What Writing Is
Shi Min Xie Writing is freedom. You may not realise it, but it is. Writing is casting magic spells and slaying the dragons. It is being your own hero and showing yourself that…
Shi Min Xie
Favourite Short Stories
Short stories are underrated. People don’t buy short story collections by writers and would rather buy novels. But I often get to see a writer’s skill in his/her short stories,…
The Poppy War — A Review
The Poppy War is one of those books that I just couldn’t stop reading. Once I opened it, I couldn’t stop. Yet, when I finished reading, I wanted to read…
32 Yolks — A Review
A former student of mine got me to read out of my comfort zone, and for once, I am glad I did so. I don’t normally dive into memoirs, but…
The Witch and The Bird
All forests lead to this one. It doesn’t matter which country, state, or province you are in. The forest exists in a time out of time. In the middle of…
The Bear and The Nightingale — A Review
When I was a child, I liked reading about Russian fairytales. Some of them were about Ivan (and in Russian fairytales, there was always an Ivan) and his firebird, and…
People in real life who resemble characters in my book
It’s quite narcissistic to think that the people I meet resemble the characters in the creative projects I’m working on, but I can’t help it. Usually, I design characters but…
Books I Decided to DNF (Do Not Finish)
There are books that I do not finish, but I don’t remember them. I only remember my favourite books, and those that are particularly wonderful. But I hate not finishing…
We are killing students’ creativity… and here’s what we can do about it
Note: The thoughts in this entry are my own. Before I graduated from university, I was teaching an incredibly smart Primary 5 (and later, Primary 6) kid. He was fascinated…
Why I like One Punch Man
My friend introduced One Punch Man to me fairly recently, and I was not disappointed. Of late, I have been disappointed with anime — I tried getting into One Piece…