From there, I focused on the eras in her lifetime that I was particularly intrigued by-the 1940s, the 70s with the American presence, the 80s, and then SARS, which I was in Taiwan for during my Fulbright researching the book. At some point too I went from a really frenetic and dense voice to wanting something very straightforward, simple and traditional, which writing in the narrator’s voice allowed me. Early drafts were in third person, and I was going off the rails a bit in terms of scope and spinning away from reality (there was a lot of outrageous fantastical stuff in one draft), so switching to first person was a way to rein it in, and delimit the story.

The idea for the novel came not long after.īut it was many more years until I could figure out how to tell it. I just happened into the 228 Memorial Museum in Taipei one day and I could not forget what I learned there. SYR: The novel started with my discovery of the 228 Massacre, because I didn’t hear of it until I was twenty-one, when I was living in Taiwan after graduating from Cal. Why were you drawn to this particular time and place? Did you always know that it was going to be from the perspective of a girl who was born on 228?

I try to envision the people as if I’ve encountered them and heard them and watched them breathe.Īmanda Su: I’m also curious about how the idea for the novel occurred to you, which pieces of it fell into place first for you. I can’t write a scene until it’s fixed in my mind like a memory, so I imagine I’m recounting what I’ve seen and experienced. Do you look at what you’ve done and add touches to bring the character alive, or does it not work in that self-conscious way? Robert Hass: The characters in Green Island, even the minor ones, are intensely vivid, a quality I associate with Tolstoy. Recently, Professor Robert Hass and graduate student Amanda Su sat down with Ryan to discuss her writing process, her time at Cal, and the mentors and authors that have shaped her craft. Earlier last year, alumni and author Shawna Yang Ryan (’98) published her second novel, Green Island, an exploration of immigration and 1940’s authoritarian rule in China through the narrative of one girl force to flee with her family to California after the The February 28 Incident in Taiwan.

Green island novel