Interview of Cecilia Brainard by Venice Rian Ong

 

Photo taken at literary event hosted by Cebuano Studies Center last Feb. 2023

Venice Rian Ong, 12th grader from Saint Lorenzo Ruiz school in Cebu interviewed me recently.  I am sharing his questions and my answers.

1.       When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer? 

While I’d been writing since I was around 9 or 10 years old, I didn’t fully realize I wanted or was meant to be a writer until I was a grown woman with three young children.

Let me elaborate: After my father died when I was nine, I began writing him letters to update him of my life. These were my early writings. When I was a teenager I began diary writing. I always enjoyed writing, but after high school I thought I wanted to be an engineer. Later I thought I wanted to be a film maker. It was this interest in film making that led me to California where I went to film school at UCLA. I discovered that film making is an expensive and highly collaborative venture. I did not pursue this career.

            By this time I was a young wife and mother and focused on taking care of my family. It was during this time when stories would come into my head and I had to write them down. I later took Creative Writing Classes at UCLA-Extension’s Writers Program to learn the craft and business. Bit by bit I started to get stories published. But it wasn’t until the children were in school and I looked for work and found work as a fund raiser when I realized that I couldn’t work, take care of the family, and write. I talked to my husband about this and he told me to do what I wanted to do. I told the office that was ready to hire me that I couldn’t take the job, and I decided then to be a writer and take care of my family. 

 

2.      Who or what inspired you to start writing?

My father’s death when I was nine years old prompted me to write him letters to update him of my life. I learned that I enjoyed writing then.

 

3.      What works are you most proud of and why?

It is difficult for me to choose which of my works I am most proud of because they are like my children and I love them all.

I will try to point out some aspects of some works that make them special to me.

My first novel, When the Rainbow Goddess Wept (first published as Song of Yvonne) was my first long work of fiction. It is a coming-of-age story of a young girl named Yvonne during World War II. It is special in that I integrated many war stories I had heard from my parents into the story. I also wove into this novel ancient Philippine epics that I retold, which enhanced the novel.

 

I am also very fond of my second novel, Magdalena, which was a challenge to write. This novel is about three generations of women and how various wars in the Philippines affected their lives. The process of writing this novel made me understand the difference between literary and genre novels.

 

Generally, literary novels are character driven; genre novels are plot driven. Literary novels have their own demands. They can’t be outlined; they aren’t formula. The characters decide what the story will be, so much so that I felt the story was writing itself, not me. There was a lot of magic and also frustration while writing this novel

 

My third novel, The Newspaper Widow, is also dear to me. I used my great-grandmother as the model for the protagonist, and the writing of the novel, the imagining of what could have been her world (Ubec 1909) made me feel I knew this great-grandmother whom I actually never met but only heard of. This novel is a literary murder mystery. My protagonist, Ines Maceda, and her friend a French seamstress solve the crime involving a dead priest in the creek.

 

4.      Are any of your sibling's authors and did they inspire you to pursue writing?

Oh, no, no one of my siblings, nor my parents were writers. My father and brother were engineers; my mother played the piano and was a business woman; one sister was an architect, and the other was in foreign service.

 

However, my grandfather and his siblings all wrote. My grandfather’s mother, the model for my protagonist in my third novel, The Newspaper Widow, had been reportedly the first woman publisher in the Philippines. She was widowed at the age of 39 and she took over her husband’s publishing business. She and all her children were involved in this publishing business and they all wrote and edited, which I do now.

 

 

5.      Did studying at UCLA change your perception of literature or filmmaking?

Studying film making at UCLA taught me to think in terms of scenes when telling stories. I was able to translate this visual thinking into writing, so that my stories are told in scenes. The readers “see” my characters moving around and talking in specific places or scenes.

The elements used in movies: plot, characters, character development, dialogue, conflict, and so on, are used in fiction writing.

 

 

6.      What are some of your favorite literary pieces?

I read all sorts of books and materials, but I will point out some of ones that have influenced me.

I enjoyed fairy tales when I was young, and as an adult I studied ancient Philippine epics. As I mentioned I integrated some of my retellings of these ancient Philippine epics into my first novel. It is empowering to read these ancient epics because they say a lot about the society of the time. These epics have gods, goddess, skyworld, giants, spirits, battles, and so on. There is a goddess I really like, Meybuyan, who is the goddess watching the river in the Underworld. Her job is to take care of dead babies. Meybuyan has breasts all over her body so she can feed these babies.

