A former culture and travel reporter for CNN in Seoul and Hong Kong, Frances Cha taught at Ewha Womans University and Yonsei University. Currently, she teaches undergraduate fiction at Columbia University. Frances’s debut novel If I Had Your Face (Ballantine Books) was named one of the best books of the year by Time, NPR, BBC, and Esquire.

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

CW: Brief mention of suicide

First of all, welcome to Geeks OUT! Could you tell us a little about yourself?

Hello! I’m a Korean-American writer, living in Sleepy Hollow NY. I used to be a travel and culture editor for CNN in Korea and Hong Kong, and now I teach fiction workshop in the MFA program at Columbia University. Since I live in Sleepy Hollow, Halloween is a huge deal. This year, we are doing a family Star Wars theme, which I’ve wanted to do since I was a child, and I am planning to go as Queen Amidala. Trying to source a headdress!

What can you tell us about one of your latest book, The Goblin Twins? What was the inspiration for this story?

I was researching dokkaebi – goblins from ancient Korean folklore – for an adult horror novel. I grew up reading stories about dokkaebi as in children’s books, and so while I was deep in research, I started thinking about writing a dokkaebi story for the modern age. What would happen if they heard about the concept of Halloween in other countries where people actually like to be scared? I had a lot of fun trying to come up with funny storylines all throughout the book.

What pulled you towards writing a picture book?

My children are 6 and 8 right now, and when I started writing this three years ago, we were exclusively reading picture books. I fell in love with the medium all over again, how it is such a unique platform of art and writing. I especially love the jolt of reading Korean picture books because they often completely ignore the standard story arc or character development that one comes to expect in Western picture book.

As a writer, what drew you to the art of storytelling?

I was just talking about this the other day, how just because you enjoy consuming something doesn’t necessarily mean you want to create it. I love eating delicious food and have no dreams of becoming a chef! But reading incredible stories made me want to become a writer ever since I was a child. I think a lot of it has to do with being multicultural and thinking of stories that are sparked by different facets of different cultures. Both my adult book and my children’s book revolve around Korea and New York but in a very modern way.

As an author, you are also known for your debut book, If I had Your Face. If possible, could you tell us about your inspiration for the book and your motivation in writing it?

Growing up in Korea, and working there for CNN, I always encountered such interesting stories and interesting people that I had never seen in English-language fiction. But as an aspiring writer, it actually took me a long time to write a Korean character in English – times were different then! I was in graduate school when I wrote the story that ended up being the first chapter, and wrote the rest of the book as I was working and after I had left my job to write full time. Korea is such a futuristic country in so many ways, with such extreme global superlatives – world’s most educated country, world’s highest suicide rate, lowest birth rate, highest internet infiltration, highest rate of increase for real estate, I could go on and on. There are various reasons for this, and it breaks down in fascinating ways and I wanted to explore that through fiction.

How would you describe your writing process in general?

Torturous! I have no process. I just have to find snatches of time when I can, and be ready to go go go.

Growing up, were there any stories in which you felt touched by/ or reflected in? Are there any like that now?

The thing is, I was touched by so many books growing up, and thought I saw myself reflected in stories that featured characters that were nothing like me. But that is the power of fiction, I suppose. The Joy Luck Club was the first English language novel that I saw Asian characters, and that blew my mind and sent me on this path of writing about Korean characters. Now, there are many more Korean writers writing in English, but their stories are very different from mine as I grew up in Asia, but I do feel much more reflected in their stories. I am, however, used to feeling fish out of water everywhere. 

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

Walking around old hanok houses (traditional Korean architecture) in Korea is incredibly inspirational for me. That is my number one favorite thing to do in the world. And traveling to relatives who live in the provinces of Korea and hearing their stories also sparks a lot of my writing.

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

It is actually a physical stamina game, and my physical stamina is terrible. My attention span is also shot. So being able to sit and concentrate on a very longform creative endeavor is challenging!

Many authors would say one of the most challenging parts of writing a book is finishing one. What strategies would you say helped you accomplish this?

This is absolutely, absolutely the case. My personal strategy was to divide my novel into shorter narratives – and to initially approach it as a novel in stories. So reading a lot of those novels helped me to persevere. Charles Baxter’s “The Feast of Love,” Jennifer Egan “A Visit from The Goon Squad,” Elizabeth Strout’s “Olive Kittredge.”

Aside from your work, what are some things you would want others to know about you?

I am obsessed with sci-fi, but I also read across all genres. I think I read every Korean manhwa series written by women when I was a schoolgirl in Korea. I like to go on the Webb telescope website often just to look at the latest photos of space. It is incredibly soothing to think of how insignificant we are in the context of time and space.

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)?

What are some of your favorite Korean manhwa series?

Answer:  The daughters of Armian, Lineage, Princess.

What advice might you have to give for other aspiring writers?

To get in the habit of being physically healthy and fit because writing is a stamina game. And I am not physically fit or healthy and I regret it!

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

Working on a sci-fi adult book set in Korea in the near future! And a few more picture book manuscripts.

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

Sea Change by Gina Chung, The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan.

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header photo credit illooz