2015 PitchWars Mentee Blog Hop: The Inspiration Behind HESPERIA

If you'd like to learn more about HESPERIA, here are some older posts on the MS:

-Nanowrimo Check-in #1 (where I talk about the conception of HESPERIA)

-Nanowrimo Check-in #2 (where you get to read an excerpt from draft #1)

-Post-Manuscript Completion Thoughts (where I get quite emotional over the roller-coaster that was the drafting process of HESPERIA)

-On Contests (where I talk about how HESPERIA fared in PitchSlam)

-Diversity in YA and my reservations (where I talk about the way I feature diversity in HESPERIA and how it doesn't really fit the conventional mold of "Asian characters")

This amazing art is by SansaXIX. Check out her profile for more.

As you can tell, this isn't the first time I'm talking about this MS on the blog, so I'll try to keep this post from becoming long-winded like all my other posts (and of course, I've probably jinxed myself by saying that). 

But yes, feel free to check out my other posts on the journey that this MS has been through.

Now to the point of this blog hop. HESPERIA, unlike some of my other MS's, didn't arise from a particular scene that I dreamed of or envisioned. Instead, I was very stuck in my other MS, THE SERENDIPITY LABS (description in my Novels tab). I took a break, during which I did a lot of knitting--finished my first scarf, in fact!--and Asian drama watching.

My favorite genre of Asian drama is wuxia, which basically translates into swords/historical/fantasy. And I especially love the dramas that have a bit of action but are grounded in political intrigue. Which means I loveeeee dramas set in the imperial palace, or during a particular dynasty. 

So I finished my 59 episode binge of Legend of Lu Zhen. It wasn't the greatest--there was a lot of petty drama between the different consorts and maids, which is meh--but I still enjoyed it. It got me thinking that I wished that there could be an China-inspired fantasy with the production values of, say, Game of Thrones. Because that would totally rock. There are so many inspiration-serving Chinese legends and classics and epics as a result of its enormous history. So many of those legends and classics (such as Water Margin, Dream of the Red Chamber, Journey to the West) are unaccessible to Western audiences, however, not because they haven't been translated, but I suspect because of cultural barriers. Plus, being classics, they aren't really...as palatable or easy to get into as YA fiction. I certainly haven't read those monsters--I've watched drama adaptations of them.

With the thought of something Asian inspired and something classical in my mind, an idea suddenly hit me. Why not take a really popular and pretty accessible Western novel in the classical canon, fantasify it, and give it an Asian twist? By the way, I thought I was sooo clever when I thought of doing a "retelling" of a classic, since there were so many fairytale retellings out there but not as many classic retellings (other than Shakespeare ones and Jane Austen ones). Well turns out I'm not so clever because as HuffPost shows, classic retellings are going to be a big thing in 2016. 

*weeps*

(I see now how my posts grow so long-winded)

Anyway, I settled on To Kill a Mockingbird because I really enjoyed the themes of the book and how they were delivered so innocently and simply. The court scene chapters were also some of my favorites to ever read in any classic, and I thought it'd be really cool to incorporate them in a fantasy setting and infuse them with political intrigue.

And the rest is history.

I'd say that the themes in HESPERIA are pretty clear, and you can probably tell the TKAM influence if you read it. For example, Hesperia's prejudice and discrimination toward her half-brother Roon serve to represent a microcosm of the prejudice and discrimination rampant in the book against the seers and magicians. It's only when she starts realizing that people only discriminate because of their own insecurities (in the case of Hesperia, the friction between her blood-brother and not being loved by her own mother. For the people of the kingdom, it's insecurity about their safety and peace) that she is able start to overcome her prejudice toward the seers and magicians.

There are some pretty crucial parts of the trials that mirror the trials in TKAM.

And if you pay attention to some of the characters, you'll see that some have been inspired by characters in TKAM (namely Roon and the Damalee = Boo Radley, Warnick = Tom Robinson).

Okay, I'm done! Didn't mean for that to turn into an analysis of literature. Many of my blog readers are people who've stuck with me through thick and thin, and so hopefully this is sort of interesting to you, especially if you've read the MS :)

Check out the rest of the Mentees' posts here. 

3 tips on juggling writing and school

Sorry about the hiatus from the blog. As some of you might know, I was torturing teaching high school students on how to score the best that they possibly can on the dreaded SAT's. Unfortunately, I had to brush up on allll my math skills and read some painfully dry critical reading passages, but FORTUNATELY I loved my job. It was so rewarding to see everyone improve. And I've added more words (that I didn't memorize the first time around before my own SAT's) to my vocabulary. That's always a good thing. I just didn't have that much time to myself, and when I did, it was to work on my WIP. But now I'm back!

