Ding Yinuo is a popular senior at Nanjing Foreign Language School. In July 2018, her first short story collection One Hundred Overtones of Growing Up was officially published.
Do you still remember the sadness and indignation of having to abandon your lovely hydrogen balloon in the station of metro? Do you still remember the anxiety and flurry of failing to find the toilet as a new comer of school? Or do you still remember the hesitation and tension of making the decision that whether you should raise your hand or not in the open class? ……The subtle fluctuating emotions of children’s inner mind are caught by her acute heart. From the embarrassment and failure, she examines and rectifies herself; from the wish of equally communicating and confronting with people, she learns how to express herself; in the love and prejudice of the adults, she struggles in distraction and confusion......the overtones of children’s secrets on their way of growing up flows from her pen.
In Ding Yinuo’s words, we could see her brave heart depicting the inner world of her peer. With her careful observation and independent thinking of life, she wrote one hundred stories that only belonging to the youth and echoing the voice of their hearts. This collection is like a transparent mirror, for children could get resonance in it and adults could see their precious sketch of childhood in it.
An exclusive interview with Ding Yinuo is conducted. The following is the interview record:
Q: At the very beginning, what inspires you to write this book?
A: Most of stories in this book were written in my third year of junior high school. Only a few of them were written in my first year of senior high school. Many of them are records of my experiences and subtle feelings. I am also wondering why I could remember such little things that had happened in my earlier life so clearly. When I recalled something, the memory could draw more “insignificant” things out from my deeper mind. It always happens to me. But when I take a closer look at them, they are quite interesting. Maybe it’s just because I’m a caring and sensitive girl.
I want to record these precious feelings when I still could remember them. Writing about the stories that have happened around me and our inner hearts is too private to write it as a diary. Therefore, I create new roles and give them life to let them tell the stories, the feelings and the secretes instead of me and my friends. In this way, I could write down our private stories and share it with people. What’s more, because I haven’t written it at the time when it happened nor recorded it after a long time, I could not only retrospect and introspect it at a higher-level view, but also remember the feeling and the fluctuating emotions at that time.
Q: When you were writing, have you met any bottlenecks?
A: Almost not. My stories are short, even the longest ones are about 1500 words. Therefore, I have not met any serious bottlenecks. Many of my stories are about my friends. And after I finished one I would show it to them. When reading the story, they could found roles that based on them and sometimes burst into tears. It encourages me a lot. Maybe it’s one power that makes me stick to writing.
Q: How does reading influence your writing?
A: I think I haven’t developed a fixed writing style yet. Therefore, when I found books that I am interested in, I would try to imitate their styles. It’s interesting. When I was writing those stories, I was also reading the literary works for children like The Little Prince and The House on Mango Street etc. to see how they write stories. I wrote this book with the view of a child. Therefore, I chose simple words and wrote most dialogues in short sentences.
Q: How do you develop your hobbit of reading and writing?
A: My parents allow me to read all kinds of books. When I was very young, I was allowed to read all the books on our bookshelves. And my parents would only ask “Do you think it’s proper for a child at your age to read this book?” or so. Maybe because I have read many books for adults at an early age, I do not have much fantasy for fairytale world.
My reading speed is very fast. I could finish a book of normal thickness in about an hour. But if I want to take notes, it will take more time. I remember that once when I went to the US to have a summer course, I took Mu Xin’s The Memoir of Literature Volume 1 with me for insuring that I could have Chinese book to read abroad. However, I had not expected that I finished it on the way to America…It was a suffering—I had not got any Chinese book to read there.
As for writing, I keep doing it every day. It already becomes a part of my life. Actually, my life is being recorded continuously. The first writer of my life is my mother. She has a habit of writing blogs, so she records many moments of my childhood when I was very young. When I grew up, she printed it out and gave it to me. It was a thick “book”. And there are some stories make me blush. Anyhow, her blog makes me form the idea that writing is a common thing when I was a child.
Q: During the way of growing up, except for your family, is there any torchbearer or guide who influences you a lot?
A: Yes, my Chinese teacher in junior high school is such a person to me. When we were anxiously preparing for our senior high school entrance examination, at the morning reading time, she told us stories about sparrows in spring or read Mr. Yang Jiang’s prose to us. She is such a teacher. She encouraged me to try things that I could not even dare to imagine before, such as joining in the Reading Events and Foreign Language Festivals at school, writing plays, and even trying to be a director…Nearly all the compositions that I had written in the second year of my junior high school were read by our teacher to the whole class. You know, it means my composition is a good model for exams, so I did not get much sense of honor from it. However, when I was in my third year of junior high school, I started to write things that I want to write and did not follow the good model of “exam composition” anymore. Although I had got low points for several times, I felt very happy for I have got rid of the chain of “exam model”. In my junior high school years, she unlocked my chains and taught me how to write down my own ideas; at the same time, she also reminded me to write composition that is fit for the examinations. I owe her too much.
Q: How do you feel as a model child?
A: Oh thank you…but I am just a common girl. I think my friends around me are better. If there is anything of me that is deserved to be admired, it is my perseverance. I keep writing one article by another, day by day, till now.
Q: As for reading and growing up, have you got any advice that you want to share with the seniors?
A: Yes. As for reading, it is not that useful at the first glance and could not help you to get higher scores in Chinese language texts at once; actually it is very helpful in the long run. After you read a lot, you could understand people, society, feelings and other things better; and after you read the descriptions and stories in the books, you will feel familiar when similar things happen around you. Then you could understand the reasonability of the occurring and existence of these things.
As for growing up, every child will meet some troubles such as bad endings of some experience, being hurt or failure when growing up. But please remember, you have tried hard for it. Therefore, it’s not a shame.
Postscript of the interview:
Reading One Hundred Overtones of Growing Up is like listening to a little sister telling her secrets and her understanding of the world. You could feel that she is not pretending to be an adult nor childish. I also could feel that. Her thought is particular and sharp with a kind and innocent starting point.
Ding Yinuo said that, when she proofread the book, she read these stories that she had written in the junior high school years once again. She found that: “there are some sentences that I could not write now.” The way of growing up is a one way road. It makes us lost some emotions and change some ideas forever. “Therefore, I’m so fortunate that I have recorded something.” She said, “But I still accept the change that growing up brings me. I could accept the fact that I am becoming an adult.”
Maybe it’s just like what she has written in the book that, she is not afraid of hugging her future—“I am sure what does future look like. If I try my best, it must be bright.” I also believe that, because of her hard work, forthright and sincere, the wonderful future will come on time.
(Editor : Zhou Anqi ; Zhang Yuheng)
