Happy Wednesday Everyone! Today I’m
excited to have debut author Amber Chen here to share about her YA silkpunk
fantasy Of Jade and Dragons. I’m really excited to read her book because it
combines silkpunk, fantasy, and mystery and has a strong main character
interested in science.
Here’s a blurb from Goodreads:
Eighteen-year-old Aihui Ying dreams of becoming a world-class
engineer like her father, but after his sudden murder, her life falls apart.
Left with only a journal of her father’s engineering secrets and a jade pendant
snatched from the assassin, a heartbroken Ying follows the trail to the capital
and the prestigious Engineers Guild—a place that harbors her father’s hidden
past—determined to discover why anyone would threaten a man who ultimately
chose a quiet life over fame and fortune.
Disguised
as her brother, Ying manages to infiltrate the guild’s male-only apprenticeship
trial with the help of an unlikely ally—Aogiya Ye-yang, the taciturn eighth
prince of the High Command. With her father’s renown placing a target firmly on
her back, Ying must stay one step ahead of her fellow competitors, the jealous
guild masters, and the killer still hunting for her father’s journal.
Complicating everything is her increasingly tangled relationship with the
prince, who may have mysterious plans of his own.
The secrets
concealed within the guild can be as deadly as the weapons they build—and with
her life and the future of her homeland at stake, Ying doesn’t know who to
trust. Can she avenge her father even if it means going against everything he
stood for, or will she be next in the mastermind’s line of fire?
Before I get to June’s interview
post, I have my IWSG post.
Posting: The first Wednesday is
officially Insecure
Writer's Support Group Day.
Purpose: To share and encourage.
Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or
weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance.
It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!
The
awesome co-hosts this month are: JS Pailly, Rebecca Douglass, Pat Garcia, Louise-Fundy Blue, and me!
Optional
Question: What
are your favorite writing processing (e.g. Word, Scrivener, yWriter, Dabble),
writing apps, software, and tools? Why do you recommend them? And which one is
your all time favorite that you cannot live without and use daily or at least
whenever you write?
Exciting Upcoming Agent Critique
Opportunity for You
Before I answer the question, I want to be
sure that you know of an upcoming agent spotlight interview with an amazing
critique giveaway coming up on July 29th. I have an agent spotlight interview with
Sheila Fernley that day. She is offering a very generous critique giveaway of a
full picture book or three-chapter MG or YA critique and a one-hour Zoom call
to discuss your project. I hope those of you who write kidlit stories and are
looking for an agent will enter the giveaway contest, and you'll all tell your friends who are kidlit writers about this opportunity.
Guest Post at Anne R. Allen’s blog on 7/7/2024
I also want to let you know that I’ll be sharing a guest post
on Anne R. Allen’s blog . . . with Ruth
Harris next Sunday, 7/7/2024 that could help you in your search for an
agent. My topic is Tips
on Finding the Right Agent and My Secret Way to Discover Agents You Don't Know
About. I’ll post a link to the guest post when it goes live on 7/7. I hope you'll stop by, read my post, and leave a comment.
Now here’s my answer to this month’s question. I keep it
simple and just use Word and Grammarly. I have the upgraded version of
Grammarly through my job as a writer, which I can open and check anything I
write.
Alex has asked that we all start linking our IWSG posts on the IWSG Facebook page so that we can all see who has posted on IWSG dayt.
Interview With Amber Chen
Hi Amber! Thanks so much for joining us.
1. Tell us about yourself and how you became a writer.
Hello! I’m Amber Chen, a Singaporean-Chinese author of SFF and
contemporary fiction, and Of Jade and
Dragons is my debut YA fantasy.
I’ve always been a book lover, but I didn’t
think of writing my own stories until I was in university. While binging TV
dramas (I watch a lot of these) in between lectures and tutorials, I realised
that 1) there were so many unsatisfying plot points and endings out there and
2) there was a finite supply of content for me to indulge in, so I decided to
take matters into my own hands and start writing my own stories.
