THE BOOKWORM TALKS TO WENDY NELSON TOKUNAGA,
Author of  Midori by Moonlight    (St. Martin’s Press, September 2007)

Her short stories have appeared in The Abiko Literary Quarterly Review, The Plaza, and Yomimono, among others. She has drawn on her extensive experience in studying the Japanese language and culture; living, working and playing in Japan; and her cross-cultural marriage to create a story about fresh-from-Japan Midori Saito who suddenly finds herself on her own and lost in translation in San Franciscoas she searches for her American Dream. Tokunaga is currently working on her second novel and is a second-year student in the MFA in Writing program at Universityof San Francisco. For details on Wendy’s appearances in October, visit her Web site at: www.WendyNelsonTokunaga.com

When did you start writing?

I started writing fiction in the early 1990s when I was working at an information company in Silicon Valley writing summaries of computer articles for searchable databases. Many of my coworkers were aspiring fiction writers and I was inspired to take a nighttime creative writing course at a local community college. I ended up taking three semesters of the course and as a result produced several short stories that I ended up getting published in several Japan-related literary journals. 

What inspired you to choose your subject matter?

My novel, Midori by Midnight, is about a young Japanese woman who has always felt like a stranger in a strange land in Japan, the country where she was born and raised. My husband, also from Japan, feels too like he never fit in there and came to the United Stateswhen he was eighteen and never returned home. I wanted to explore this theme and what happens to people when they have to trade in their native culture for a new one.

How difficult / easy has your experience been as a published author?

So far it’s been both exciting and challenging. I find it is wise never to assume anything and to always be ready for the unexpected. There have been many new things to learn, especially in the arenas of marketing and promotion, but all in all, it’s been a very positive experience and one that I have been looking forward to for a long time.

What advice would you give other aspiring authors?

For aspiring novelists I would say that you have to first discipline yourself and finish that novel. Get good feedback from readers you trust and admire, then revise. Then maybe you will have to revise again. Once the book is as good as it can be, start querying agents. Don’t give up if you get rejected—it’s all part of the process. Keep going. And sometimes you won’t hit with your first book. Midori by Midnight is my debut novel, but is actually the fifth novel that I have written..

Are you a WNBA-SF member and a published author? Would you like to share your story with WNBA-SF? Contact newsletter editor Patricia Lynn Henley (wnbaeditor@vom.com) about being featured in the Member Profile section of the BookWorm.