Yvette Tan: on Writing, Mythical Creatures & “All The Birds”

Let’s get this out of the way right off the bat.  I’m a huge fan of Yvette Tan‘s horror & suspense stories.  Shortly after I had released 2011’s The Aswang Phenomenon documentary, I was perusing the shelves of National Book Store and came across her book “Waking The Dead and other horror stories”.   It was the first time I had read Philippine fiction and felt like someone had captured exactly what the world would be like if mythical beings existed among us.  It becomes a little more complicated when I try to explain how I think she does this.  It is almost easier to explain why I think others don’t.  There are thousands of incredibly talented authors in the Philippines, and dozens of them write horror, suspense, and fictional stories involving the mythical folkloric beings of the Philippines.  The truth about Filipino superstitions can be stranger than fiction.  I think many writers compensate for this by taking things over-the-top with violence, Western influence, or stripping away the native beliefs surrounding them.  Don’t get me wrong, these are wonderful stories, but they stray so far from early beliefs that I think the unique identity of these fantastic beings is lost.  Yvette’s stories completely encapsulate what I believe the original mindset was towards these creatures –  ‘mythical beings are not good or evil, they just do what they’re supposed to do.’  The horror in Yvette Tan’s stories come not from the ‘monsters’, but within her very real explorations of the human condition.

Last July, I received a Facebook message from Yvette asking, “Hey, do you want to read my new aswang story?” What followed was a draft of “All The Birds”, her contribution to the recent anthology from Summit Media entitled All That Darkness Allows: 13 Tales of Horror and Dread.  It is a beautiful look at how vulnerable traditions have become and challenges our views on what we think we know about aswang folklore.  It has stuck with me for months, so I decided to pick Yvette’s brain about how she creates such resonating stories.

All That Darkness Allows: 13 Tales of Horror and Dread is available in print and digital format. 

An Interview with Yvette Tan

1. I am always amazed at the sense of normalcy that exists in the worlds you create that include folkloric beings. How do you do that? What in Philippine society, or the Filipino psyche, makes this plausible?

I tend to write from the mindset I had when I was about six to eight, when I would overhear adults tell stories about ghosts and kapres and duendes matter-of-factly, the same way other people would trade gossip. And I had my own experiences, too. My mom used to take us to a hilot, for example, and once, she had someone make tawas in our house. Turned out we had duendes that we had to appease. I think that’s part of the Filipino psyche, the casual acceptance of the natural and the supernatural. That, plus my tendency to take everything at face value (I was so gullible I thought the wind could knock on doors until I was in high school. Weirdly though, I found it impossible to believe, from day one, that Santa was real. Go figure.), makes it easy for me to write the way I do. I never even thought about it until you brought it up, actually.

 

2. When you write about mythical beings, where do you separate the human elements from the monster? Or is there any separation at all?

I’m not sure what you mean. I don’t think there’s a separation, unless it’s biological. Like, a manananggal can split itself in half, but it still has feelings. A person can be good looking, but they can still be unnecessarily hurtful to others. A sigbin might act more like a canine than homo sapien, a tiyanak might act like a toddler, albeit a preternaturally strong, predatory one.

 

3. Your story All The Birds is included in the horror anthology All That Darkness Allows. Was there a particular theme or aspect of Philippine beliefs that you wanted to explore with this story?

I kind of made a mistake there. In my head, I was exploring the death of a manananggal who had stopped eating meat a long time ago, but I think I ended up writing about the death of an albularyo. Thank you for pointing that out. The black chick is from manananggal lore. I’ll have to revise that, though I like it the way it is.
(*me too)

 

4. Is there any sort of catharsis that occurs when you write your darker stories?

The satisfaction and relief of having completed something that’s been banging on the inside of your head. It’s out of your head now. You can rest a bit, at least until the next idea, which you hope comes soon.

 

5. If you had to chose a folkloric, or mythical creature to actually exist, which one would it be and why?

Enkantos, because they are magical, and they are hot. Hey, I never said I was deep. Also tikbalangs.

 

6. What can readers expect from you in the future? Any chance of Waking The Dead Vol. 2?

I’m hoping to release Waking the Dead on ebook. I’m also looking to release Seek Ye Whore and Other Stories, my second short story in English collection, also in digital format. I’m also part of 8List’s October thing, where they got a bunch of writers to read their horror stories out loud for a podcast. I had a lot of fun writing that. It was one of those things that came easily and got finished in an afternoon. I also wrote a feature film called Ilawod, which means ‘downstream’ in Tagalog. It stars Ian Veneracion, Iza Calzado, Epi Quizon, Harvey Bautista, Xyriel Manabat, and Teri Malvar. It’s directed by Dan Villegas, whose shots I adore. I’m pretty excited about it and I hope everyone likes it.

All That Darkness Allows: 13 Tales of Horror and Dread is available this month at your favourite bookstore for only 250 pesos.  Her books, Waking the Dead and Kaba, are available in major Philippine bookstores.

Yvette Tan on Facebook
8list – Demon Summoning Made Easy: Introduction by Yvette Tan
Ilawod on Facebook