How My Secret Obsession With A Movie Led Me to Write a Book Series
Updated: Aug 28
It all began with a movie that captured my attention—The Joy Luck Club.
As a Vietnamese immigrant growing up in the U.S., I was surrounded by Western literature and other media. So I had yet to see myself or my culture reflected accurately in any stories. Yes, there were Vietnam War movies—some quite profound and some too preachy or, on the opposite side, glorified war too much. Usually those movies were told through an American's perspective.
That all changed when the movie The Joy Luck Club (1993) came out in theatres. I was so moved and intrigued from a viewing of the film that I went and bought the book by Amy Tan that the movie is based on. And I bought more of Tan’s novels. Voraciously, I devoured those novels.
For the first time, I encountered female Asian characters who spoke and acted like me—modern Asian-American women, whose words and actions felt authentic and relatable. The women written by Amy Tan may be Chinese but obviously, there are many cultural and social similarities with the Vietnamese culture. I guess they were "close enough" to my ethnicity that differences didn't bother me at the time.
Anyhow, the book deeply moved me. The many-layered backstories of the mothers were written so well—each one a complex tapestry of love, loss, sacrifice, and self-worth. Their relationships with their daughters, shaped by generations of cultural traditions and personal experiences, left an lasting impression on me. I cried at the sad points in the movie, especially when the innocent baby boy was killed. Whoops... I may have spoiled a few details for someone.
My Secret Obsession
As an avid consumer of media (not always a good thing, I know), I'm drawn to historical movies and tales of ancient dynasties, legendary battles, and grand castles where residents were besieged. Much of that admittedly was tied to martial-arts action, revenge-driven movies. But there were also fantasy tales with dragons and people flying in the skies as they fought with kung fu and karate moves.
Each of these stories, whether it was portrayed on film or read on paper, made me feel a connection to those who lived long ago.
The more I explored through reading, the more I realized I needed to write and share stories—because I had all these ideas brewing in my brain. So my adventure as a storyteller began.
As I read almost all of Amy Tan's books, I found myself enthralled with Asian history. It is so voluminous—thousands of years full of war and drama. I previously was not that enthusiastic a reader. But things were changing, thanks to the spark that Ms. Tan lit in me through that movie. Knowing how nerdy all this was, I kept my interest under wraps, my secret obsession.
Simultaneously, I was drawn to Western fiction, reading many books by famous popular authors: Anne Rice, Dean Koontz, Stephen King, Lois Lowry, J.K. Rowling, Rick Riordan, Hugh Howey, Tim LaHayes/Jerry Jenkins, and Suzanne Collins among others.
Yearning for More Culturally-Diverse Authors
I yearned for more—feeling the strong urge to receive exposure to authors with culturally diverse backgrounds. I hungrily sought out Vietnamese authors (there weren't too many who wrote in English at the time).
I did find, through an on-line library, a wonderful story of a young Vietnamese girl—once she had immigrated to America and had to go to school. It used poetry format to tell of her struggles fitting in with American culture and lifestyle. If only I read this several years earlier when I struggled with the same stuff!
For another weekend, I stumbled upon a novel by an African female author, though I've since forgotten her name or the book’s title. But the characters—mother, son, sleazy husband—have stayed with me to this day. I cried at the tragic end of the protagonist. It may have been a novel, but it spoke truth to me in so many ways.
One novella portrayed a young girl defying social norms in medieval France (or possibly Denmark?), standing out for its simplicity and authenticity. It didn’t preach and complain about how badly women are treated. Life is not fair, and there is so much injustice everywhere. The protagonist girl persisted at fighting against the odds and achieved her dreams, leaving another lasting impression on me.
I have to mention a final novel with compelling characters who have taken residence in my mind is The Kite Runner. The author’s characters drew me into the world of Afghanistan during its collapse under the Taliban, making it impossible to forget. The servant boy’s sincere devotion and behavior still linger in my mind—a testament to the power of storytelling to connect us across culture and space.
There were many, many other books and stories I read that I know I should call out for leaving indelible marks in my gray matter—The Giver series by Lois Lowry, Interview with the Vampire series by Anne Rice, and The Left Behind series by Tim LaHayes and Jerry Jenkins.
The Proof Is In the Characters
Slowly I realized that dynamic characters in stories stay with me—hold valuable stock within my consciousness. As youngsters, we are exposed to simple stories with archetypal characters: heros, villains, kings, queens, dragons, fairies, trolls, and monsters. As we grow older, we are exposed to many complex stories with all sorts of characters. Some of them aren't easily categorized as heros or villains.
Yet the characters that truly stand out have pecularities, habits, or names that stay with you. Remember Snow White, Cinderella, Tinker Bell, Harry Potter, Voldemort, or the vampire Lestat?
Ok, Lestat is not as widely known as the other characters, but I'm forever an Anne Rice fan at heart—God bless her soul. Maybe I should read her Mayfair Witches series. But my strategy at "not tainting through close imitating" has to be upheld, at least until I complete The Watch books.
My subconscious aim is to write in a combined style like two authors: Lois Lowry (simple, unpretentious, and concise words for the word paintings in her description) and Anne Rice (sensual, lush, and extravagant words, which churn out vivid word paintings at opportune moments). But since I admitted my goal, it isn't subconscious anymore, you say? You got me.