 

What this particular story implied is that there were many infant deaths among ancient Filipinos, and so this goddess Meybuyan gave them comfort to know their babies would be cared for by her.

I was surprised when I went into a museum in Italy and saw the statue of a goddess with breasts all over her body. This made me feel ancient Filipinos were connected with other ancients.

 

7.      How do you remain innovative in your writing?

I don’t go out of my way to be innovative but just write what is in my head demanding form. What I mean is I will have a number of ideas, images, perhaps, snatches of dialogue all mixed up in my head, and I have to figure them out in my writing. That is sometimes how my stories come about. In other words, in many cases, I do not really choose my stories, but they choose me.

 

8.     Who is your main target audience?

I do not generally think about who my main target audience is. I work at giving form to the story in my head. The evolving story will reveal itself to be meant to be read by children or teens or grownups. After I have a better sense of what the story is, then I edit the language accordingly. By this I mean if the story is clearly meant for children, then I make sure the language and scenes are appropriate for them.

 

 

9.      Is there a specific reason why most of your novels are mostly based during the time of World War II, aside from you being born near that time? Is there a special message or learning that the readers can get from it? 

 

The Philippines has had to deal with many wars and troubles: Spanish American War, Philippine American War, World War II, Martial Law, Extrajudicial killings, to name a few. These events affect Filipinos and the Philippines deeply. It takes years to recover from the destruction, carnage, and trauma.

In fiction writer’s language, what people go through during these difficult times is Conflict, and Conflict is the stuff for storytelling.

 

Certainly it is essential for Filipinos and others to remember what happened during these times of trouble, so that we learn from these mistakes.

 

There is an important quote, “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.”  We Filipinos need to remember and know our history to avoid repeating wars, dictatorships, oppression, and so on.

 

 

10.  What are some challenges you faced as a young writer (especially in the Philippines)?

By the time I started writing I was in the United States, but I think all beginning writers face the same challenges of learning the craft and business, of getting their work published and dealing with rejections. It is not an easy path because there are many obstacles. In my case, I felt I could not do anything else except try to give form to the stories in my head in the best way I could.

 

11.   Would you say being an author is something worthwhile?

If it is money and fame you want, then you should not try to be a writer, because most writers don’t make money and don’t achieve fame.

Otherwise, it is enervating to finally give beautiful form to a story that is still fuzzy and unclear in your head. It is also satisfying when the work is published and enjoyed by others. This latter is gravy because just creating the story is a great achievement in itself.

 

12.  Is there any advice you would want to give to young aspiring writers?

My advice is to read and read and read, and read the kind or work you would like to produce. If you want to be a poet, read the best poetry; if you want to be a novelist, read fine novels.

Next, write a lot.

Third, take writing classes so you learn the craft. There are skills that one can learn in good writing classes.

 

 

13.  Based on your personal experience, what do you think would interest people, especially the youth, to write and read more local literature?

I think all homes should have books and written material, including Filipino literature. Parents, teachers should encourage reading from the time children are young. In this age of social media and short twitter bytes, it seems a challenge but I have found many young people interested in reading. They just need to be encouraged; they need to be exposed. I also think parents should discourage long engagements with the cell phone – texting, social media, etc. There are other things to do, and young people should be reminded to do sports, to read, to garden, to help around the house. They need a variety of activities, and reading should be part of that repertoire.

 

14.  What are ways to encourage the youth to read when most of them find “historic” stories uninteresting?

There are many other types of stories to read: folklore, science fiction, mysteries, horror, comedy, thrillers, etc. Even graphic novels can be very interesting.

 

15.   Do you think language (knowing that most Filipinos prefer the English language) is a barrier to appreciating and promoting Philippine literature?

I read and write in English and many of my stories are set in Ubec (Cebu backwards), with Filipino characters. There are many fine Filipino literature stories written in English.

 

16.  Out of all your works, do you have a favorite? Why or why not?

See number 3

 

17.   Are you working on something new now?

Yes, I am but like many writers I don’t like to talk about my writing project. If one talks about their writing project, it could die. In other words, it will lose energy. It is better to let the work percolate in one’s head and work on it rather than to talk it to death. 

 

Watch also THE CEBUANA IN THE WORLD: Cecilia Manguerra Brainard Writing Out of Cebu  

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