Ha Jin

From an interview, Ha Jin's views on writing:

"You can get into a short story and get it out easily. If I work on a novel, I have to immerse myself in it for a long time completely. You are just absorbed by the work, so it is a very hard process, and sometimes I don't have the time and leisure to do that. As for poetry, it's pure luck. You don't know whether this will work, and you just try and try. I abandon a lot of poems, so I think it is a high order of writing. It's harder and it depends on luck. Sometimes you write a poem without much effort but it works well and sometimes you just work for months on one but it doesn't work."

For more information and interviews, check out:

www.guernicamag.com/spotlight/258/post/
www.powells.com/authors/jin.html
www.onpointradio.org/shows/2007/11/novelist-ha-jin/
www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/1246_the_forum/page17.shtml