Jihyun Yun (she/her) is a Korean American writer from the San Francisco Bay Area. A winner of the Prairie Schooner Book Prize, her full length poetry collection SOME ARE ALWAYS HUNGRY was published by The University of Nebraska Press in September 2020. Her debut young adult novel AND THE RIVER DRAGS HER DOWN is forthcoming with Knopf BFYR/ Penguin Random House (US) and Rock The Boat/ OneWorld (UK) in fall, 2025. A recipient of various grants and fellowships, she received her BA in Psychology from UC Davis, and her MFA from New York University. Originally from California, she now resides in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

I had the opportunity to interview Jihyun, which you can read below.

What can you tell us about your latest book, And the River Drags Her Down? What was the inspiration for this story? 

Thank you so much for having me! I began to write River during covid lockdown when a family member was diagnosed with stage four esophageal cancer. I was writing vignettes on grief about what it might be like to actually meaningfully be able to bargain with it, and slowly, almost accidentally, characters began to form in my head to get to enact these questions. I was also inspired by a Joseon-dynasty era Korean ghost story called The Tale of Janghwa and Hongryeon, so this is a very loose retelling of that story. 

As a writer, what drew you to the art of storytelling, especially young adult and speculative fiction?

I absolutely love writing for young adults because in a lot of ways I feel like teens are truly shouldering the world in a way that adults forget about as we age into more insular concerns. I have always been of the belief that as we grow further into adulthood, our worlds shrink—many of us begin to shift our focus away from holistic issues impacting communities or the world at large in order to care for the mounting responsibilities we feel for our inner circles—keeping up at work, caring for our children or our aging parents etc (all valid concerns, of course.) But teens still have their lenses zoomed out to take it all in, and that is an immense load to carry, and so I’ve always been drawn to telling stories for and about teens that treat their worries and lives with the gravity and respect they deserve.

As for why I chose speculative fiction to tell this story, I was drawn to the way it organically lends itself to thought experiments and the what if questions that I was writing toward. What if we could rescind loss? What if we had the power to bring our loved one back, despite its potential costs, would most people do it?  

How would you describe your creative process?

I tend to write either very early in the morning or very late at night, when the house is quiet and it feels like the whole world is asleep outside my window. I also like to engage the kindergardener that still lives in my brain by logging my progress with colorful stickers and pens. Those are the only consistent things. I’ve found that my process is different book by book. 

What are some of your favorite elements of writing? What do you consider some of the most frustrating and/or challenging? 

My favorite element of novel writing is and will always be characters. I love really fleshing out a characters motivations—not only what they actually need but what they think they need. I’m interested in emotional arcs and examining deeply entrenched flaws. 

As for what I find the most challenging, I find that I struggle a bit with plotting since my writing background is poetry and thus plot is something I’ve never had to think about. Managing all the different subplots and making sure they intersect correctly—yes it’s challenging. But also so much fun! 

As authors, who or what would you say are some of your greatest creative influences and/or sources of inspiration in general?

I find a lot of inspiration from other writers, and also across genres. As I briefly mentioned earlier, I started out writing poetry, and that is still what takes up the most space on my shelves. Poets like Li-Young Lee, Anne Carson, Yusef Komunyakaa continue to inspire me. I also find a lot of inspiration in music. Though I can’t listen to anything while drafting, I do like to listen to instrumentals to movie soundtracks before sitting down to write. 

What’s a question you haven’t been asked yet but that you wish you were asked (as well as the answer to that question)?

Something I occasionally get asked about this book is if I would bring a loved one back from the dead if I had my character’s necromancy abilities. And I know the correct answer is no, but…

What advice might you have to give for any aspiring writers out there?

Take your time! I’ve spoken to quite a few young, aspiring writers that set arbitrary goal posts for themselves. Things like “I want to publish before I’m twenty-five, before I’m thirty, before I graduate” and I always want to urge them to slow down and mindfully curate a love of writing itself that is independent of achievement and laudation. We all have our own timelines, and coming to the table later than expected can still be beautiful. 

Are there any other projects you are working on and at liberty to speak about?

I can’t say much about it yet since the premise of the second book hasn’t been announced yet—but I can say this: ghosts, romantic subplots, a deeply flawed FMC. 

Finally, what books/authors would you recommend to the readers of Geeks OUT? 

I recently finished an arc of Hollow by Taylor Grothe, and loved it! It’s a YA horror set in an eerie forest compound, and I highly recommend it for this Halloween season. 

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Header Photo Credit Octobee Studio