12 or 20 (second series) questions with Wayne Ng

Wayne Ng is a school social worker in Ottawa. As a child, he ran wild in Toronto’s Chinatown, inspiring his latest novel, Letters From Johnny. Like his idealist Lao Tzu in his debut book Finding the Way, Wayne is a lifelong dreamer of a just society, and of worlds far from his doorstep. His third novel, a gritty family drama, The Family Code, is seeking publication. He can be found at @waynengwrites and waynengwrites.com

1 - How did your first book change your life? How does your most recent work compare to your previous? How does it feel different?

The release of my first novel was enormously validating. It was proof that I could tell a story worth reading. It drew my wife and I closer together as it revealed to us what the industry looked like and that we could learn and grow along the way.

While my first two novels are Chinese-voiced and centred, they couldn’t be any more different. Finding the Way is a heady, political thriller with a philosophical bowtie set 2500yrs ago. Letters From Johnny is set in 1970 in downtown Toronto during the FLQ crisis-- worlds and millennia apart. However, both are led by characters needing to find themselves.

2 - How did you come to fiction first, as opposed to, say, poetry or non-fiction?

I’m a chronic day-dreamer, I love to imagine possibilities and I find the clean slate of fiction liberating. Although, creative non-fiction is something I’ve dabbled in a travel blog and I’m seriously considering a bio. More on that later. Poetry is another level I could never do, like handling chopsticks with my left hand. Be a neat trick if I could, though.

3 - How long does it take to start any particular writing project? Does your writing initially come quickly, or is it a slow process? Do first drafts appear looking close to their final shape, or does your work come out of copious notes?

Did you see that flash of lightning? That’s how fast I can get hooked on an idea. Getting started is another matter. But once I get going, not much else matters and I completely obsess over it. That first draft may look ugly, but I’ll feel like I just dumped a load and I’ll keep going back until it’s submittable.

4 - Where does a work of prose usually begin for you? Are you an author of short pieces that end up combining into a larger project, or are you working on a "book" from the very beginning?

That suggests there is rhyme and reason to my craft. I’m always looking for a good story but won’t commit anything to paper until I have some sense of what I want to say. Having said that, Letters From Johnny was a short story that sat dormant for many years until after my first novel came out and I suddenly had more cred. I have a few more old shorties with potential, so who knows?

5 - Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you the sort of writer who enjoys doing readings?

Self-promotion is counter-intuitive to my being and public speaking is an anxiety trigger. But it’s a big part of the industry so I’m having to put myself out there, and quite frankly, I’m looking forward to getting better at it.

6 - Do you have any theoretical concerns behind your writing? What kinds of questions are you trying to answer with your work? What do you even think the current questions are?

Not sure what you mean. But for many racialized writers and those speaking about life at the margins, underlying themes are often about displacement, belonging, and finding oneself.

7 – What do you see the current role of the writer being in larger culture? Does s/he even have one? What do you think the role of the writer should be?

Artists in general have a critical role in this pandemic, polarized, anxiety-ridden world. Not only to inform and enable critical thinking and wider, informed perspectives, but also to entertain and alleviate the heaviness in our lives. Sometimes that’s through sheer escapism and distraction, but all of us need to hit the pause button at times.

8 - Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?

I welcome critical feedback and see editors as crucial to creating the best product possible. My first experience with a professional was not at all difficult. Quite frankly I wish it was as he rarely challenged my work and I was too green to ask why he hadn’t. While I’ve been working with a superb group of critiquers and writers for over twenty years, I recognize that a professional editor is an essential augmentation.

9 - What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?

I’ve learned so much about craft and the industry, it’s hard to narrow it down. I’d have to state the obvious---that writing is an art form that requires patience, practice and commitment. I keep telling students that one doesn’t play in the NBA just because they can dribble a ball.

10 - How easy has it been for you to move between genres (short stories to travel writing to the novel)? What do you see as the appeal?

I don’t believe it’s a seamless transition. While writers will say a good story (whether short or long) follows similar conventions eg arcs, multi-dimensional characters, plotting, etc... Short stories and nowadays flash fiction, are real challenges. Nothing extraneous is allowed. Whereas in my novels, I felt that the leash was off, but expectations and responsibility to the reader were much higher. I’ve blogged many times about my travels. Most of it was before I understood what made the genre so great. I’m looking forward to a post-pandemic world where I can give it another crack.

11 - What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one? How does a typical day (for you) begin?

I have a day job, so any writing takes place in the evening or weekends. However, if I’m onto something, I will inhabit it every free and waking moment, between clients, lying in bed, out walking. It’s an itch that can only end one way and it’s a wonderful ride until it does.

12 - When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better word) inspiration?

I use my wife Trish quite a bit. My critiquing group meets monthly if someone has something on the go. So I have people to lean on. I’ve also let things go for long periods, but I don’t think I’ll want to be that occasional with my craft again.

13 - What fragrance reminds you of home?

Green onions, soya sauce, and ginger--is three allowed? My father was a chef...

14 - David W. McFadden once said that books come from books, but are there any other forms that influence your work, whether nature, music, science or visual art?

I do my best thinking and find my calmest moments alone and in nature. I love biking, hiking, skiing, camping and canoeing - nature nourishes me.

15 - What other writers or writings are important for your work, or simply your life outside of your work?

Not sure about this one. “Outside of your work?”---you mean my day job? My day job as a social worker inspires me. I meet so many interesting people with varied, gritty, courageous and tragic lives--most of whom show a level of vulnerability many people don’t get to see. I’ve been privileged that way and was able to harness some of that into a third novel.

I have favourite writers--Celeste Ng, Ann-Marie MacDonald, Rohinton Mistry, etc...

16 - What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?

Write full time and travel endlessly. Get on the CBC radio, write a bestseller maybe, more for the rush than the fame.

17 - If you could pick any other occupation to attempt, what would it be? Or, alternately, what do you think you would have ended up doing had you not been a writer?

I think I’m a pretty darned good social worker.

I would have loved to have been a photographer, capturing beauty and horridness, poignancy and banality.

18 - What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?

I’d like to think I have some inherent creativity and that writing allowed that to come out. Anything involving handiwork I would have been abysmal. 

19 - What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?

Both, funnily enough, have Korean roots and are recent.

Miracle Creek by Angie Kim. I’m not into the thriller, courtroom genre, I read it because I gravitate to family dramas. This one spoke to the hardship and regrets around parenting that are socially taboo to say therefore often go unstated.

Minari...just a superbly crafted film, Brad Pitt co-produced it yet they call it foreign—sheesh!

20 - What are you currently working on?

I’m trying to convince my hairstylist to allow me to do her bio. She got hooked up with some really bad dudes, had connections to a very notorious gang and was one of those messy, dysfunctional characters I really admire and find interesting.

Otherwise, I’m trying to sell my third novel, The Family Code. For publishers and agents out there, THE FAMILY CODE (lit fict, wc109K) is an intense and gritty, family drama featuring the troubled and chaotic life of Hannah Belenko, a young woman dogged by the brutality of past traumas, and a code of silence that she must crack in order to be free. It unabashedly reveals the power and perils of parenting both under the public microscope and behind the suburban facade.

The state permanently removes Hannah’s daughter, sending her into flight mode with her remaining son at stake. Driven by a desperation to survive and the elusiveness of hope, she must learn that no matter how hard she tries, she cannot outrun herself or her upbringing.

12 or 20 (second series) questions;