain project and the momentum starts going, it calls to me and I can go back to it every day – even if it’s just to do something small like write a little, re-read it or read something related. Setting deadlines to move myself along can help – such as completing smaller sections of the writing itself or doing something external like applying for grants, prizes or residencies.
it’s about the stories we carry from place to place and how they can sustain what can’t be kept in physical objects. I enjoyed the research element of writing the novel tremendously. It was a big change for me, since up to that point I had mainly written creative non-fiction that drew on my own experiences. I’m not a historian or trained in history at all – I was just diving into all these various histories of China. It was daunting at first, but became freeing when I realised I didn’t need to tell that entire history. I just had to find the story of one family living through that time. The novel began as a short story about my father’s peach trees, which now informs some of its final chapters. Writing that short story meant so much to me, I put my whole heart into it. A writer friend of mine gave me the useful feedback that, within the short story, I had set out a promise I didn’t quite deliver on; there was more to tell. So, I decided to ignore the 5,000-word limit, and just write. I’m now working on what I hope will become my second book, and it’s completely different from the first. In between, I have abandoned a few different projects, since not every idea necessarily becomes a finished product. It’s OK to work on something for a while to figure out whether or not it’s going to stick. And it’s OK to walk away if it doesn’t. Nothing is ever wasted. But with this new one, I’ve reached a point where I don’t think I can walk away from it, so watch this space.
Peach Blossom Spring is my debut novel. The story begins in 1938 during the Japanese invasion of China, and follows three generations of a Chinese family through to the early 2000s, as they go back and forth across the country. First, they flee the Second Sino-Japanese War, then the Chinese Civil War. Eventually, they go to Taiwan with the nationalists, who lost the Civil War. The son ultimately emigrates to North America. It broadly follows the outline of my father’s life and his generation. In a big-picture way, I’d say ANOTHER WORLD Melissa Fu’s debut novel morphed from a short story about her father’s peach trees into a fascinating journey through Chinese history
CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK DECEMBER 2023 31
Powered by FlippingBook