2. Where did you get the idea for Of Jade and Dragon?
I really like reading up on history, and one of
my hobbies is speculating about the lives and times of historical figures and
filling in the gaps in historical records, so that’s what happened with Of Jade and Dragons. OJAD was inspired
by the story of the first emperor of the Qing Dynasty and the woman he loved
the most, Harjol, and there are plenty of easter eggs in the book that draw
from real historical events during the transitional period from the late Ming
to early Qing Dynasty of China.
Of
Jade and Dragons was also
inspired by the classic Chinese tale, The
Butterfly Lovers. In that story, the FMC, Zhu Yingtai, disguises as a boy
in order to study at a boys-only academy, because only boys were allowed to
receive an education during that time period, and she managed to do all this
because she had a supportive father who was willing to indulge her and support
her dream. I loved that father-daughter dynamic, and it was what inspired
Ying’s relationship with her father in OJAD!
Your Writing Process and Writing a Story That Combines Genres
3. Combining genres when writing a story can make it really
interesting. Here you’ve combined three genres: fantasy, mystery, and silkpunk.
First, explain what silkpunk is and talk about how you decided to combine these
genres and the challenges you faced in doing so when writing your manuscript.
Silkpunk is
a term that was crafted by the author Ken Liu for his Dandelion Dynasty series,
to represent a “specific technology and literary aesthetic” that draws from the
history and culture of East Asia and the Pacific islands. As a member of the
punk family, it also encompasses the key themes of rebellion,
anti-authoritarianism and a struggle for freedom.
OJAD began as a historical re-imagining, but I thought it would
be interesting to invent a Chinese-inspired world that is tech-focused, given
that most Chinese fantasies tend to be more magical in nature. That was how the
idea for using silkpunk as the basis for the worldbuilding for the book came
about. I think one of the main challenges in combining genres was trying to
find ways to incorporate relevant technology with the main mystery plotline in
a way that made sense for the world and the characters, without them feeling
like two very disparate aspects of the story.
4. I can see how combining them would have been challenging. Share
about your world-building process and how you combined this with the true
historical events and individuals you based your story on.
The world
in OJAD is heavily inspired by Qing Dynasty China, so if you watch plenty of
Chinese historical dramas then many of these elements such as the architecture,
food, culture, would probably feel very familiar! Aspects like the hierarchical
structure, the politics and the way the military is organised also take reference
from the way things were in China during the 1600s. In order to create the
fantasy world that OJAD is set in, what I did was to use the real historical
elements as a frame, and then to layer on the fantastical (technological?)
elements on top of that, so that everything feels like a world that could have
realistically existed!
5. I love that Ying dreams of being an engineer in a
male-dominated profession. Was it easy or hard to develop her as a compelling,
strong main character as you’ve done? Why?
I think
Ying’s character arc came quite naturally to me, because a lot of her
experiences as a girl trying to establish herself in a male-dominated
profession resonate very much with my own. The idea of empowering girls to not
only take on but also excel in traditionally masculine fields, like
engineering, is an important theme in OJAD, and a theme that is particularly
close to my heart. When I crafted Ying, one thing that I made sure to keep in
mind was to always keep her personal beliefs and motivations as a priority, and
have that guide her actions as she navigates the world around her.
Your Journey to Publication
6. Laura Crockett is your current agent, but not your first.
Share about your journey to find an agent that was right for you. What advice
do you have for writers in a similar situation as yours?
Laura is actually my third agent! I
queried for about nine months before I got an offer of representation from my
first agent, Anne Perry. Anne was absolutely fantastic and we went on to sell
OJAD at auction only two months after sending it on sub, which I am incredibly
thankful for. Sadly, Anne decided to leave agenting to return to the editorial
side of the business, and I transferred to my second agent in the same agency
who then went on to represent me in negotiating the contract for my debut book.
I eventually decided to make the hard decision to part ways with my second
agent and plunge back into the query trenches because I felt that the future
books I wanted to write might not be a good fit with that agent’s list, and
subsequently I went on to sign with Laura J
I think switching agents midway through
your writing career is more common than people might imagine, and this could
happen for a variety of reasons, like agents leaving the business, agents not
being the right fit in terms of working style, agents not representing certain
genres you want to write in, etc. It was quite scary being confronted with the
possibility of having to jump into the query trenches again, but after I
managed to get over that mental barrier, my second experience with querying
actually went a lot better than I expected. For fellow writers that find
themselves wondering whether or not they should switch agents, I’d say go for
it! Having an agent that is a good fit for your body of work is incredibly
important!
