Sholee's Sphere: [MPOV] The American Boyfriend (sholeesphere.blogspot.com)
I am also excited that she has spent some time answering my questions!!! I am so thankful for it and appreciate her honest reply that I did not deduce or shorten her reply. So, here's the full gist of it but first an intro to the lovely author:
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| Ivy Ngeow (from Goodreads) |
Ivy Ngeow was born and raised in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. She holds an MA in Writing from Middlesex University, where she won the 2005 Middlesex University Literary Prize. She is a novelist and short story writer. Her debut, Cry of the Flying Rhino (2017), was awarded the International Proverse Prize in Hong Kong. Her novels include Heart of Glass (2018), Overboard (2020) and White Crane Strikes (2022). She is the commissioning editor of the Asian Anthology New Writing series. Her fifth novel, The American Boyfriend, is a psychological thriller longlisted for the Avons x Mushens Entertainment Prize for Commercial Fiction 2022 and is coming out on Penguin books in July 2023. She lives in London.
Dear Ivy,
Congratulations on the birth of your new novel, The American Boyfriend, which is Penguin's Fiction of the Year! I am happy to know that it has been longlisted for the Avon x Mushens Entertainment Prize for Commercial Fiction Writers of Colour 2022! *fingers crossed* So glad that another Malaysian author is making headlines in this bookish world :-)
The American Boyfriend was such an enthralling read that I have enjoyed the story and I empathize with Phoebe's ordeal. This novel is so relevant, so relatable especially being Asian Chinese and all...
1. For the benefit of the new readers, please sum up The American Boyfriend as best you could.
The American Boyfriend is an Asian domestic psychological thriller about a London single mum who crosses the ocean to meet her online lover in Key West but gets trapped in a messy crime scene.
2. Who or what inspires you to write this novel? I mean where do you usually get your creative juices from?
(please feel free to cut short this section as I didn't know the brief, or how long the answers should be)
My first inspiration was purely visual. When I went to Key West Florida as a young person and had to urgently find a drugstore (chemist, pharmacy) off the beaten track i.e. somewhere remote and isolated, to buy sanitary pads. Next to the tampons and souvenir baby alligator paw keyrings were guns. The opening image of all 3 were seared into my memory. I started to wonder what would make someone walk into a chemist and buy a gun. You can buy dental floss, sandwiches and guns all at the same time. It was so easy. That was the seed of the idea for The American Boyfriend. The concepts of unfamiliarity, alienation and danger came to me at once.
Secondly, I found the recent popularity of online dating a powerful theme that I wanted to raise, because of the sense of vulnerability and risk that comes with meeting a lover-stranger in a foreign place.
Thirdly, the strong Asian female protagonist is my inspiration. She is more relevant than ever. There are 3 billion people in Asia. I read numerous thrillers but they are not diverse. I wanted to write a book that I wanted to read myself. The single mother character takes risks and makes difficult decisions every day, whether or not she is navigating a dangerous situation. She is also a role model for readers. She is financially independent and she travels. She is a modern woman. There is a resilience to this kind of character as she challenges traditional gender roles and stereotypes that have been prevalent in literature and media for centuries.
Fourth, my book is inspired by the psychological thriller tropes my readers and I are familiar with. A tropical storm over a creepy beautiful house in an isolated coastal setting is conducive for the atmospheric and cinematic unfolding of the layers of deception, twists, past secrets and increasing claustrophia which intensifies with the tension and suspense such as in the classic romantic suspense, Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca.
Lastly, the historical and literary nature of Key West was an inspiration. Hemingway wrote many of his books here.
3. Does the name 'Phoebe' carry a significant value for you? Or just a coincidence? I noticed it's been used in another novel of yours, Overboard.
She is the same character from Overboard.
4. So what do you do in your free time, aside from writing or reading?
As a mum, I don't have much free time. Playing with and walking my dog is a source of pleasure for me, as is drawing/sketching characters on my iPad, sewing/tailoring and improvising on the piano rather than "playing". I have started doing commercial digital art and producing my own artwork and design.
5. As you are based in London, do you miss being home in Malaysia? Anything in particular? Will you return to Malaysia soon? Maybe for book signing of this awesome novel in KL :-)
Like all Malaysians, I miss the food, the people and the swimming pools. I will be in KL and Singapore for a book signing and a meeting with my audience, so please keep your eye out by following me on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter or signing up to my mailing list to not miss out on my news.
PS: Hopefully I can make it *fingers crossed*
6. With your vast experience, would you consider conducting a writing class or 2 for aspiring Malaysian writers in the near future?
I would not be able to teach while I am writing because it's very intensive and drains the brain. However, when I am not on a writing project, I have taught creative writing workshops at my alma mater, Middlesex Uni and at creative hubspot, Substation in Singapore.
7. I am curious if there is a new novel in the pipeline? Would you be inclined to stick to this genre or explore other genres?
I am about 40% into the first draft of my next novel (my sixth) and it's in the same genre of Asian domestic psychological thriller about a broke prodigal daughter who finally returns to her rich elderly father for help, but finds that her role has been usurped by an attractive housekeeper who dominates her father. As someone who already runs a design firm, I see writing as a profession and business, i.e. a professional business with a product to sell. The scattergun approach does not work for long-term writing as a profession because it takes years, in my case more than a decade, and a supreme amount of dedication and effort beyond belief to craft the skill, develop an original voice, write top-quality stuff in the genre, find a publisher looking just for that genre, grow an audience and build trust with that audience. If each novel is a new genre, the author (and the publisher) start with an audience of zero each time. This is counter-productive and no profession or business works that way. All risks have to be calculated and all businesses and services service a niche or a demand.
