SHE is the author of the popular ‘Perfect’ series of books on Wattpad and has to date well over 160 million reads and won the People’s Choice Award in the Wattys competition in 2015 and 2016; and her books have been available in print since 2019.
Claudia Tan is also a singer songwriter who strums her feelings on her ukulele.
This adult romance writer, who graduated from Lancaster University with a BA in English Literature & History, has been writing since she was 13.
“ I was writing lots of stuff, I think I was already writing a novel before I got on Wattpad. It was a very sad one, about 50,000 words. I never showed it to anybody expect my good friends. That was the beginning of my writing journey. Then I hit on Wattpad and began writing stuff.
That is when my writing journey started.”
She is now a best-selling author. But which came first? The novelist or the musician?
“I was really interested in writing. I definitely wanted to be a writer and do it full time. When I was in university I fell in love with music.”
She did not take the music aspect as seriously then.
“ I found that writing books really helped me when it came to writing my music. I did really find that it was something good and that I could do something great with it.”
Perfect Illusion and Perfect Addiction were both available in print in 2019. Perfect Redemption was printed in 2020.
Tan was always a fan of the romance genre. “ I was reading a lot of novels in my teenage years and I found a lot of comfort in these stories. It allows me to explore personal emotions that come with teen life, things like love and sexuality. I did find a lot of comfort in that genre especially when it comes to emotions.”
When asked if she is going to write more books with the word Perfect as a title, she said, “I think the series is done for now. I think I sort of retired the series at the moment. I have already put a nice bow to it and there is nothing to add to it. When I come out with more books, it will not have Perfect on the title, it would be something else.”
Perfect Addiction which is set in the kickboxing world is going to be adapted into a movie and is currently in the early pre production stage.
The story is about Sienna a kickboxing trainer who discovers that her boyfriend Jax has been cheating on her with her own sister. She decides to train Jax’s nemesis Kayden in order take away Jax’s reigning championship title. However sparks fly between them instead.
The movie will be produced by Wattpad Studios, together with Constantin Film and Jeremy Bolt, the production company and producer behind Resident Evil.
“They are working on a script but I am not working together with the scriptwriters. I have given some input. I can’t really tell you the process because I am learning as I go.”
However the producers have assured her that the essence of her story will be retained. “They promised that they won’t stray too far from the original plot.
Perfect Redemption features Jax and seems to be a sequel to Perfect Addiction.
“Yes. I would describe it as more of a spin off. You can read it as a standalone book and readers can also enjoy it as a consecutive story.”
So how similar or different is writing songs to writing a novel?
“It is similar but different at the same time. When it comes to songwriting, there is a different kind of class to it. When it comes to words you can only say so much in a song. When you have the opportunity to write 50,000 to 80,000 words (in a novel) there is no limit to what you can say.
Writing books helps when it comes to honing my skills as a storyteller.”
Her books begins with friction between the protagonists before leading to love and understanding.
“I have always been interested in the idea of redemption,” said Tan who says she enjoys the complex character arc in stories. “Even when the character comes across as bad, there is some good in them. They are not black or white at all. I really love to put them in situations to expose these parts of their characters.
“It offers a challenge to writers like me to come up with such amazing and complex characters.”
Being a successful author must have helped promote her career as a singer songwriter.
“I am not sure. My writing career is one thing and my music career is another. I have different personas in trying to separate them both. When it comes to my music, I would like to be known as the girl who writes good music.”
Tan says she has no plans to write a new book for now. “I will go back to writing books when I have a story to tell.”
As for composing Perfect Addiction’s movie soundtrack, Tan said, “It may be a possibility. I am definitely open to that.”