7. I agree with you authors sometimes have to switch agents. You
went on submission and sold your book on auction two months later. What was the
experience like for you?
It was incredibly exciting! But also nerve-wracking. You always hear
about how slow publishing timelines are and how long it can take to get
responses, so I was very lucky to have spent a relatively short time on sub.
When my agent notified me about the first offer, I was already over the moon. I
honestly did not expect there to be as much interest in my book as there turned
out to be, and I’m super grateful to all the editors for seeing the potential
in OJAD! I also really appreciated getting the opportunity to speak with all
the offering editors to find out more about their vision for the book (they
were all fantastic), because it really helped to spark plenty of new ideas for
the book and also helped me get a sense of who might be a better fit for me to
work with on this debut journey!
Promoting Your Book
8. It’s interesting how talking to the editors gave you new
ideas for your story. How are you planning to market your book and reach out to
readers in the U.S. when you live in Singapore?
I’ve always been very sad about being half a world away from plenty of
fun bookish things happening in the US! That said, I’m grateful that there are
now plenty of opportunities for virtual events and social media is so prolific
that there are many ways to interact with readers all across the world, so
these will be my main avenues for book marketing and publicity. My publicity
team has been very busy helping me to link up with bookstores, book bloggers,
podcasters etc. to get word about the book out there, so thank you to them for
doing all the hard work! I would love to get the chance to travel to meet
readers overseas one day though!
9. That’s great there are so many online ways you can connect
to readers, bookstores, and bloggers. You’re also a contributing member of Path to Publication. Tell us about this group, how you
joined it, and how it can help writers on their journey to getting published.
Path2Pub was a blog that was started by my very talented friend Lucia,
who has been so passionate about helping fellow authors by gathering and
sharing as much publishing wisdom as she can. She approached me and a few other
authors who were all at different stages of the publication journey and invited
us to become contributors to Path2Pub, and we worked together to maintain a
regular updating schedule for the blog where we’d take turns to write posts
about different aspects of publishing and our reflections on these topics.
Path2Pub also features many interviews with agents and editors, which I love to
read because I find these interviews shed a lot of light onto the opaque world
of publishing! We’ve stopped updating the site as a group now, but Lucia’s
still maintaining the blog with interviews with publishing personnel whenever
she can, so I’d highly recommend everyone to check it out because it helps
demystify the world of publishing J
10. What are you working on now?
I’m currently working on edits for Book 2 of the Fall of the
Dragon duology, so hopefully we are on track for publication one year after Of
Jade and Dragons is released J
Thanks for sharing all your advice, Amber. You can find Amber
at ambercwrites.com, and @amberwrites88 on Instagram, X
and TikTok.
Giveaway Details
Amber’s publisher is generously offering a hardback of
Of Jade and Dragons for
a giveaway. To enter,
all you need to do is be a follower of my blog (via the follower gadget,
email, or bloglovin’ on the right sidebar) and leave a comment by July 13th.
If your email is not on your Google Profile, you must leave it in the
comments to enter the contest. Please be sure I have your email address.
If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or
your blog and/or follow me on Twitter or follow Amber on her social media
sites, mention this in the comments and I'll give you an extra entry for each.
You must be 13 years old or older to enter. This book giveaway is U.S.
Upcoming Interviews, Guest Posts,
and Blog Hops
Monday, July 8th I have an agent spotlight interview with
Rebecca Williamson and a query critique giveaway
Tuesday, July 16th I’m participating in the Sip Sip Hooray
Giveaway Hop
Monday, July 22nd I have an interview with author Sally Pla
and a giveaway of her MG contemporary Invisible Isabel
Monday, July 29th I have any agent spotlight interview with
Sheila Fernley and a full picture book or three-chapter MG or YA critique
and a one-hour Zoom call giveaway
I hope to see you on Monday!
