Cindy Pon: Interview

Cindy Pon is a writer and artist, whose first novel, Silver Phoenix, was published by Greenwillow/Harper Collins in April this year. An enthralling YA fantasy, Silver Phoenix has garnered great reviews. Its sequel is due in 2010. (Disclosure: Cindy sent me a free copy of the book; I do not believe my critique was affected by the book being free.) Learn more at her site-- click here.

Lobster & Canary:

1. You enter a garden filled with azaleas, hibiscus, tall ginkgo trees swaying in a jasmine breeze...in the middle of the garden is a large koi pond....the largest koi comes up to the surface, red and black splotches on its shining white body...it speaks to you...what does it say, and how do you answer?

Cindy:

Koi : "Are you where you want to be?"

Me : "I most certainly am."

Lobster & Canary:

2. You're an artist as well as a writer. I see your visual and graphic skills evidenced throughout Silver Phoenix. Your detailed descriptions of food throughout left me hungry! The details of your settings are equally vivid-- to take one example from many, I could see the courtyard at Master Tan's with its ancestor altar and the opalescent lamps. How do you think the artist in you influences the writer in you (and perhaps vice versa)-- and what might the Silver Phoenix picture book look like?

Cindy:

This is always a very difficult question to answer--about one's own prose. I'm simply too close to it to label it anything other than it's definitely *my* prose and *my* voice? Ai Ling, as a brush artist, sees the world very much as I do (this made it easy for me to write as my first heroine!) I'm attracted to color and flowers and nature. I think this comes across in my prose? My picture book will be paintings of things I adore,critters and flowers and more color, I hope!

Lobster & Canary:

3. Ai Ling is a strong character, a real contribution to young adult literature. She may be fated, but she is very human as well-- full of doubts, remorse, jealousy, weariness, anger. She has to make real decisions in the face of very palpable enemies. When and how did Ai Ling first come into your mind?

Cindy:

I had always wanted to write a novel, but it had been some amorphous goal that I put on a "life's to do list" and never bothered to even attempt to cross out. I think my first inkling of Silver Phoenix was a few scribbled words in my journal in 2004 or so? Words like : betrothal, journey, friendship, snake demon. That was all. It wasn't until two years later that I even attempted to write the novel. I did know from the start that it would be a heroine's journey and inspired by ancient China.

Lobster & Canary:

4. You address sexuality frankly and honestly, including the potential for sexual violence against girls and women. How have your readers responded to these themes in the book?

Cindy:

Honestly, I haven't had too much straight reader responses regarding sexual elements. It was made note of by nearly all the critics, but not in a negative way. they were all quite positive reviews. The sexual elements in my book tied in so much with the expectations of a girl within xia culture. You come of age and are expected to wed and make babies. I liked that she ran away from a betrothal only to be challenged in the climax in that way. It came full circle for me.

Lobster & Canary:

5. The demons are truly frightening, the more so because so many come disguised initially. Tell us more about how you created "the red-faced Spirit Eater," "the Life Seekers," "the night-worm fiends," the serpent that was Lady Zhou," and the others.

Cindy:

All that you mentioned, with the exception of the snake demon,were formed by my own imagination. I was definitely looking to create monsters that would be more fitting to the xia culture--familiar perhaps but also not to the average fantasy reader.The snake demon is very much rooted in chinese folklore. Toward the end of the novel, when Ai Ling and Chen Yong wander through various lands, those are inspired by my reading of a very old Chinese book that most aren't familiar with any longer.

Lobster & Canary:

6. Chen Yong is heading to Jiang Dao, without Ai Ling... any hints as to what the sequel holds?

Cindy:

The sequel will have two story lines :
Ai ling and Chen Yong
Silver Phoenix and Zhong Ye (three centuries before)

The two stories will come together somehow. That is my vision for it anyway! These two stories will be much personal, now that you've already been introduced to the characters in my debut!