Gallivanting Dad Writes 26 Adventure Books for His Daughter

41-year old Chen Chunren from Xinyang, Henan province, recently hit the headlines for spending five years writing books for his daughter, who is particularly obsessed with tales of adventure.

When discussing why he started writing, Chen recalled his ten-year-old daughter reading Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea for the first time in 2013, becoming immediately fascinated with adventure books. His daughter became an avid reader, her hobby costing around 400 yuan a month, which was a big burden on her father's monthly wage of 1,800 yuan.

To keep up with his daughters hunger for literature, Chen decided to take matters into his own hands. “I used to be a leader of a tour group. I often went out traveling and also heard great travelling stories from my buddies, so I do have the material,” Chen said. He added, “I read this book (Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea) together with my daughter and felt like I myself could create stories like it.”

Chen, who loves literature and writing, has now finished 26 adventure novels since 2013 and 8 of them have been published. He explained that he writes every day during his noon break and then from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. Thanks to his past writing experience, writing adventure novels is no challenge for Chen. His daughter also participates in the writing process and helps him design characters and plots. “It’s like playing a game; we had a lot of fun,” he explained.

Now his daughter has entered middle school and the increased workload does not allow her to spend as much time reading adventure books. When asked of his future plans, Chen said that he will keep writing because his biggest dream is that one day, his daughter will see his books on the shelves of every bookstore. He added, “I just want to write for my girl as a gift to her.”