Despite having busy careers in medicine, two physicians based at Bangkok Hospital have made a name for themselves penning novels. Dr Pongsakorn Chindawatana discovered his flair for writing from the age of seven, while Dr Kudkanang Mingmitpattanakul began plotting stories after the birth of her second child.
Their medical schooling contributed to an ability to think systemically when creating stories, and combined with their vivid imaginations has led to enthralling fiction.
Life talked to the two doctors about their passion for writing and how they got this far in the world of literature.
Dr Kudkanang Mingmitpattanakul.
Dr Kudkanang Mingmitpattanakul
Ten years a novelist, Dr Kudkanang Mingmitpattanakul has evolved in her style, with a preference for penning detective and mystery stories.
Today, she's much happier as a writer since her stories are likely to receive the thumbs up from publishers.
"The beginning was a struggle since my early works were rejected by publishers. It was like failing exams," said Dr Kudkanang, whose maternity leave gave her time to pen stories inspired by a Taiwanese series starring boy band F4.
Dr Kudkanang was crazy about them, drawing inspiration from the four singers to create characters for stories that were posted on the F4 fan club website.
While F4 fans loved her work, publishers suggested she work on Thai characters that would relate to a wider audience.
Later, under Sataporn Books, she gave birth to Khun Chai Puttipat, the blue-blooded neurosurgeon who is one of the five Chuthathep brothers. The 2013 TV adaptation was a phenomenon.
Khun Chai Puttipat returns in a rerun on Channel 3, weekdays from 2.15pm.
"My characters often come from friends and people surrounding me. Khun Chai Puttipat was inspired by my uncle, who helped me define the protagonist, but the story isn't based on his life as a surgeon," said Dr Kudkanang, who goes by the pen name "Kao Tam", referring to a luck-bringing cat. The Suparbburut Chutathep series was written by five novelists, who have teamed up again for a sequel. They also wrote The Sixth Sense series about five young women, each with a different ability to connect with the dead.
Maya Roi Jai, one novel from The Sixth Sense series.
"With an intertwining plot, we have to ensure that the nature of the characters remains the same across the five novels," she said. "We throw ideas on the table so that any one of us can use them in our stories. We also criticise each other's work to ensure that our novels don't fail our fans."
At the moment, she's working on a trilogy, with one novel already published. She doesn't need a quiet corner to let her imagination flow. Her writing is regularly done at coffee shops to while away time before picking up her two children from tutorial classes.
"I am an on-the-go writer making the best use of time. Waiting for a patient to give birth, I can get some writing done.
"It is much less stressful than delivering babies," she said.
Before becoming a writer, the doctor took stress home with her. Creating fiction takes her into another world.
"It's relaxing, it's fun, and I am always excited about what's going to happen next in my novels," she said. "Writing the ending is the most difficult part. I have to thoroughly read from the beginning to review the story, see what I have missed out and decide on the best ending."
She shies away from penning sad stories and tragedies because she doesn't like to read them.
"People already face a stressful life, and I want my novels to be an entertaining and inspiring read to keep them going," she said.
Dr Pongskaorn
Dr Pongsakorn Chindawatana
With many of his books adapted to become prime time TV dramas, Dr Pongsakorn Chindawatana is delighted to see his characters come to life on the small screen.
It came as a big surprise though when he learnt that Than Chai Hoshi, from Kolkimono, would be portrayed by megastar Thongchai "Bird" McIntyre. The romantic fantasy, aired on Wednesday and Thursday nights, concludes this week.
Kolkimono is one of the novels from a series inspired by Asian fabrics, with previous TV adaptations Sarb Poosa, Roy Mai and Qipao achieving good ratings.
"When I wrote Sarb Poosa, I didn't intend to make it a series. Research on fabrics gave me too much information to put into one novel. It would have become a documentary if I had incorporated everything. The research also expanded, giving me interesting material to write more novels based on fabrics of different countries in the region,'' said Dr Pongsakorn.
The research, compared to journeying on a "Silk Road", began from Laos to Lanna, Myanmar, India, China and Japan, with the physician learning of different cultures, fabrics, folklore, as well as ghosts.
So far, it has resulted in seven titles under different genres. However, the stories bear his trademark of being based on anthropology, with a supernatural element.
"I believe in the supernatural as there are many things that cannot be explained by science," he said. "I like reading novels about ghosts and it's fun to write them too. I'm not so keen on writing romances though."
While all of the fabric-based novels feature ghosts, they have different themes. For instance, Sarb Poosa is a horror and Qipao is a murder/detective story.
All in all, he has been writing stories for almost four decades, starting from the tender age of seven, and turning professional in his early 30s.
"It began with writing stories and sending them to children's magazines to win prizes such as sets of coloured pencils and books. I still have a Thai version of Little Lord Fauntleroy, one of the prizes," he said. "My mother was a teacher, and our house kind of had its own library with many books for me to read. That further fuelled a love of reading and writing."
Thongchai 'Bird' McIntyre portraying Than Chai Hoshi in the TV version of Kolkimono.
At 11, he wrote Pookpui, which was published in a youth magazine. He received 200 baht for the short story. The writing paused when he went to high school and medical school, and resumed when taking a scholarship in the US, where he had time to pen stories in-between studying communication medicine.
His novels were first published as episodes in women's magazines, before being compiled in books by various publishers. Boasting an increasing numbers of titles, the doctor co-founded his own publishing house, giving his novels a consistent identity.
His works are sought after by production houses, with Kamlai Mas another TV adaptation by Broadcast Thai Television planned for broadcast later this year. The production houses now consult him about the adaptations and he knows beforehand what viewers will eventually get to see.
Dr Pongsakorn was disappointed with the first adaptation of Soi Saeng Chan because it differed from the original story. "Even though I was upset about it, I understood why a TV version can't exactly be the same as the novel. Scenes and dialogue have to be modified. It's like enlarging a page on the iPad to see more detail so that viewers can better grasp the story," he said.
The dramas, however, may entice viewers to read his engaging novels, and perhaps become a fan.
"TV dramas only hook viewers for one to two months but my novels last longer. People can pick them up to read at any time," he said.
Pongsakorn's novels inspired by Asian fabrics.
