Author’s Inspiration ~ Iris Yang

Writing changed my life.

I was a very negative person in an unhappy marriage, and I tried hard to change the situation. One book I read said that if you keep writing down five positive things a day, in twenty-one days you can change your negative thoughts. Being desperate, I was willing to try anything.

So I jotted down five positive things a day. It started with words or simple phrases. In time, words became sentences; sentences turned into paragraphs; paragraphs grew into pages. All positive. I didn’t change in twenty-one days. It took me two years. But the end result is remarkable. I’m no longer a negative person. This happened fifteen years ago, so it is a lasting transformation.

The side effects of this practice? I started writing short stories, then novels.

Wings of a Flying Tiger is my first full-length novel. Its sequel, Will of a Tiger, has also been accepted by publication by Open Books.

It is a work of fiction. But to me, a Chinese-American, it is also personal. I was born and raised in China. My mother and grandma had lived in Nanking and escaped from the city just days before the notorious Nanking Massacre when the Japanese soldiers slaughtered 300,000 innocent Chinese and raped 20,000 women in six weeks. Both my mother's and father’s families fled to Chungking, where Japanese frequently bombed the wartime capital. My father told me the repulsive smell of burning flesh, and as a young child, he had nightmares about the raids for several years. A good friend’s father drowned when Japanese attacked his boat; even unable to swim, he jumped into a river to avoid being blasted. A Japanese friend sincerely apologized for the atrocities her fellow countrymen had committed. She knew a former soldier who forced naked Chinese women to march with them to bring up their morale.

China was an isolated country while I was growing up. We were told that the Americans were “devils” and the American soldiers were crude and coward. I didn’t read anything about the Flying Tigers until I came to the US as a graduate student. I was touched once I learned the truth. And the more I read, the more I was touched. I wanted to thank the Flying Tigers. What is a better way to show my gratitude than writing a book about them?

The story of the Flying Tigers, a group of American volunteer pilots who helped China fight Japan in WWII, has been a fascinating and enduring topic for over seventy years. Most of the books, though, were nonfiction written from the perspective of the pilots. This novel is a rescue story from the points of view of both the airman and the Chinese who saved him.

As a Chinese, I’m thankful for the Flying Tigers’ bravery and sacrifice; without their help, the course of the Chinese history might have been changed, my family might not have survived, and I might not have existed.

As a U.S. citizen, I’m honored to write a book about the American heroes. It’s a privilege. A duty.

Writing changed my life.

I was a very negative person in an unhappy marriage, and I tried hard to change the situation. One book I read said that if you keep writing down five positive things a day, in twenty-one days you can change your negative thoughts. Being desperate, I was willing to try anything.

So I jotted down five positive things a day. It started with words or simple phrases. In time, words became sentences; sentences turned into paragraphs; paragraphs grew into pages. All positive. I didn’t change in twenty-one days. It took me two years. But the end result is remarkable. I’m no longer a negative person. This happened fifteen years ago, so it is a lasting transformation.

The side effects of this practice? I started writing short stories, then novels.

Wings of a Flying Tiger is my first full-length novel. Its sequel, Will of a Tiger, has also been accepted by publication by Open Books.

It is a work of fiction. But to me, a Chinese-American, it is also personal. I was born and raised in China. My mother and grandma had lived in Nanking and escaped from the city just days before the notorious Nanking Massacre when the Japanese soldiers slaughtered 300,000 innocent Chinese and raped 20,000 women in six weeks. Both my mother's and father’s families fled to Chungking, where Japanese frequently bombed the wartime capital. My father told me the repulsive smell of burning flesh, and as a young child, he had nightmares about the raids for several years. A good friend’s father drowned when Japanese attacked his boat; even unable to swim, he jumped into a river to avoid being blasted. A Japanese friend sincerely apologized for the atrocities her fellow countrymen had committed. She knew a former soldier who forced naked Chinese women to march with them to bring up their morale.

China was an isolated country while I was growing up. We were told that the Americans were “devils” and the American soldiers were crude and coward. I didn’t read anything about the Flying Tigers until I came to the US as a graduate student. I was touched once I learned the truth. And the more I read, the more I was touched. I wanted to thank the Flying Tigers. What is a better way to show my gratitude than writing a book about them?

The story of the Flying Tigers, a group of American volunteer pilots who helped China fight Japan in WWII, has been a fascinating and enduring topic for over seventy years. Most of the books, though, were nonfiction written from the perspective of the pilots. This novel is a rescue story from the points of view of both the airman and the Chinese who saved him.

As a Chinese, I’m thankful for the Flying Tigers’ bravery and sacrifice; without their help, the course of the Chinese history might have been changed, my family might not have survived, and I might not have existed.

As a U.S. citizen, I’m honored to write a book about the American heroes. It’s a privilege. A duty.

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