EMIKO JEAN:Hi!
I am always so fascinated by the writer’s journey.
Did you always want to write?
Credit: Jackson Berlin; Susan Doupe
Or is it something you found later in life?
Now I do both.
Now, to answer your question….
Flatiron Books (2)
Yes, I absolutely always wanted to be a writer.
If they had their way, I’d be a lawyer now.
What about you, what’s your how-I-became-an-author story?
JEAN:My path to writing was a little more circuitous.
I loved reading as a little girl.
But I actually didn’t start writing until later in life.
I had a variety of careers before seriously considering writing.
Anyway, if you ever need a florist/candlemaker/elementary math specialist I am your girl.
Fast forward a few years and one novel later I wrote my debut,We’ll Never Be Apart.
And now, here I am.
How do your parents feel now about your career?
Each to their own, is my motto.
Getting real, here!
It’s cool, though.
My mom won’t read this.)
I’m always interested in artistic inspiration.
Where did you get the idea forTokyo Ever After?
My parents instilled in me, too, that with enough hard work and discipline anything is possible.
Growing up I never felt Japanese enough or American enough and grappled with it.
From there it was a hop-skip-and-a-jump to setting the concept on a bigger stage, i.e.a royal stage.
It all seemed right, using the classic I’m-really-a-princess trope and pairing it with a search for cultural identity.
Tell me aboutAnna K.Have you always been a fan of Tolstoy?
What made you decide to reimagine it in such a unique way?
and was grounded for many, many months.
At first I was like… Russian novel set in the 1800s, no thank you.
But with nothing else to do I did read it and then Ilovedit.
I have read it now three times, once in my twenties and again in my thirties.
I wrote my book agent, she replied back a day later and told me she loved the idea…. (I didn’t even know what “pantser” meant!
I wroteAnna Kas a pantser, no outline, just charged ahead.
Of course my Part One very closes follows the plot ofAKbefore I began to deviate later on.
I promised myself that going forward, I would be a plotter.
So, what about you… pantser or plotter?
JEAN:Ah, I hear you about writing a sequel.
I just finished drafting book two forTokyo Ever Afterand it was brutal.
It helped that I had a solid outline to work from.
I am definitely a plotter.
But like you, I started out as a pantser.
I wrote my debutWe’ll Never Be Apartwithout an outline and ended up revising it a dozen times!
So now that you have the sequel toAnna Kcompleted.
It comes out soon!
What is next for you in the publishing world?
I don’t have anything definitive planned for my next book.
I do want to do one moreAnna Kbook as it will be her senior year of high school.
But I’m still thinking about it.
I’m also considering writing a thriller as well.
It’s a genre I’ve always wanted to try… Do you know what your next book will be?!
JEAN:Thank you!
Ooh, anotherAnna Kbook or perhaps a thriller?
Both sound like fun.
Currently, I am working on a novel.
I can’t say too much about it.
I am one of those writers who doesn’t like to discuss their projects until they come to fruition.
But I am writing and I am excited about this new project.
Anyway, here’s to the future and to more books.
Thanks Jenny for this chat!
LEE:Yes, here’s to the future and more books, especially with Asian female leads!
It was so fun talking with you, Emiko!
