Today I’m happy to welcome Cynthea Liu to my blog, to tell answer a few questions about her recently released debut novel The Great Call of China.
Q: Tell us about a scene or character from your novel that was especially easy (or especially difficult) to write.
A: The hardest scene to write in the THE GREAT CALL OF CHINA was one of the biggest emotional scenes in the novel. Can’t tell you much about it or I’ll spoil the book, but it was challenging to write from a technical standpoint. I had to deal with two languages and try to balance everything out so the emotion would come through even if the reader didn’t understand all that was being said in Chinese. Writing the scene was torturous. Seriously, I would have rather cleaned a thousand toilets than write that scene again.
Q: What is your favorite (or one of your favorite) myths or fairy-tales, and why?
A: I remember loving Cinderella quite a bit as a kid. I’ve always gravitated toward stories featuring impoverished main characters who come out big in the end. I think that has a lot to do with how I felt I stood among my peers as a kid. I never got the dance lessons or the Cabbage Patch Kid (so I just called them “ugly instead), or the birthday parties thrown in my honor.
Q: What has been the most exciting part of selling your book(s) and getting published so far?
A: So far? My release day was pretty incredible. So many people came out to wish me congrats. Hundreds of friends, family and even total strangers rallied together to support the book. But the very best part was getting a note from a Chinese adopted teen. She was glad I had written the book. Nothing can beat that.
