AWA Member Spotlight: Suzanne Scott Tomita

by Mandakini Arora

Suzanne Scott Tomita has lived in Tunisia, Canada, Venezuela, Germany, Australia, the United Kingdom, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Japan, and Singapore. As a teenager she regularly visited Singapore, and from 2009 she lived here for two years with her husband and three children. She returned in 2021 with her husband and youngest child. She has a PhD in Education and has worked in higher education and healthcare philanthropy. 

Suzanne joined AWA in 2021 after attending the Welcome Fair. She is active in the Walk & Hike group.

She published her first novel, Until Even the Angels (Penguin Random House SEA), in 2024 (see review, this issue) and is working on her second. 

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Congratulations Suzanne! How did your novel originate?

Whenever I write I start with a visceral feeling. Adoration, fear, disgust — whatever the feeling, it is telling me something. When we moved to Singapore in 2009, on my walks around Mount Rosie and Malcolm Road I was drawn to the black and white houses. They held mystery. Who lived there, who loved there, who worked there?

A voice in my head began demanding I tell their story. I started writing in my journal about a girl who is a domestic worker in one of these houses.

Did you start the book in 2009? 

Yes. It took me fifteen years to finish. I was raising a family and working. But that voice, the voice of my main character, Mei Mei, never left me.

The analogy I use is sewing. I grew up watching my mother, a seamstress, choose fabric, choose the pattern, cut the fabric, pin it, and over time her work became a beautiful blouse or a dress. So, I had a collar, a sleeve, as in I had dialogue, plot, characters. But not the crushing deadline to, “Come on! Pull this all together.”

Claire Keegan’s classes — wasn’t she formidable! — in the Asia Creative Writing Programme in 2023 (where I first met you) got me serious about finishing. I shared the first three chapters with Penguin Random House Southeast Asia. They emailed, asking, Who are you? Tell us about you. Two months later, they asked for the complete manuscript. So, I just had to sit down and sew it together. 

Who are you? Tell us about you.

A child of Canadian diplomats who grew up overseas representing Canada but never really living in Canada. I always had this sense of not belonging, common to creatives. This insider-outsider feeling. Chameleon-like, you can be anyone’s friend, but what is your true story?

Also, I was a young woman in Indonesia in the 1980s and have a body memory of being thirteen, around Mei Mei’s age when her primary friendships begin. I recall that time — the smells, the food.

I have an affinity with Southeast Asia. I married a man of Asian heritage. Many paths brought me to Singapore since I was eleven. I am fascinated by the layered history and culture, the languages, and religions on this island — a rich discovery for my novel. 

Were you always a writer?

I really thank my eighth-grade teacher at Jakarta International School, who got me into being a reader. I always kept a journal. I wrote letters prolifically. That was part of making sense of my world. I never had the same childhood friends all along, I never had the same house all along — not uncommon for expat kids.

When my writing was published in the Globe and Mail — more memoir, stages of life —people said, “Hey, what you say resonates.” And I thought, Maybe there’s something here. It’s legit.

How did you finish the book?

I played with structure and voices and have a whole slush file of discarded chapters. This could have been a 500-page family saga, which might have been interesting! The editorial team at Penguin Random House Southeast Asia were really helpful. And they wanted the manuscript in fourteen weeks. So that meant I had to finish.

Did you put everything else aside?

I couldn’t! I was mothering, wifing, working. But I did like to be left alone after work in the evenings. My husband took on all the cooking, which was a huge gift. And I got the book done. When I have more time, I use it frivolously. Working full time and caring for my family sharpens the time I do have for writing.

What is your writing routine?

I’m not so much a plotter as a pantser, following characters’ needs, challenges, motivations. I start my day with a walk, which helps me to get into the voice of the characters. The perfect writing day is a long stretch of uninterrupted time to settle into my story. 

Were you nervous writing about Singapore characters?

No. I needed to listen attentively to Mei Mei’s voice and write with a sympathetic, universal integrity. I worked to equip myself with historical knowledge, not letting it restrict me. I researched the 1950 Maria Hertogh riots and found a way for the story to brush up against Maria, the child, and to honor her.

Rick Rubin’s book The Creative Act has been useful, as has Josephine Chia’s Ayam Buah Keluak and the Art of Writing, a memoir about living creatively. 

Where did your title come from?

Art influences art. Once, while driving, I heard music so beautiful that I had to pull over. I noted the title of the song: “Until Even the Angels.” The composer wrote it in response to a poem of the same name by Dorothy Walters. Now I have written a book with this title, in which the characters search for what their hearts want. Bad forces mean waking up the angels to say, “Just help us out here!” 

Given how many places in the world you have lived in, Suzanne, I have to ask: Where is home?

Home is Canada, because that’s where my parents and my children are. But I do get, every two to three years, anxious for a change. I’m trying to create the page as home. I find that really grounding. Sometimes it’s hard, but if, as a writer, you can show up for the page, that’s enough. 

Suzanne's book, Until Even the Angels, can be purchased on Amazon here. For more information on Suzanne, click here.

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	Mandakini is a historian who enjoys reading and writing stories and browsing in secondhand bookstores. Read her book reviews here and on Instagram: @travelling_bookmark.   (https://www.instagram.com/travelling_bookmark)