Ask the Author: Gloria Chao
Answered Questions (6)
Gloria Chao
I felt very alone in high school dealing with the cultural gap between my parents and me, and I wrote AMERICAN PANDA with the hope that it would tell at least one reader that they’re not alone. It also took me more than twenty years to find the humor in my struggles, and I hope to pass that coping mechanism along.
I like to think of my story as an Asian version of My Big Fat Greek Wedding in book form. I hope the struggle to find oneself and accept one’s roots is something many can relate to regardless of race and family situations.
I’ve been fortunate enough to have child of immigrant readers from Asian and non-Asian families, and many of them have said they have had similar experiences to my protagonist. Many people straddle two cultures without quite fitting in either, have different expectations and values than their parents, and struggle with language barriers.
In my experience, some traits are more common among Asian-American families. The stereotype of being pressured to be a doctor or marry within the culture is there for a reason. But many non-Asians experience this pressure as well. My manuscript tells the story of one Taiwanese-American experience, not every Asian-American.
Writing this story also helped me survive my parents’ initial disapproval of my decision to put aside my dental career to pursue writing. They have come around since, but it has been a long journey.
I like to think of my story as an Asian version of My Big Fat Greek Wedding in book form. I hope the struggle to find oneself and accept one’s roots is something many can relate to regardless of race and family situations.
I’ve been fortunate enough to have child of immigrant readers from Asian and non-Asian families, and many of them have said they have had similar experiences to my protagonist. Many people straddle two cultures without quite fitting in either, have different expectations and values than their parents, and struggle with language barriers.
In my experience, some traits are more common among Asian-American families. The stereotype of being pressured to be a doctor or marry within the culture is there for a reason. But many non-Asians experience this pressure as well. My manuscript tells the story of one Taiwanese-American experience, not every Asian-American.
Writing this story also helped me survive my parents’ initial disapproval of my decision to put aside my dental career to pursue writing. They have come around since, but it has been a long journey.
Gloria Chao
Absolutely everything.
Three years ago, I made the incredibly hard decision to change careers from dentist to writer. It was difficult because of the amount of uncertainty in this industry (and because of how much blood, sweat and tears—literally—went into my dental career), but I've never loved life more. I wake up every morning (okay, mid-morning) in disbelief that my real life is better than my dreams. I get to write every day, all day long. And I get to wear pajamas. I mean before, as a dentist, I could wear scrubs, which I used to lie to myself and say they were pajamas, but really they were just comfy clothes for your patients to spit and bleed on. Now, I am truly wearing pajamas to work.
Three years ago, I made the incredibly hard decision to change careers from dentist to writer. It was difficult because of the amount of uncertainty in this industry (and because of how much blood, sweat and tears—literally—went into my dental career), but I've never loved life more. I wake up every morning (okay, mid-morning) in disbelief that my real life is better than my dreams. I get to write every day, all day long. And I get to wear pajamas. I mean before, as a dentist, I could wear scrubs, which I used to lie to myself and say they were pajamas, but really they were just comfy clothes for your patients to spit and bleed on. Now, I am truly wearing pajamas to work.
Gloria Chao
My debut novel, AMERICAN PANDA, will be released spring 2018 from Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster. I am currently revising this manuscript with my fabulous editor, Jennifer Ung.
I'm also working on a few nonfiction articles that I hope to submit to magazines in the future. One is about my past dating life, starting from when I wasn't allowed to date in high school, and also exploring how my traditional Taiwanese mother's relationship expectations were so different from mine. Another is about my unconventional journey from MIT to dental school to full-time writer. I'm excited to share these pieces with the world!
I'm also working on a few nonfiction articles that I hope to submit to magazines in the future. One is about my past dating life, starting from when I wasn't allowed to date in high school, and also exploring how my traditional Taiwanese mother's relationship expectations were so different from mine. Another is about my unconventional journey from MIT to dental school to full-time writer. I'm excited to share these pieces with the world!
Gloria Chao
Some days are better writing days than others, but the beauty of this process is that there's flexibility. Editing, reading other novels, reading craft books, building your social media platform—all of these further your career, and there is always one on the list I'm excited to tackle.
Gloria Chao
1. Celebrate every step! In a field full of inevitable rejection, no matter who you are, it’s important to celebrate when you can! I celebrated my first form rejection (as the Book Doctors say, “you can’t be a great writer until you’ve been rejected”). Then I celebrated my first personalized rejection, my first partial request, my first personalized rejection on material….you get the idea.
2. Start building your platform, website, and blog early. These things take a lot of time and it’s best to start as soon as you’re serious about writing. The Book Doctors recommend a year before your book may be published. An additional reason I’m glad I did this in hindsight is because there are some non-productive writing days. These are perfect for building your platform. Over the past couple years, I took needed breaks from writing and spent that time tinkering with my website, networking with other writers on Twitter, researching writing contests, and trying to find something to tweet or blog about.
