In June 2015 Kim Fu graciously answered questions posed by BookBrowse members. Below are her responses.
You might also like to visit her website at http://kimfu.ca/
Created: 05/27/15
Replies: 5
Join Date: 10/15/10
Posts: 3442
In June 2015 Kim Fu graciously answered questions posed by BookBrowse members. Below are her responses.
You might also like to visit her website at http://kimfu.ca/
Join Date: 01/14/15
Posts: 82
I was finishing an undergraduate degree in psychology, about seven years ago now, and so I was immersed in scientific literature about gender, and a lot of people around me were grappling with personal questions of identity. Around this time, I came across the story of Christine Daniels, a columnist for the L.A. Times who transitioned very publically at the age of 50. She lived and wrote as Christine Daniels for just over a year before abruptly changing her byline back to "Mike Penner," her birth name, then committed suicide. I found myself thinking a lot about the fifty years she lived before transitioning, the everyday conflict of it, before I even knew I wanted to write about it.
But really, I have a million answers to this question, and none of them feels quite right. A novel is so big and complicated that inspiration comes in from all sides.
Join Date: 01/14/15
Posts: 82
Being that I started writing in 2009, there's no way I could have predicted this huge cultural shift. I was just talking to Jack Halberstam, a queer studies/culture scholar (for something else I'm writing), and he pointed out that no one TV show or representation makes a difference on its own; it's about the larger landscape. Things change in art and media at the same time things change in people's personal lives and change institutionally. It all happens at once.
Join Date: 01/14/15
Posts: 82
I don't read explicitly for inspiration -- it's all pleasure! Writers I aspire to be like in one way or another: Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro, David Rakoff, Yiyun Li. Two books I read recently and absolutely loved: In the House Upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods by Matt Bell and Adult Onset by Ann-Marie MacDonald.
Join Date: 02/18/15
Posts: 499
I spent about nine months reading and talking to people, but I didn't know I was researching for a novel at the time -- I was just pursuing a line of thought that interested me. I continued to read and talk through the next three years of writing.
Join Date: 02/18/15
Posts: 499
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