Interview with Writer of "Last Tang Standing", Lauren Ho

This week we are excited to sit down with Lauren Ho, professional aid worker by day and kick-ass writer by night. We caught up with Lauren just as her second novel, Lucie Yi is Not a Romantic, is about to hit bookstores. Lauren shares with us where her inspiration comes from, her writing process and how she incorporates green habits into her daily life. 

Hi Lauren, please tell us a little more about yourself and what inspired you to become a writer.

I’m a former legal counsel and current humanitarian professional who now writes for pleasure. I have written and will have published two contemporary novels by the end of June 2022.

My debut novel, Last Tang Standing, was an international bestselling romcom/contemporary women’s fiction pitched as Bridget Jones’s Diary x Crazy Rich Asians and set in Singapore and Malaysia. It features a lawyer in her early 30s who’s trying to make partner while fending off the unhealthy interest her relatives have in her love life (or lack thereof). I wrote it for my younger self, who never really saw women of my cultural and ethnic background reflected in contemporary fiction published in English, and because after two years of performing amateur stand-up, I had amassed a crap tonne of good self-deprecatory jokes that were just dying for a complicated, flawed protagonist that could embody them on page. 

But I guess I’ve always been a writer since I wrote my first dirty limerick at the age of 12.

What does a typical day look like for you?

I bundle my first child to preschool, sit down at my day job and work, then write in the evenings after playing with my second kid… Hahah, more like, I try to write. Ahahaha.

Can you tell us more about your writing process and where you get inspiration for your characters and stories?

I was a full time writer in 2020-21 and I would fix a schedule for myself and hit a daily minimum goal of 1000 words, but 2022 has been a very busy year now that I’m working a day job again, so I basically write whenever I can, sometimes on my way to work on my phone.

I’ll be honest and say I don’t know where I get my inspiration for stories and novels from, but my stories are very character-driven, and these characters usually come to me fully-formed, complete with tics, flaws and baggage, out of the ether of my imagination. 

You are about to launch your second book titled “Lucie Yi is not a Romantic”. Can you tell us more about it?

My sophomore novel Lucie Yi is Not a Romantic follows Lucie Yi, a woman in her late-30s who, having given up on Mr. Right, joins an elective co-parenting platform to find a Mr Right Enough to have a kid with. When she falls pregnant, the co-parents return from NYC to Lucie’s  home country of Singapore to raise the child, but her ex-fiance and her family soon make what was supposed to be a straightforward arrangement complicated. 

It’s gotten rave reviews rom Kirkus Reviews and Booklist (starred) and has been featured on Must Read lists for publications such as Country Living, Cosmopolitan (UK), Betches, and has been praised by Jodi Picoult, Ali Hazelwood and Balli Kaur Jaswal, amongst others. 

We know that looking after the planet is equally important to you. How do you incorporate green habits into your daily life and teach your children about caring for the planet? Are there any resources, services or products in Singapore that you use in particular to help support a sustainable family lifestyle?

 I’m quite holistic about this, from mindfully reducing consumption of electricity and water to eating less red meat, recycling where possible and choosing foods with less disposable/plastic packaging. I like shopping at Scoop Wholefoods, for example, and most of my clothes do not come from fast fashion labels. If labeled so, I would choose vegan alternatives for beauty products where possible. I try not to over-order when dining out, and to eat local produce. I recognise that these are lifestyle choices I am able to make that might not be feasible for others, but I think as consumers, we should do what we can to make lifestyle changes adapted to our personal circumstances and comfort level. Cumulatively, these make a difference. 

The simplest thing you can do for the planet is eat less red meat, less meat, period. 

What are your favourite books to read to your children about our planet and the environment?

I don’t have a particular book I use to illustrate how important caring for the planet is, as I believe that caring for the planet begins with inculcating positive values like kindness and being considerate to others in a child. 

I did recently come across a book though called The Thirsty Moose (by David Orme and Mike Gordon), which is supposed to be based on a Native American folktale. It talks about what happens when a selfish moose drinks all the water in a river, and the consequences of that action on other animals.

Thanks for having me!

Lucie Yi  Is Not A Romantic is forthcoming this 21 June from all good bookstores in Singapore and via Amazon/BookDepositary/Google Books and Apple Books. You can preorder it from here:

Kinokuniya (Barnes & Noble equivalent in Singapore): https://bit.ly/3aHXDzV

BooksActually: https://bit.ly/3xlBS0E

You can follow Lauren Ho on Instagram here