Karoline
asked
Lisa See:
Lisa, I love all of your books! I can't get enough. What authors have really influenced you in your writing style and subject matter? Where do you get ideas for your new stories?
Lisa See
Thank you for your kind words about my books! I'm so glad you enjoyed them.
My mom, Carolyn See, who is a writer, has been a huge influence on my life as a woman and a writer. I can honestly say I wouldn’t be the writer I am if not for her. Bob Dylan has also been an influence, not that I know him or anything. Lastly, I’d have to say Wallace Stegner. I used a line from Angle of Repose as the epigraph for On Gold Mountain: “Fooling around in the papers my grandparents, especially my grandmother, left behind, I get glimpses of lives close to mine, related to mine in ways I recognize but don’t comprehend. I’d like to live in their clothes a while.” I didn’t realize when I used those lines that the sentiment would continue to influence me and my writing to this day.
And to answer your second question, I would say that I’m inspired by things I don’t know. For example, when I first heard about nu shu I thought, how could this exist and I didn’t know? Then I thought, how could this exist and we all didn’t know. That set me on a journey that at first was a personal interest and then became a passion and an obsession (and later "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan").
My mom, Carolyn See, who is a writer, has been a huge influence on my life as a woman and a writer. I can honestly say I wouldn’t be the writer I am if not for her. Bob Dylan has also been an influence, not that I know him or anything. Lastly, I’d have to say Wallace Stegner. I used a line from Angle of Repose as the epigraph for On Gold Mountain: “Fooling around in the papers my grandparents, especially my grandmother, left behind, I get glimpses of lives close to mine, related to mine in ways I recognize but don’t comprehend. I’d like to live in their clothes a while.” I didn’t realize when I used those lines that the sentiment would continue to influence me and my writing to this day.
And to answer your second question, I would say that I’m inspired by things I don’t know. For example, when I first heard about nu shu I thought, how could this exist and I didn’t know? Then I thought, how could this exist and we all didn’t know. That set me on a journey that at first was a personal interest and then became a passion and an obsession (and later "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan").
More Answered Questions
Aurora Shele
asked
Lisa See:
Hello, I just finished reading Dreams of Joy and I loved it. Thank you for wiriting it. Is there going to be another book after this one and Shanghai girls? I am especially curious about the photographs that her father gave to Pearl and his history that was never developped and of course May's and ZG's story. Maybe a book on May's perspective? Cheers, Aurora
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