First Thoughts
I chose to take a look at Amy Tan’s article, "Writers on Writing: Family Ghosts Hoard Secrets That Bewitch the Living," because not only is she one of my favorite writers, but her book The Joy Luck Club was one of the first real adult novels I ever read. Through that book, I learned about life, love, and death. Having both a mother and a sister, that book confirmed the dynamic relationship between mothers and daughters that I was already experiencing myself at an adolescent age.
Amy Tan’s writing has always been eloquent to me, almost poetic but very bold. Her writing sucks you in and before you know it you’re a part of her life. So as you may guess, I was anxious to read this article. As a writer, I know that any writing process rather it is an article, book, paper, or review can be grueling and other times like pulling off a band-aid, quick and easy even though you thought it would hurt more! However, writing a family member’s obituary one day is something that never crosses our professional writer minds. Especially, when it is someone as precious to us as our mother....the one that gave us life. In my mind, it would have to be perfect, our best piece yet.
I chose to take a look at Amy Tan’s article, "Writers on Writing: Family Ghosts Hoard Secrets That Bewitch the Living," because not only is she one of my favorite writers, but her book The Joy Luck Club was one of the first real adult novels I ever read. Through that book, I learned about life, love, and death. Having both a mother and a sister, that book confirmed the dynamic relationship between mothers and daughters that I was already experiencing myself at an adolescent age.
Amy Tan’s writing has always been eloquent to me, almost poetic but very bold. Her writing sucks you in and before you know it you’re a part of her life. So as you may guess, I was anxious to read this article. As a writer, I know that any writing process rather it is an article, book, paper, or review can be grueling and other times like pulling off a band-aid, quick and easy even though you thought it would hurt more! However, writing a family member’s obituary one day is something that never crosses our professional writer minds. Especially, when it is someone as precious to us as our mother....the one that gave us life. In my mind, it would have to be perfect, our best piece yet.
Tan's Perspective
Amy Tan’s perspective on the writing process regarding her mother’s obituary is to be open and honest enough to allow the world to know who her mother was, but respectful enough not to share too much truth. When writing about another culture, there is an understanding where you know the reader may not comprehend everything. Tan has always done a wonderful job explaining cultural differences in her books and writing. I agreed with Tan and thought it was appropriate for her not to do this for the obituary and create something simpler. Tan (2001) explained, "All the confusion about her age, her three marriages, her many names and the order in which her children, living and dead, should be listed led us to nix the idea of a Chinese obituary. It would not look proper if we told the truth" (para. 11). In this case, she knew what to share and what not to.
However, doing this properly requires a lot of digging, source checking, learning and remembering. Tan (2001) said, "In writing a simple obituary, I realized there was still much that I did not know about my mother" (para. 12). Tan’s writing process mostly entailed reaching out to other family members to double check family names and her mother’s past. Digging into her mother’s life Tan found out about all her mother’s different identities, children, lovers, etc. which is hard to take in, but content in knowing that she lived a beautiful, full life.
Amy Tan’s perspective on the writing process regarding her mother’s obituary is to be open and honest enough to allow the world to know who her mother was, but respectful enough not to share too much truth. When writing about another culture, there is an understanding where you know the reader may not comprehend everything. Tan has always done a wonderful job explaining cultural differences in her books and writing. I agreed with Tan and thought it was appropriate for her not to do this for the obituary and create something simpler. Tan (2001) explained, "All the confusion about her age, her three marriages, her many names and the order in which her children, living and dead, should be listed led us to nix the idea of a Chinese obituary. It would not look proper if we told the truth" (para. 11). In this case, she knew what to share and what not to.
However, doing this properly requires a lot of digging, source checking, learning and remembering. Tan (2001) said, "In writing a simple obituary, I realized there was still much that I did not know about my mother" (para. 12). Tan’s writing process mostly entailed reaching out to other family members to double check family names and her mother’s past. Digging into her mother’s life Tan found out about all her mother’s different identities, children, lovers, etc. which is hard to take in, but content in knowing that she lived a beautiful, full life.
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Amy Tan and her
mother. Photo by Jim McHugh, People Weekly (1989).
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To me, Tan feels there is a struggle between being a focused, skilled writer and a worried, mourning daughter. Tan (2001) remembered, "At night I lay next to her, sleepless, staring at the pulse bobbing in the cove of her throat, my own heart pounding to this steady yet uncertain rhythm. Later I put a pearl in the hollow so I could more easily see this proof of life" (para. 15).
Tan wanted to create words that would make her mother proud. This article demonstrates how your own writing process can affect you. After her mother's death and writing her obituary, Tan rewrote her novel to include all the new discoveries about her mother. Tan (2001) expressed:
To find that heart and repair the bones, I had to break them into pieces, then start to dig. And so I rewrote, remembering what scared me: the ghost, the threats, the curse. I wrote of wrong birth dates, secret marriages, the changing place one has in a family, the names that were nearly forgotten. I wrote of pain that reaches from the past, how it can grab you, how it can also heal itself like a broken bone. And with the help of my ghostwriters, I found in memory and imagination what I had lost in grief. (para. 29)I think Tan views this writing process as an opportunity for discovery or self enlightenment. She feels that the more information she learns about her mother, the more she learns about herself. Tan (2001) explained, "Her past had shaped me: her sense of danger, her regrets, the mistakes she vowed never to repeat. What I know about myself is related to what I know about her, her secrets, or in some cases fragments of them" (para. 12). I have noticed that this is a huge part of the writing process. No matter what you're writing, the more you write, the more you will uncover about your own thoughts, fears, and desires.
My Perspective
My thinking has drastically changed regarding a writer’s perspective in the social media environment over the last few months. I did not realize how important it is for a writer to remain ethical even though social media is seen as a casual environment. The hardest part for me is remaining truthful while still minimizing harm because in reality, sometimes the truth hurts. It hurts the reader and persons involved, but in some cases it causes more damage to the audience if the truth is hidden from them. I think a lot of writers struggle with this moral responsibility. I have a whole new respect for writers that can multitask by participating in new media and still produce responsible writing.
In my experience, everyone’s writing process is different, but as writers we all have the same goal in the end. We want to create something that will impact others, if not forever, than in that very moment our words are read.
My thinking has drastically changed regarding a writer’s perspective in the social media environment over the last few months. I did not realize how important it is for a writer to remain ethical even though social media is seen as a casual environment. The hardest part for me is remaining truthful while still minimizing harm because in reality, sometimes the truth hurts. It hurts the reader and persons involved, but in some cases it causes more damage to the audience if the truth is hidden from them. I think a lot of writers struggle with this moral responsibility. I have a whole new respect for writers that can multitask by participating in new media and still produce responsible writing.
In my experience, everyone’s writing process is different, but as writers we all have the same goal in the end. We want to create something that will impact others, if not forever, than in that very moment our words are read.
References:
Tan, A. (2001). Writers on Writing: Family Ghosts Hoard Secrets That Bewitch the Living. The New York
Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/26/arts/26TAN.html
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