3. There is no right way to write. Plotting is not better than pantsing or vice versa. Some writers like to move on to a new manuscript if the first one is not garnering attention, while others like to revise, revise, revise (I fall into the latter camp). There are lots of blog posts about “rules” of writing (never use another dialogue tag other than said, never bury your dialogue, etc) and while these posts are valuable and discuss great guidelines to follow, they are not hard rules. In most cases, they can improve your writing, but there are cases in which they can hurt, too. As someone who follows rules to a T, I learned this the hard way. For me, instead of Ctrl+F-ing every “explained,” “suggested,” and “argued,” I realized it was better for me to internalize the guidelines and have them in the back of my mind as I revised. Otherwise, I tended to take it too far.
4. When receiving feedback from critique partners and beta readers, figure out the why behind their words. Why isn’t this section working? Why are they turned off by this word, that action, this setting? Even if you don’t agree with their specific suggestion, it’s important to understand why they felt the need to comment. It often means something needs to be tweaked, perhaps not in the exact way they suggested, but tweaked nonetheless.
5. Even though it’s completely impossible, try (and fail) to keep yourself moving forward. Don’t look back and get caught up in things you should have done differently. I wasted too much time stressing about “mistakes” I had thought I made, many of which probably weren't mistakes anyway. It’s impossible not to feel like you messed up in this industry where hard decisions come at every turn (when is my manuscript done, when do I query, when do I stop querying, who do I query…) and there are no “right” answers. But it’s normal to freak out and you’re not alone.
6. There is more than one path to success. Don’t get hung up on other people’s journeys. Sometimes it can be inspiring to read success stories, but other times it can be difficult, especially after reading about five authors who nabbed an agent within 2 days with their first book that they wrote on a whim in one month. Remember that these stories are selecting on the dependent variable: often the writers most willing to share their stories are the ones who hit big success, fast. It takes a lot of bravery for someone who struggled for years and years to come forward and admit how hard it was for them. Don’t let the 1 in a million stories get you down or change your expectations.
2. Start building your platform, website, and blog early. These things take a lot of time and it’s best to start as soon as you’re serious about writing. The Book Doctors recommend a year before your book may be published. An additional reason I’m glad I did this in hindsight is because there are some non-productive writing days. These are perfect for building your platform. Over the past couple years, I took needed breaks from writing and spent that time tinkering with my website, networking with other writers on Twitter, researching writing contests, and trying to find something to tweet or blog about.
3. There is no right way to write. Plotting is not better than pantsing or vice versa. Some writers like to move on to a new manuscript if the first one is not garnering attention, while others like to revise, revise, revise (I fall into the latter camp). There are lots of blog posts about “rules” of writing (never use another dialogue tag other than said, never bury your dialogue, etc) and while these posts are valuable and discuss great guidelines to follow, they are not hard rules. In most cases, they can improve your writing, but there are cases in which they can hurt, too. As someone who follows rules to a T, I learned this the hard way. For me, instead of Ctrl+F-ing every “explained,” “suggested,” and “argued,” I realized it was better for me to internalize the guidelines and have them in the back of my mind as I revised. Otherwise, I tended to take it too far.
4. When receiving feedback from critique partners and beta readers, figure out the why behind their words. Why isn’t this section working? Why are they turned off by this word, that action, this setting? Even if you don’t agree with their specific suggestion, it’s important to understand why they felt the need to comment. It often means something needs to be tweaked, perhaps not in the exact way they suggested, but tweaked nonetheless.
5. Even though it’s completely impossible, try (and fail) to keep yourself moving forward. Don’t look back and get caught up in things you should have done differently. I wasted too much time stressing about “mistakes” I had thought I made, many of which probably weren't mistakes anyway. It’s impossible not to feel like you messed up in this industry where hard decisions come at every turn (when is my manuscript done, when do I query, when do I stop querying, who do I query…) and there are no “right” answers. But it’s normal to freak out and you’re not alone.
6. There is more than one path to success. Don’t get hung up on other people’s journeys. Sometimes it can be inspiring to read success stories, but other times it can be difficult, especially after reading about five authors who nabbed an agent within 2 days with their first book that they wrote on a whim in one month. Remember that these stories are selecting on the dependent variable: often the writers most willing to share their stories are the ones who hit big success, fast. It takes a lot of bravery for someone who struggled for years and years to come forward and admit how hard it was for them. Don’t let the 1 in a million stories get you down or change your expectations.
Gloria Chao
I had a windy road here: I didn't discover my passion for writing until after I was already working as a general dentist. It was a very difficult decision to put aside a stable career to pursue an unpredictable, tough-to-break-into industry, but once I was all in, it was such a privilege and honor to write. Every morning, I wake up, make my cup of tea, look outside at Lake Michigan, then sit down at my computer feeling like the luckiest person in the world.
I'm constantly inspired, with my book in the back of my mind no matter what I'm doing. I have notepads all around the apartment to jot down ideas. Many of them come to me as I'm falling asleep and believe it or not, most of those half-conscious thoughts made it into the book.
I'm constantly inspired, with my book in the back of my mind no matter what I'm doing. I have notepads all around the apartment to jot down ideas. Many of them come to me as I'm falling asleep and believe it or not, most of those half-conscious thoughts made it into the book.
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