CHARLIE
is your first published book. Do you plan for any follow ups or
additional books?
I
never really thought about it to be honest, have been just
concentrating on writing and painting. It’s strange, even CHARLIE
was spontaneous, one day I decided that I wanted to get my works out
there and it just happened! Ever since CHARLIE came out earlier this
year, I have still continued writing and sharing these stories –
but at the moment, I do not have plans for a second book. Quite a
number of people have been asking me this – I may decide to one
day!
What
do you think makes a great story?
It’s
when people are able to draw out emotions or thoughts of something
completely different to what say myself as an author intended. That’s
what makes not just a good, a great story. One that is fully capable
of invoking passion, emotion in others without knowing them or their
story and they in turn connect with it.
What
inspired you when writing CHARLIE?
The
poem itself - It started off as a way to vent out every day
frustrations and over time I found I saw things differently. A
conversation with someone could turn into a must for a short story,
someone’s actions could spark another story or walking past
landscapes or say, broken shards of glass on the ground could turn
into a fabrication. It’s really hard for me to say specifically one
thing of that inspired me, because CHARLIE was inspired and I still
continue to be inspired by so many different things in every day
life.
Now,
the title – has it’s own story – one that I would say started
from a conversation with a friend years ago, that led to, what I can
say, the birth of a character named CHARLIE.
What
are your ambitions for your writing career? Full time? Part time?
I
honestly don’t know. I mentioned before people have been asking if
there will be another book, another CHARLIE, Part 2 – and I am not
sure – CHARLIE itself as a character is very much still alive and
his story may yet write itself but I don’t really know whether I am
going to dabble into this full time.
When
did you decide to become a writer?
I
started writing when I was really young but I never pursued that
passion until know. One of my regrets was not keeping anything I had
back then – I even had an entire novel written out when I was still
in high school! For a period of time a few years ago, I started
writing thought articles to go alongside my artworks – I felt then
that each particular piece had a story to tell and perhaps while the
articles were never really quite structured, it was really quite raw.
I wanted to convey a message of hope.
When
writing CHARLIE
did anything stand out as particularly challenging?
CHARLIE
as a character came into my life years before I dabbled with poetry
and each piece or piece was written out. It was the way that it was
written, I had given no thought to even coming close to publication
that I just wrote without a particular theme – it was just
disjointed everyday thoughts. The challenge then when I had to put
together a manuscript was to come up with a theme to gel it all
together. And I finally came up with the use for CHARLIE. There is a
little blurb on the back cover of the book to explain the
disjointedness within it but what I am hoping for is that, readers
will see this – this is after all written not from a completely
light source, but through the eyes of someone struggling in today’s
world. I personally thought the disjointedness was kind of ironic.
How
did you come up with the story of CHARLIE?
As
I mentioned before, CHARLIE as a title came after everything
individually was written and CHARLIE itself, was a character born
from a conversation. So it wasn’t completely a story. I tend to
keep my stories very raw, very honest. If you’d ask me would I be
afraid of people reading this and seeing me with view that’s less
than ideal – yes – that thought had crossed my mind, particularly
with people who are close to me, but I won’t let that stop me from
sharing my stories.
What
do you like to do when not writing and creating these books?
I’d
paint – always thinking of what my next piece is going to be –
making note of anything that comes to mind, I want to keep any
creative thought, I mean I wouldn’t know if I’d perhaps use it
somewhere down the track. Other than this, some days, doing nothing
would seem like a very good idea, catching up with friends – all
the normal everyday stuff!
I
definitely don’t just stick to one genre to work with, readers are
definitely more than welcome to check out my works on my website
shereen-yap.com. I’m quite active on Instagram too @syaptz. Would
love to hear from the readers.