6. With your vast experience, would you consider conducting a writing class or 2 for aspiring Malaysian writers in the near future?
I would not be able to teach while I am writing because it's very intensive and drains the brain. However, when I am not on a writing project, I have taught creative writing workshops at my alma mater, Middlesex Uni and at creative hubspot, Substation in Singapore.
7. I am curious if there is a new novel in the pipeline? Would you be inclined to stick to this genre or explore other genres?
I am about 40% into the first draft of my next novel (my sixth) and it's in the same genre of Asian domestic psychological thriller about a broke prodigal daughter who finally returns to her rich elderly father for help, but finds that her role has been usurped by an attractive housekeeper who dominates her father. As someone who already runs a design firm, I see writing as a profession and business, i.e. a professional business with a product to sell. The scattergun approach does not work for long-term writing as a profession because it takes years, in my case more than a decade, and a supreme amount of dedication and effort beyond belief to craft the skill, develop an original voice, write top-quality stuff in the genre, find a publisher looking just for that genre, grow an audience and build trust with that audience. If each novel is a new genre, the author (and the publisher) start with an audience of zero each time. This is counter-productive and no profession or business works that way. All risks have to be calculated and all businesses and services service a niche or a demand.
8. Who is your favourite author and why?
I don't have one but if I had to simply pick, I would pick Daphne du Maurier. She is the high priestess of the psychological thriller genre.
PS: I concur!
9. Whose footsteps do you follow, your mom's or dad's?
Neither. My dad is a retired doctor and my mum a schoolteacher. Once again, please feel free to cut out anything you wish:
My father is a big reader so I learned from copying his habit. He was always reading something. My house was not like other people’s. It is and was completely cluttered with books and papers on every shelf and surface. There were always lots of stuff to read, things to discuss. There were old books and new, on floor-to-ceiling bookcases. It was my world. My grandmother was sometimes with us. She was also a remarkable storyteller. I started writing and illustrating when I was about 8 years old to entertain my 2 toddler brothers. We’d finished reading all the books in the house and did not have access to a library and I simply wanted to “make up” more stories. At that time I didn’t know it was called fiction. When I was 9 my mother got my brothers and I membership cards at the city’s Sultan Ismail Library and I was changed.
My mother had been very instrumental in shaping my creative life. My mother also brought me stacks of books back from her school library. She taught maths in a local secondary school, Sekolah Engku Tun Aminah (SETA). Although she worked full-time, she provided all my reading material and typed my short stories up for me to submit. I wrote by hand and dictated them to my mother. I enjoyed watching films or TV with her and discussing characters.
When I was 16, I was “highly commended” for a short story I wrote (and that my mother typed on our green Olivetti) for my first national level writing competition (The New Straits Times Short Story Writing Competition). The prize was a trip to KL for a weekend writing workshop. That was my first impression of the “writing buzz”. My mother was very supportive and bought me my return train ticket to KL. If she knew of any creative writing talks, workshops, competitions, she would always cut them out and save them for me, encouraging me to participate.
10. Lastly, how would you encourage aspiring writers to continue their writing journey? Is there any fool proof method to get inspired and to write? Any foolhardy tips or mantra to stay motivated?
Start each day with gratitude. If you can’t think of what you are grateful for, then begin by writing down five good things that happened to you every day. Negative thoughts achieve nothing and you’ll achieve nothing. Read, read, read. You have to do this every day too. Reading is brain food. You cannot write if you don't feed the brain.
Thank you for your time in answering my questions. I do hope to read more of your books in the near future :-)
9. Whose footsteps do you follow, your mom's or dad's?
Neither. My dad is a retired doctor and my mum a schoolteacher. Once again, please feel free to cut out anything you wish:
My father is a big reader so I learned from copying his habit. He was always reading something. My house was not like other people’s. It is and was completely cluttered with books and papers on every shelf and surface. There were always lots of stuff to read, things to discuss. There were old books and new, on floor-to-ceiling bookcases. It was my world. My grandmother was sometimes with us. She was also a remarkable storyteller. I started writing and illustrating when I was about 8 years old to entertain my 2 toddler brothers. We’d finished reading all the books in the house and did not have access to a library and I simply wanted to “make up” more stories. At that time I didn’t know it was called fiction. When I was 9 my mother got my brothers and I membership cards at the city’s Sultan Ismail Library and I was changed.
My mother had been very instrumental in shaping my creative life. My mother also brought me stacks of books back from her school library. She taught maths in a local secondary school, Sekolah Engku Tun Aminah (SETA). Although she worked full-time, she provided all my reading material and typed my short stories up for me to submit. I wrote by hand and dictated them to my mother. I enjoyed watching films or TV with her and discussing characters.
When I was 16, I was “highly commended” for a short story I wrote (and that my mother typed on our green Olivetti) for my first national level writing competition (The New Straits Times Short Story Writing Competition). The prize was a trip to KL for a weekend writing workshop. That was my first impression of the “writing buzz”. My mother was very supportive and bought me my return train ticket to KL. If she knew of any creative writing talks, workshops, competitions, she would always cut them out and save them for me, encouraging me to participate.
10. Lastly, how would you encourage aspiring writers to continue their writing journey? Is there any fool proof method to get inspired and to write? Any foolhardy tips or mantra to stay motivated?
Start each day with gratitude. If you can’t think of what you are grateful for, then begin by writing down five good things that happened to you every day. Negative thoughts achieve nothing and you’ll achieve nothing. Read, read, read. You have to do this every day too. Reading is brain food. You cannot write if you don't feed the brain.
Thank you for your time in answering my questions. I do hope to read more of your books in the near future :-)
I'm still feeling the butterflies in me upon reading her replies! If you would like to know more about Ivy Ngeow and her writing journey, you can follow her blog here:
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