Women writers bond over words

Although each person's journey to writing is different — often sparked by a key event or person — the process is similar.

"We all embark on it with a mix of confidence and doubt", says Liao, 41. She adds that for her, writing is not easy, and continuing means overcoming laziness and fear.

"Choosing literature is not just about making a living, but about embracing a way of life, a way of thinking, and a way of being," she says.

At a time when media is developing fast, when people can discover the stories of others in many different ways, not just through literature, the meaning of writing and reading literature needs further consideration.

Although Gong's work touches on many actual events, her goal was not only to describe them, but to encourage readers to feel and think through other people's attitudes and responses to the events.

Talking about the relationship between writing and reality, the South Korean writer quoted words from the heroine of her novel, The Crucible. "'We fight all the way not to change the world, but to prevent the world from changing who we originally are'," Gong says. "In times of rapid change, certain things must be preserved, whether it be the dignity of life or our thoughts. I fight relentlessly to protect these values."

What Gong most wants to do is for her books, such as The Crucible and Outer Ocean Area, to "emit a signal like starlight" to those who yearn for some hope.

Qiao says that in Bao Shui, she depicted the village on which the novel is based, using plentiful details that not only convey simple concepts about village and family, but also symbolize kinship, individuals and the world, resulting in a complex contrast between fiction and reality.

In Malaysian writer Li's best-known book Worldly Land, she writes about her hometown of Ipoh, the fourth-largest city in Malaysia. She feels that few Malaysian writers can write about Ipoh, and while some can, their experience of Ipoh will be different to hers, and so if she doesn't write the stories, they will never be written.