Twisted coincidence' drove Malcom Seah to finish debut novel

In the sterile quiet of a ward at Mount Alvernia Hospital, Malcom Seah found his way back to a story he had set aside.

- Srinidhi Ragavendran

The 24-year-old began writing his debut novel in 2021 during national service. He spent the first month sketching out characters and mapping the plot.

But it was not until his mother suffered a brain haemorrhage later that year that he returned to the manuscript with renewed urgency and clarity.

"My life just changed 180 degrees," says the economics and global Asia undergraduate at Singapore Management University.

"Even before it happened, I always knew the climax of the book would centre on the character Meredith's accident. I knew it would have something to do with the brain. But I hadn't quite figured it out. Then suddenly, my mum was in hospital because of a brain haemorrhage. It felt like a very twisted coincidence."

Initially hesitant to revisit the manuscript, Seah eventually turned to writing as a way to process the upheaval.

"The only way I knew how to cope was to channel everything into the story," he says.

Over the next three months, he wrote daily at his mother's bedside as she recovered.

"A major part of the book was written there," he says. The first draft took just two months to complete.