March 5, 2010
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Novel Idea
I've been toying with this for some time. Since finishing my novel almost 4 years ago - make that OVER 4 years ago - I have gone absolutely nowhere with finding a publisher. Only one or two agents or publishers have actually read it, and although I was offered a self publishing deal some time ago, the only person who would have made money from that venture would have been the self publishing company. That's money for nothing!
So I have decided to serialise it in the blog - with intermittent stories and updates as to what things are happening in my life (and there are lots of those...) - on a regular basis. I am no longer thinking that there is a publisher out there interested in paying me massive amounts of wonga for the privilege of printing and distributing my novel... but I think it is a story that should be told, and if there are any people who want to read it, then here it is.
A little background first though - the novel is completely fictional. The idea first came to me when I was living in Germany, and I read a book called No Tears for Mao. It is a touching book, showing a negative side to the Cultural Revolution, and unsurprisingly got banned in the People's Republic. Needless to say, I loved it. I read it in German, and then in English, just to make sure I had understood it. As I was working for a Taiwanese company by then, it piqued my interest more in Asia.
When I then moved to Bavaria, the idea grew and grew, and soon I moved once more, this time to Taiwan, where I decided to actually do something about this idea in my head, and write it down. Having dated a Tibetan girl in the UK whilst living in Bavaria, and given the fact that I live now in the one true Free China, there is a lot of anti-China sentiment in the novel, but it is not only aimed at the PRC. There is criticism of many cultures, including my own.
Since writing and finishing the novel, I have also become a little more spiritual, and go to the temple on an occasional basis. I like the peaceful aura you get there. I like the calming scent of the incense. And since Kahukura died almost a year ago, I can also get to talk with her there.
The title of the novel takes after my Chinese name - which was given to me by my good friend Hui-Mei, with whom I alas have no more contact, having lost her details some time ago. But the main character in the novel - Fu Yun (Floating Cloud) - is not based around me or my life.
I hope you will enjoy it... and if you like it, and don't want to wait for the next installment, let me know and I will forward the complete novel to you!
