After writing 14 drafts, making two trips to China and devoting one-fifth of her life to writing, author Lan Samantha Chang produced "Inheritance," a novel about family, Chinese politics and the passage of time.

Chang, a native of Appleton, read an excerpt of the novel to students, faculty and the public Monday night in the John P. Raynor, S.J. Library.

She took questions from the audience after the reading, which gave insight into the novel and her writing process.

"It covers a lot of time and there are a lot of characters," Chang said. "And there was an entire chunk of history I wanted to get in the book."

The book, set in the 1930s, focuses on two sisters in China struggling with their mother's death and ideas about women and marriage. Conflict between communists and nationalists also arise within the family and within the larger historical scope of the novel.

To learn more about Chinese history, Chang visited the country twice. During her second visit, she said she realized how different the country was from when her parents lived there.

"It was at that moment I realized that I was writing a historical novel," Chang said. "I tried to make everything as accurate as possible."

Though it is historically based, Chang's novel has a personal feel because its use of first person omniscient narration, a writing style in which a character who is all-knowing tells the story.

"I was glad I was given the space and time to figure out how I wanted it narrated," Chang said. "I had to choose someone from the middle generation (of the novel's family) to write the book… It's about memory and it's about the passage of time. It was the essential point of view, her telling the family legend."

Audience members appreciated hearing about Chang's personal writing process.

"It's really nice to have an opportunity like this through the university," said Heidi Pfeiffer, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences. "I'm currently taking a creative writing class, so it's super interesting to see someone who's actually done this type of work."

Teddy Monacelli, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, agreed.

"I just read 'Hunger,' her series of short stories, yesterday," Monacelli said. "I've never read anything then seen the author speak the next day… It was definitely interesting to get a firsthand account."

Chang's visit was sponsored by the English and History departments and funded by the Marquette Excellence in Diversity grant through the Office of Mission and Identity.

C.J. Hribal, professor of English and director of undergraduate studies, said Chang's place in American literature and her writing style led the departments to ask her to speak.

"One, she's a major contemporary American writer," Hribal said. "Two, she writes about immigrant experiences with power and subtlety. She also writes about history with great sweep and depth."

Chang is currently a Briggs-Copeland Fellow at Harvard University and will become director of the University of Iowa's Writers' Workshop in January.

This article was published in The Marquette Tribune on October 4, 2005.