“The Forest of Stolen Girls” is out in the world!
Hello friends!
You are cordially invited to my virtual book launch with Porter Square Books on Tuesday, April 27 at 7pm (ET)! Wendy Heard will join me in conversation. This event is free and open to all, hosted on Crowdcast, and you can register here!
I hope to see you there!
The Story Behind the Story
I don't know how to celebrate.
What I *am* good at doing is getting work done, then moving on to the next writing project, with no pause in-between.
But today, I want to pause, look back, and celebrate. So I decided that for this newsletter, I'd do just that.
I'm going to look back:
2018
August 22
I landed a two-book deal (YAYYY!!!), one for the already-written debut I'd spent 3 years working on, and the second for an unwritten YA historical. I had to submit a polished draft of the Second Book by February 2020. Of course, I had noooo idea what the second book would be about, except that it would involve “tribute girls" (공녀) which was an unfortunate practice that occurred in the Goryeo and Joseon dynasty, where the Korean government would send young girls overseas as tribute.
Oh, and I had just found out I was pregnant a month ago.
September - December
Being preggers for the first time, I fought through morning sickness and fatigue as I drafted a rough version of THE FOREST OF STOLEN GIRLS and... absolutely hated it. Nothing I wrote during this period made it into the published version. I was also so busy revising my debut that I stopped drafting my second book all together.
2019
May - July
I gave birth to my daughter in April, then got back to writing my second book in May. I brainstormed while nursing, wrote in my notebook while my daughter napped on my lap, and stayed up until the wee hours of the night while typing everything out into my laptop. I was 30,000 words into the new version of TFoSG, but I still didn't like the story. I ended up scrapping everything except the first few chapters, and began panic searching on google about "Second Book Syndrome" and "How do I cope with the shame of publishing a book you're not proud of?"
I was coming to realize that I didn't love my second book -- and might never come to love it. I loved my first book so much and feared that the best I could do would be to submit a "decent" shell-of-a-book to my editor, and hope that she wouldn't notice that this book lacked a beating heart.
August
While trying to figure out the heart of Book 2, I found myself thinking about my little sister often, mainly because I was so moved and blown away by her love and kindness toward me. For the first few weeks after I'd given birth, my sister had taken time off work to help out. She'd cook and clean when my husband and I were too exhausted. She'd watch our newborn to give us a break. She literally stationed herself in our house and worked tirelessly to be there for me. She was my rock during this time when I was so tired, confused, and had no idea who I was. I absolutely love motherhood, and my husband was a champ, but the changes were all so new to me, and I was so sleep deprived. My sister's friendship and companionship had helped me through one of the most chaotic moments of my life.
Through this experience, I'd come to appreciate my sister on a whole new level, and one day, I suddenly realized why my second book wasn't working for me. My heroine was alone, investigating by herself, relying on no one else. Everything was internal monologue. I found myself wondering, "Maybe the heroine doesn't need to investigate alone? Maybe she has a free-spirited younger sister who'll be a bright guiding light?"
This idea stuck with me, and when I began rewriting, that was when I felt the first flutter of a heartbeat in my second book.
Throughout August 2019 - February 2020, I wrote as quickly as I could, driven by this new spark of inspiration. I rushed to the finish line and wrote that last period with the help of so many others. And I can confidently say this version of THE FOREST OF STOLEN GIRLS -- a version of a story I now love -- would not have existed without a community of people: my editor, my agent, my husband, family and friends, as well as my readers, and even kind strangers. Writing this Second Book deepened my appreciation for those around me.
So now, as I celebrate the release of my sophomore novel, I'm going to celebrate by being grateful. Thank you for the pre-orders, thank you for the retweets, thank you for spreading the word. Thank you to those who have supported me and those who have gone out of their way to help me pursue my life-long dream: to write books.
Thank you, thank you, from the bottom of my heart <3
