Ask the Author: Syl Tang
Answered Questions (5)
Syl Tang
I would love to be in the party scene of the Great Gatsby.
Syl Tang
I am reading The Secrets We Kept which is about the role of literature and writers as political tools and weapons in foreign countries. I am also reading The Sixth Extinction and re-reading Rachel Carson's Silent Spring since I write a lot about food, climate change and keep track of such happenings as last year's sale of Monsanto.
Syl Tang
I am writing op eds about where the world is going. For example, I wrote a piece about Serena Williams, the backlash against her clothing choices and linked it to women in politics and the burqa bans.
Syl Tang
I am not a natural writer (meaning someone who wakes up and churns out pages!), and I think it is important to be honest about this. The reason is that with instant celebrity today, so many people feel that they can achieve something overnight. So I would simply say that my inspiration comes from wanting to tell an interesting story, in particular, one that hasn't really been told before (or at least not the way that I tell it) and then working hard to hone how you tell it again and again. It is truly okay to work hard at getting proficient at something, even if you don't feel you have natural talent.
Syl Tang
I have been a futurist for a couple of decades, analyzing for companies and also in my many articles, where the world is going. I wanted to give readers a combination of really great, interesting stories, connecting unusual touchpoints, as well as an applicable tool that they might be able to use to improve their own lives and a new lens with which to view the world.
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