Augustine Tan Fong Jian’s short story, The Healer, has been selected and published in the University of Nottingham’s spring issue of Particle Literary Magazine.
A student in the Bachelor of Engineering (Robotics and Mechatronics) course, Augustine has been writing short stories since he was 12, “I started creative writing as a way to express myself. I like creative writing because it gives me an outlet to explore new ideas and concepts, create compelling characters and entertain those who read my stories. I really enjoy the process of imagining how the plot unfolds and later attempting to convey it into words.”
Apart from creative writing, Augustine is a committed member of the Theatre Club and has acted in two of the club’s productions. When asked about what seem to be incongruous hobbies for an engineering student with a passion for computers, Augustine explained that “there are certain areas where my interests overlap. I love working with computers as they are powerful tools of our modern age. One great way to interact with computers is to write code and compile it into a working application. Coding can be an art of sorts, where many decisions in terms of style, structure and logic boil down to personal tastes and design philosophy. Thus, I do consider it to be a creative pursuit of sorts. Granted, computing is concerned with real-world application, while the arts are concerned with the humanities, but they are both our attempt at understanding how things work.”
A member of the informal Creative Writing Group here on campus, Augustine wrote The Healer in response to one of the weekly prompts given by the advisor and founder of group, Christina Yin, a Senior Lecturer in the School of Foundation Studies. Of the inspiration to write the story, Augustine said, “The inspiration behind The Healer comes from three facets: my fascination with spirituality, the practice of Chinese customs and two actual people who I have never met. I once attended a high school with Buddhism deeply ingrained in its philosophy, and I was, directly and indirectly, exposed to many Buddhist teachings. This experience really opened my eyes to other people’s beliefs, and it made me more appreciative of my own.”
Augustine joined the Creative Writing Group as a way to meet friends who enjoy creative writing and to improve on his creative writing skills. “I think that the group has been extremely beneficial because it has given me a platform to share my work with like-minded writers. Madam Christina Yin, who leads the group, provides us with a prompt every week to base our short stories on. In addition to giving me something to write about, these prompts have been invaluable for me in exploring different topics and aspects of writing. The Healer came about from one such prompt – the following sentence may appear anywhere in your story: “This was not the cure they’d been hoping for.” The version that I submitted to Particle Magazine still retains this very sentence!”
Asked about advice that he would give to budding creative writers, Augustine had this to say: “I would tell them to just keep writing and relish every moment of it. The process of writing is, more often than not, more rewarding than the reward of getting your work published. My advice to budding writers is to read a lot and be willing to receive constructive feedback. Learn to take rejection as you will face a lot of it when you submit your stories to various publishers. Lastly, never rest on your laurels and keep improving your writing skills.”
The Healer can be read by following this link to the Spring issue of Particle Literary Magazine, http://particle.sanottingham.org/the-healer/