Would you read a chick lit book written by a man?

Image: Pexels

She might share a very similar moniker to the once-famous porn star Annabelle Chong, but fictional character Annabelle Thong couldn’t be more different. Tired of being single and wanting a change, she ups and leaves Singapore for France, ostensibly to get a Master’s degree in International Relations, but in reality she wants to find a man in the City of Love. Rioting, culture shock and dating mishaps occur.

But a classic tale of romance, it’s not. For one, Annabelle Thong touches on more prickly topics such as racism, and how Singaporeans view migrant workers. It’s also written by a man.

It’s unusual enough to find a Singaporean author who chooses to write chick lit, much less a male writer brave enough to go into this unknown. Not only did this debut score a publishing deal, but it was also longlisted for the Epigram Books Fiction Prize in 2015.   

Image: Epigram Books

Where did the idea for your novel come about?

I lived in France for my postgraduate studies, and would send all these emails to friends and family telling them funny anecdotes about my life in Paris. These weren’t casual emails – a lot of time and thought went into drafting them, and I wanted them to be entertaining. They were very well received and this encouraged me to turn these emails into a book. 

The heroine, Annabelle Thong, is a composite character of myself and one of my best friends, who is a Chinese Catholic girl. A lot of what the character lives through is some of the things that I’ve personally experienced in France, but in the fictional body of a woman.

Were you worried that as a male author writing chick lit, people wouldn’t take the book seriously?

Initially I was. When I first wrote it and submitted it for the Epigram Books Fiction Prize, it was under the pseudonym Wong Su-Lynn. I didn’t want it to be negatively judged even before people opened the cover.

But Epigram Books encouraged me to use my actual name, and they cited Memoirs of a Geisha as an example of a popular book with a female protagonist written by a man. Being a newbie to the literature scene, I was game to go along. And so far, the public response has been great. People are mostly curious to hear why I chose to write in this genre.

Image: Epigram Books

Which brings us to the question: why chick lit?  

I’ve always loved chick lit and humour writing. In fact, from a literary point of view, Bridget Jones (from Bridget Jones’ Diary) is my role model. She’s funny, vulnerable, goofy and yet still self-aware, qualities that are so loveable in a main character. I wanted my protagonist to be akin to that, so chick lit made the most sense as my chosen genre.

Was it difficult to write as a woman?

Honestly, not at all. I get along well with women, I feel like I understand women. Annabelle is very real in my mind and I feel like I know her, so to write about her thoughts wasn’t hard.

That being said, when I was writing, two of my first readers were women. I wanted to make the conscious effort to make sure that the things Annabelle says or does is believable as a woman, to women. There was one particular feedback that said my description of Annabelle looking at her love interest’s crotch was too graphic! So I removed that. I think it’s important to have that humility, that if you have not lived through certain experiences, you should ask for opinions to validate what you have written.

Do you think that as a man, you offer something different to chick lit?

I believe that when it comes to writing, gender is irrelevant. The beauty of writing is that you can imagine yourself in someone else’s shoes. So it shouldn’t matter if I’m writing as a Chinese girl, or a green alien! What matters is that you are able to empathise with your character and stay truthful to how he or she is in your head.

The Essential Singlit Reading List

Is Catherine Lim the only Singapore author you know? We asked Philip Holden, author of short-story collection Heaven Has Eyes, who’s also a professor of English language and literature at the National University of Singapore, for his list of SingLit must-reads. For the month of August, we'll be introducing them every Friday.  

Sonny Liew, The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye (2015)

Image: Epigram Books 

An internationally acclaimed graphic novel that explores Singapore’s socio-political history.

This story is the last of a four part SingLit series for August.