Crystal Chan
About Author
Crystal Chan grew up as a mixed-race kid in the middle of the Wisconsin cornfields and has been trying to find her place in the world ever since. Over time, she found that her heart lies in public speaking, performing, and ultimately, writing. She has published articles in several magazines; given talks and workshops across the country; facilitated discussion groups at national conferences; and been a professional storyteller for children and adults alike.
In Chicago, where Crystal now lives, you will find her biking along the city streets and talking to her pet turtle. Her debut novel, Bird, was published in the UK in 2014.
Image: Stacy Jaffe
Interview
BIRD
TAMARIND
FEBRUARY 2014
Jewel, who is 12, has grown up in the shadow of her dead brother John, who died on the day she was born. Jewel has grown up in a family full of unspoken words and shrouded by secrets but when she meets and befriends a boy - also called John - she begins to question her parents and to uncover what really happened to her family the day her brother died.
Here is a brief extract from the start of Bird:
'Grandpa stopped speaking the day he killed my brother, John. His name was John until Grandpa said he looked more like a Bird with the way he kept jumping off things, and the name stuck. Bird's thick, black hair poked out in every direction, just like the head feathers of the blackbirds, Grandpa said, and he bet that one day Bird would fly like one too. Grandpa kept talking like that, and no one paid him much notice until Bird jumped off a cliff, the cliff at the edge of the tallgrass prairie, the cliff that dropped a good couple hundred feet to a dried-up riverbed below. From that day on, Grandpa never spoke another word. Not one.
The day that Bird tried to fly, the grown-ups were out looking for him - all of them except Mom and Granny. That's because that very day, I was born.'
US author Crystal Chan talked to ReadingZone about Bird.
Q: Can you tell us a bit more about your idea of a boy thinking he is a bird, which begins this story?
A: I had just finished reading Keeper, by Kathi Appelt, and was sick at home from work. I had also finished my first manuscript and was fretting that I might not have another idea for another novel. Ever. I was thinking about this for hours, and finally I got so sick of myself that I said, Crystal, either you get up out of bed and write your next book, or you go to sleep because you're sick. But you're not going to lie in bed thinking about not writing your next book.
And then I started thinking more about Keeper, and how I loved that story; it's about a girl who thought her mother turned into a mermaid and goes out to sea in search of her. And I thought, A girl who thinks her mother was a mermaid - that's such a great idea - I wish I had thought of that! But what if... instead... there was a girl whose brother thought he was a bird, but then he jumped off a cliff because he thought he could fly.... Then the voice of the protagonist, Jewel's voice, started speaking and I got out of bed and wrote the first chapter.
Q: Why did you decide to make your central character, Jewel, mixed race? How autobiographical are her experiences?
A: Growing up in a small town in the 80's, no one around me was bi-racial. No one looked like me, and no one shared my experiences. In a way, I was lonely and didn't even realize it - I didn't know what it would be like to have someone understand the questions I faced... that was so outside my realm of experience that I didn't even long for it. Until I got older, as in, college-age. They (at writer's conferences) always say to write the book you wanted to read as a child, and I knew that if I'd had a book like Bird as a child, I would hang onto it for dear life and never let it go.
Q: Identity is a big issue for Jewel, do you feel that mixed race children still struggle with their identity today in the same ways or has that eased as populations have changed?
A: I think that it's gotten better, by far, but there's still a long way to go. I can't tell you how many times I got asked 'What are you?' growing up - and even now still today, even though I live in the pretty diverse city of Chicago. And for mixed race kids, especially bi-racial kids, it's hard, identity-wise: the fact is that you do not share the same racial experiences as your (mono-cultural/racial) parents. In these cases, the parents come from a different set of experiences and expectations, and it's really hard for a kid to figure out their identity, to have parents really understand what it's like.
Q: What are the joys of being mixed race?
You have your feet in both worlds and you get to sample a bit of each. Like, I grew up with both chopsticks and forks, and my world was always big as a child - I had family on the other side of the world. My father spoke a different language. I grew up with a global awareness that not too many kids have. Besides that, because I'm mixed, I tend to blend in with whatever group I'm with. White people see me as white. Minorities see me as minorities. And because of that, there's a certain level of trust I get from people, no matter what their background is, for they identify with different parts of me.
Q: How strong was Jewel's voice for you when you started writing?