There's a fine line in which I walk, and probably many other writers as well: as an avid reader, I don't want to "simply copy" another author's ideas or style. At times, though, I knowingly imitate someone else's ideas, style, or elements they featured in their works. They were so brilliant at doing this unidentified task, I should give it a go too. Only I will give it my particular Mel Bridges flavor.
Anyhow, I digress—my late-onset ADHD is in full-blown active mode. Back to the previous thread about my secret obsession.
I felt myself needing to write stories now—but with unforgettable characters. So I wrote a few short stories, à la Ray Bradbury style. The stories are stored somewhere in my past computer hard drives. We didn't have cloud computing when I started, folks. I'm a borderline dinosaur, even though I mainly wrote in Microsoft Word on the computer.
Back to the thread again: If anything, I knew that I wanted to write a longer story that people don’t easily forget. Trouble is, who do I want to write about? Which characters do I make up? I was always intrigued by the Trung sisters and how they continue to inspire Vietnamese people with their bravery.
Could I make these historical figures come alive through fiction? Would readers connect with them as I had? Would storytelling allow me to connect the past with the present, making history engaging and relatable?
Overcoming Hurdles
Writing historical fiction isn’t easy for me. It's not natural and rather complex to write fiction about historical people, paying attention to historical details and religious, political, and social norms of the appropriate times. I'd rather write without so many restrictions. But I've invested so much time already!
I started this novel around 2002, and it's been how long now? To be fair to myself, I was balancing motherhood, getting my master's degree, and other paid jobs while I was working on the Trung novel.
I had to balance accuracy with creativity, requiring careful thought and respect for the historical people I depicted. Research is time-consuming work; then your mind needs time to process facts and knowledge, weaving the different threads together with plot ideas that may resonate with readers. I had to interject modernism to these characters to make them relatable. This is a big, fat no-no for some historians, but my novel about the Trung sisters is supposed to have mythical and fantasy elements in it anyhow. So what if there's a bit too much modernistic tendencies in some characters?
As I delved deeper into storytelling, I realized that it's not just about gathering facts and having a good story. I had to craft an intricate web of characters, parallel plotlines, backstories, character motivations, and shared human experiences that would please readers.
My writing needed to improve and follow book writing "gold standards" or storytelling principles, e.g., show, don't tell, reveal details as needed, lay out character arcs for major characters, give realistic character motivations, follow the three acts framework for dividing the book, etc. I had to study extensively on the craft through the years to improve my writing. I've written quite a bit in the past, but not in novel format. I've written journals, essays, short articles, poetry, and research papers for school. But I had never written a novel. How hard can that be? I naively asked, as I began to work on the novel.
Even though I've read many good books, it's worlds apart different from writing a good story. That, my friends, is a whole different dragon to slay. Why is there an abundance of books out there on book authoring, if it's all that easy?
The necessary requirement was that I had to study book-writing and video tutorials on storytelling techniques. It was like exercising new muscles—mastering elements like character development, dialogue, description, setting, and plotting. I continue, every now and then, to study storytelling. Once a student, always a student...
Breaking Free from Rules
At first, I followed every dos and don'ts of writing. Eventually, the rules bogged me down and stifled my creativity. They continue to haunt me, in fact. I don't know if I'm following them too much or not enough. The rules didn't allow me to find my unique voice, making my writing sound forced and unnatural. Too descriptive sometimes, too sparse other times.
I’m still learning how to trust myself and let go of the fear of making mistakes. You need to make mistakes, I tell myself. Why? So I can learn to become a better writer. I doubt good writers start off not making mistakes.
I am a rebel at heart when it comes to many things, sometimes to my detriment but sometimes not. I’ve learned not to follow every expert’s advice. What works for them might not work for me, and I refuse to spend a fortune on marketing and building “buzz.” I’m still learning what works for me and what I still need to do—if I decide to continue to pursue this writing endeavor. Life is full of changes, after all.
Inevitably, I had to encounter self-publishing. It's an uphill battle of learning many disparate tasks—a process that’s overwhelming and fraught with scams trying to milk writers out of their hard-earned money. As someone who values frugality and prefers to keep my life private, I’m wary of social media and its potential for making us feel socially inadequate—for its manipulation of many aspects of our private life.
I'm mildly gifted with artistic ability as a self-taught painter and graphic designer. Plus I have enough computer savvy to learn new technologies and systems, being a computer programmer in another life (before my kids entered the arena). So those roles serve many uses as I go through some of these book authorship hoops.
Reflections
As I look back on my writing experiences, I’m still in the midst of the travels. “Journey” sounds too cliché and corny—a word that I often used in the past to describe my writing life. I’m still a beginner at authoring. The waves often threaten to crash over and drown me.
At other times, I can swim a good distance. I've gained endurance and strength. Yet there are times when I wish I could ride carefree as a passive passenger on a cruise ship—mindlessly consuming products and services without much design and purpose.
I don’t know if my writing aspirations would ultimately prove fruitful and rewarding, or more a chasing after a passing fancy. I sometimes feel no matter what I do, it will come down to a “for all is vanity” moment—"we all came from dust, we all end up as dust." But I genuinely love writing, particularly on subjects that I want to write about.
For now, I’ll continue to learn and adapt as I make mistakes and grow, staying true to myself and finding my writing voice.
By Mel Bridges
August 2026
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