Amy's writing

I've always admired Amy Tan in some regards and I've just finished her book of musings, the Opposite of Fate. She has mastered the craft of writing. Her prose moves at just the write clip and is as easy to read as breathing. And fair or not, she's always been held up as the woman of color/ethnic/ multi cultural or whatever label used to say she is not an "American writer". As a Chinese American writer, she's supposed to be know all the issues of China. Human rights to democracy to pollution to adoption to cooking. She's supposed to make positive protrayals of all her Asian characters because Asian Americans have enough stereotypes out there.

I've read most of her stuff. It's good stuff, but I never felt completely comfortable of it as defining the Asian American experience. I read it, and I get it. There are some unique things about bein Asian and growing up in America, but at the same time she's not me. She's not my generation and she's not my gender. I don't have the endless mother issues she has. My stories have to be a little different.

I guess what I'm saying is it's not fair to pin someone down as an ethnic writer. Having attemped some writing, I can see that you can't write about ethnicity as an "issue". You can't be out there promoting "race relations". Well, you can, but that's propoganda. That's not fiction. A little bit of allegory, satire or critisism is great, but with fiction, it still has to all go back to the STORY. That little line of words that starts at the top of the page that wants to make you keep going until you reach the bottom of the page and flip it over. That's a big enough challenge in itself without carrying around all these messages that people want to read just to confirm their beliefs. I aim to be a writer not an Asian American writer.

In a commencement speech, Amy offers up 5 writing tips to make people better writers which are also tips for getting through life. I've taken her huge thoughts and boiled them down to slim notes for myself.

1. Avoide cliches.
"It was meant to be", "Shit happens". Stop to think whether you're being lulled into inaction or the wrong action.

2. Avoid generalizations.
Distrust absolute truths, homilies, bromides and sound bites.

3. Find your own voice.
Seek a personal truth. If you write it others will see it as true as well.

4. Show compassion
Treat your characters with compassion despite their flaws.

5. Ask the Important questions.
What makes a story worthwhile? You need to pose the question to come up with an answer.