A: Pretty darn strong. The first chapter just kind of wrote itself; Jewel's voice was so strong that that first chapter I was just transcribing what I heard. It's crazy, I know, but true.
Q: How hard was it to develop a character, Grandpa, who doesn't speak?
A: I didn't really develop his character at all - he just existed in my mind, just like Jewel's voice popped into my mind. In that first chapter, Jewel started talking about her Grandpa, and I didn't know what the heck she was talking about, but I kept writing it down, kept following that voice along.
(thinking) But digging a little more into my psyche, it very well could be that my grandparents on both sides of my family are silent to me - on my mom's (white) side, my grandfather died when I was six and my grandmother contracted Alzheimer's not long after. On my dad's (Chinese) side, neither spoke English, I didn't know Chinese, and we couldn't talk without Dad serving as translator. So this aspect of a silent grandparent with locked secrets wasn't entirely foreign to me.
Q: Once you had written your first chapter, did you know how the book would end?
A: No - I didn't know how it would end until about halfway through. I had an inkling, earlier, but none of the details. (laughing) I didn't know how it was really going to play out until I was writing it.
Q: The grandfather is Jamaican; how much research did you need to do into Jamaican culture, beliefs?
A: For the Jamaican research, I spent quite a bit of time researching Jamaican religious beliefs, reading about duppies online and in books, and looked at different medicinal remedies that people might use. I also checked out some college texts on religious beliefs for the different islands in the Caribbean, which helped.
In addition, I interviewed two Jamaican-Americans in person and had two Jamaican-Americans read the manuscript, cover to cover. It was interesting, though, because I didn't 'choose' Jewel to be Jamaican - I just knew she was.
I had a hard time finding Jamaicans to interview, and a friend of mine said he knew a lot of Haitians willing to talk about their culture, and maybe I could change Jewel to part Haitian - and there was a strong kickback in my gut that said, No. Jewel is Jamaican.
Q: There's also a lot about Jamaican food in the story - did you need to research this, too, and did that mean eating a lot of it? Any favourites?
A: I did get to research food, which was fun! A friend of mine, who's an excellent cook, came over to my house one day and we made all kinds of Jamaican dishes. Even better, there are a number of Jamaican restaurants in my neighbourhood and I plowed through their menus with gusto. That was awesome. Some of my favourite foods are: beef patties, oxtail stew, and greens.
Q: Do you plan to revisit Jewel and her family?
A: Probably not. That was the story that Jewel wanted to tell.
Q: What are you writing now?
A: I'm writing a young adult book...but you're going to have to wait to hear about it.
Q: Do you write full time, or do you still do other jobs?
A: I have a full-time day job, working at a retreat and conference centre in Chicago. It forces me to be very focused with how I spend my time.
Q: How did being a storyteller help you become a novelist?
A: Writing a novel is storytelling. Pure and simple. You have to know plot development, suspense, foreshadowing, and probably most importantly, pacing. You have to have a keen sense as to when your audience is getting bored, whether it be a live audience or through the page.
Q: How do you decide which of your ideas to follow through into a novel?
A: A novel is a huge undertaking - BIRD took me three years, start to finish - so you have to make sure that the story is complex and intriguing enough for you, the author, to follow and deepen.
Q: Where do you write - and do you have any bad habits while you're writing?
A: I write in my room - I have a computer set up there - and I'm pretty diligent about making time to write. And time to relax. For people like me who push themselves, the temptation is to keep pushing to exhaustion. But relaxation is also important and is also part of the writing process. Same with connecting with friends and going to museums and engaging in art in different forms. That's all part of the writing process, they're all streams that feed the lake.
Q: What do you do to relax?
A: I have a membership to the Shedd Aquarium, which is this HUGE aquarium in Chicago - whales and dolphins and all kinds of stuff are there - and I love going there and watching those animals live and breathe and not give a hoot about the publishing world.
I also get together often (yes, rather often) with friends, bike, do calligraphy and origami, cook - I have tons of interests, so it's not what I do, it's making sure I make the time to do it.
Q: What's the most magical place you've ever visited?
A: Mont Saint-Michel, in France. OMG, it's amazing, this medieval city that turns into an island when the tide comes in. Absolutely incredible. The first time I went, there was this huge roped off section in the parking lot - they didn't want vehicles to park in areas that were going to be under water when the tide came in. Well, when we were leaving, hours later, some people ignored the ropes and parked there anyway - and were already halfway submerged. Totally powerful magic, indeed.
Bird