This post is inspired my friend Julia's post on how to balance school and writing. I really enjoy reading posts like this because I am a student myself (sophomore at UPenn), and while I know that a lot of adult writers have to juggle work and writing, juggling school and writing is just as hard! I would hesitantly assert that sometimes it's harder--I'm biased, obviously. It's just that a lot of the grown-ups I know don't have to stay up until 4AM in the library to do homework or prep for an exam that accounts for 50% of their grade. Meanwhile, the 4AMer in the library is a common sight at my college, and these aren't even people who procrastinate like me and cram.

This is not a how-to write and do school because if there's one thing I've learned from my years in academia, it's that everyone has to put in a different amount of time to do well in school. I don't want to tell anyone that this is the best way to get the most writing time out of your student years because there is no best way. These are simply my tips that I wanted to share with you. They work for me, sort of. Sometimes, I do get in over my head a bit even with these tips in mind. But that's life.

Here are the 3 tips:

1. Procrastinate wisely. 

If I'm going to procrastinate, I'm going to procrastinate because I mean, there are still XXX days until the paper/exam/assignment and I simply cannot muster the will to be like my roommates, who do all their homework for the week on Saturday. When I do procrastinate, however, I use that time to write. I could be watching random things on YouTube, or looking at pictures of food and cats and all the other random junk I like looking at. But I write. Strangely enough, I kind of like the sensation of having something schoolwork-related hanging over my head while I write. It doesn't bother me to the point where I can't put out words, but it's just enough discomfort that it is almost like writing on a deadline. And I'm so much more efficient that way.

2. Get into the mode by doing the little things.

This is mainly a trick to make you motivated for and committed to your writing time, because writing time is precious in school. If you prep before going to the gym (such as hydrating, putting on your favorite work-out outfit, tying your hair back, and packing your post-workout stuff), why not prep before you go to write? Whoever said that writing wasn't sport? It is, and you should treat it that way. Simply going through the motions of getting the little things together can really ease your mental state into one that is ready to be productive.

The little things for me are the beverage, the outfit, the hair, and the bag. Here's how it breaks down.

Beverage: If I know I'm hauling butt to the bookstore or the coffee shop to write for more than a few hours--this is usually on the weekends--I'll treat myself to a coffee. Nothing fancy, just an iced coffee, since it's still summer, will sharpen me up and get my mind going. If you don't have something that you particularly like to drink or eat, at least bring water. It's incredibly easy to get dehydrated when writing.

Outfit: I'll usually wear something soft and cotton and easy to wash on the top, such as a plain T-shirt, and then jeans for the bottoms. Also, dark colors are great. Less worry about chocolate stains. I affectionately call my writing day outfits my "ugly" outfits. The whole idea is that I want to wear something so plain that I won't be thinking if my camisole is bunching up or if my shirt is getting wrinkled. All the focus should be on the writing. Obviously, if dressing sharp is going to get you in the right mindset, then by all means do that. Once again this is just me, and although I love my fashion and looking put together, I am quite lazy with clothes when I want to be.

Hair: Out of sight, out of mind. I'll braid it tight, pin it up into a bun, and then put on a headband JUST IN CASE some flyways escape. I can't write with my hair in my face.

Bag: If I'm leaving my dorm to write, which I often do, I'll pack sure to pack everything that I need in my messenger--pen, notebook, earbuds for music, laptop (most important item!), and water.

3. Think of classes as research.

My last tip on how to juggle school and writing is about the times when you are NOT writing, AKA when you are in class. Unless you can subliminally learn your class material through the process of osmosis, you should probably not be writing in class. However, there is a way to actually use your classes to further yourself as a writer. I'm not talking about just the creative writing classes or english classes--of course those will help you as a writer.

A well-informed writer has more tools in her arsenal than someone who closes herself up in her room 24/7. You may never know what sort of research you need to do for your next novel, or what genre you're going to delve into next. Who knows when that information that you learned in Astronomy is going to come in handy when you decide to tackle a space opera? Or maybe some concept in Economics 101 is going serve as a major inspiration in your novel. If you do well in your classes and actually learn the material, not just get the grade, you'll save yourself time in the future when you are writing because you'll understand some things without having to research them. And that means more time to write. See? There are so many ways you can make time to write.

Hope this was somewhat helpful! I'd love to learn what are the things you do to maximize your writing time while still fulfilling all the other obligations you have (doesn't have to be school).

Crazy things that writers do...

Issue #1

This is why my parents are afraid I'll develop some weird mental disorder called spending-too-much-time-with-imaginary-people-places-things-etc. :

 In which I forget how to think and have to google "What is the sausage part of the hot dog called" because for reasons I will not explain, I needed to write a scene where a man is grilling hot dogs in a food truck. Read?

In which I act like a psychopath and must google "How to reload a pistol". Yes, there is violence in WIP.  Read?

That's all for today! Let me know what crazy things you do in the glorious name of writing :D