Author Interview: A Chung

A Chung is a writer from Vancouver, B.C. They graduated from the University of British Columbia, where they studied English and Creative Writing. When they’re not working on their latest project, they can be found hanging out with their assistant writer and pet bird, Merlin. Their story, "The Road Between," won the flash fiction category of the MoonLit Getaway Grand Opening Contest.

INTERVIEW

MG: What got you into writing?

AC: Like most writers, I got into writing through reading. I started writing my own stories and filling notebooks when I was around nine or ten; I was heavily inspired by some of the fantasy books I loved at the time, and I wanted to try my hand at creating worlds and characters of my own. Though I’ve started leaning more towards the Sci-Fi side of the Speculative Fiction genre in recent years, I still really enjoy writing high fantasy, and I think my younger self would be happy to hear that I have just as many dragons flying around in my stories now as I did when I started.

MG: Tell us more about The Road Between—what inspired it? What makes it unique?

AC: “The Road Between” was originally written as an assignment for a workshop class; we were tasked with selecting a postcard from a pile and writing a short story inspired by that postcard. Mine had a photo of a horse from the neck up, facing the camera. I was drawn to it initially because I love horses, and I’ve been riding recreationally for quite a few years now. It was helpful for me to draw from my own experiences while writing, especially when it came to nailing the emotional aspect of the narrative.

Zombie stories can be a hard sell nowadays because of how saturated the market is. Though I was fully prepared to commit to the genre going in, “The Road Between” ended up becoming a bit of a sneaky zombie story—there are hints that we’re in some kind of apocalypse situation, with the undead roaming about, but it’s not really made more explicit until the end. The zombie apocalypse setting lent me the necessary elements to colour the world and craft the uniquely tragic situation the protagonist finds themself in, but it was important to me that the protagonist’s relationship with their horse remained the focus of the story. It’s a quiet moment in an otherwise action-heavy genre, which I think helps it stand out.

MG: Are you currently working on anything else?

AC: I’m currently working on a novel! It’s slow going, but I’m a couple of drafts in and having a lot of fun. It’s a nice little bundle of all the things I love to write: fight scenes, shiny architecture, and terrible, terrible puns. I also have a few new short stories in the works, so fingers crossed they make it out of the editing abyss.

MG: What’s your favorite piece you've ever made? Why is it your favorite?

AC: Is it cheating to say I don’t have a real favourite? I find that whatever project I happen to be working on at the moment becomes my favourite. That being said, “The Road Between” is definitely at the top of the list; sometimes you stumble into a piece where the words just flow, and for me, “The Road Between” was one of those pieces. Any story that doesn’t make me want to lie face-down on my desk while writing earns a gold star from me.

MG: Are there any writers that inspire the way you make your pieces?

AC: This is a tough question. I feel like so many of the books I’ve read since I started writing have inspired me in some way that it’s difficult to avoid just listing a bunch of names.

MG: If I had to pin down a writer who’s both inspired and influenced my writing in recent years, it would be Tamsyn Muir, who does such beautiful things with her prose, and whose writing has helped me figure out how I want to shape my own style. Her Locked Tomb series (Gideon the Ninth being the first book and my introduction to her work) is an incredible showcase of different narrative styles and compelling, complex characters. Her books are so much fun to read over and over again because of how much there is to discover between the lines, which is something I would love to achieve one day with my own writing.

AC: I also recently read Annihilation by Jeff VenderMeer, and, well… honestly, I’m not quite sure what to say except that I read it, and I immediately wanted to sit down and write. So I guess in this case, I wasn’t so much inspired to make my pieces in a certain way, but more so inspired to make them at all. Sometimes that’s what you need: a reminder of why you started writing in the first place.

MG: Do you have any social media you'd like to share?

AC: I’m not currently active on social media, but that might change once I’m further along in my writing career. Stay tuned!

MG: Do you have any advice for other writers?

AC: Take breaks when you need them. I feel like there’s a lot of pressure—both external and internal—for writers to continuously produce, to always be writing in order to be considered writers, and it’s a pressure I’m definitely guilty of placing on myself. In fact, after I finished my first novel-length project, I tried to push myself into the next one when I wasn’t ready, and I ended up burning out for the next few years. Of course, every writer is different, and some people might have no trouble writing story after story without taking a breather, but I think in general it’s important to figure out what works for you—to be able to distinguish between when you need to push yourself past a block, and when it’s time to take a step back and recover. You’re still a writer even if you’re not actively writing.

READ: "The Road Between" by A Chung