How did your own experience as a bicultural author inform your characters’ stories? How else has your background and lived experience influenced your work? Are there any scenes that you pulled from real life?
Experiences of racialized people depend on so many factors: family, gender, geography, dominant culture, and ethnic background being only a few. But at the same time, I think there are common moments for many of us. Straddling two cultures shapes how we perceive our identity, the world, and our place in it. There are definitely some elements of real-life reflected in Gracie’s story. Her attempt to learn Chinese is identical to my own. I use an app, too!
What are you hoping readers will walk away from your book thinking about or talking about?
I hope there are enough elements that will resonate with different readers. Some may wish there’s a real Eppy app available (I do) or come away finally feeling seen in a book that features characters like them. My overall goal was that people could lose themselves in a different world for a few enjoyable hours. If I achieved that, I’m happy.
There is a lot about family and how that is defined in the book. Why did you want to tackle that issue?
I like to write multi-dimensional characters and family is a huge component of who we are and how we’re shaped as people. To have a story without family, or that didn’t incorporate the impacts of family, both good and bad, would be like having a sandwich without bread.
What do you think are the most important elements of good writing/storytelling?
When I look back at stories I’ve enjoyed versus stories I’ve adored, the main difference is that the enjoyable stories have had strong plot or strong character elements. The incredible ones have had both. Having that mix, and then layering on themes and threading through motifs build stories that people want to keep reading.
If you were to write a spin-off about a secondary character, who would it be?
Wei Fangli. We’re not all movie stars, but I think most people can relate to her longing for connection, her battle with balancing her professional and personal lives, and her struggles with coping with her mental health. She’s a very rich character who I could see going in many different directions.
What can we expect from you next?
My next book is another rom-com that tells the story of an ambitious lawyer who falls in love with a K-pop idol. It was a huge amount of fun to write, and I had the best time researching K-pop boy bands.
Acknowledgments
Thank you to my incredible agent, Carrie Pestritto, who said I should definitely and totally write this book. Allison Carroll from Audible and Mary Altman from Sourcebooks were editors extraordinaire. Go, team!
Candice Rogers Louazel is always my first and best reader. Allison Temple, Farah Heron, Jackie Lau, and Rosanna Leo were spot-on in their gently worded advice.
A thank-you goes to those who generously took the time to answer my emails that started “Weird question, but…”: Lydia Jin, Natasha Mytnowych, Denise Tay, and Michele Yuen-McDonald.
Most of all, thank you to Elliott and Nyla, who gave me the space to write and didn’t make me play board games with them even though we were in lockdown.
About the Author
Lily Chu lives in Toronto, Canada, and loves ordering the second-cheapest wine, wearing perfume all the time, and staying up far too late reading a good book. She writes romantic comedies with strong Asian characters.
You can learn more at lilychuauthor.com and @lilychuauthor.