Staying Playful — Author Interview with K-Ming Chang
K-Ming Chang is a Kundiman fellow, a Lambda Literary Award finalist, and a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree. She is the author of the debut novel BESTIARY (One World/Random House, 2020), which was longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award. Her short story collection, GODS OF WANT, is newly released from One World.
Here, K-Ming Chang gives us insight into her creative processes — from tracking ideas through emails to staying playful or letting language first, there’s never a dull moment.
What does your writing process look like, compared to the past when you were working on your novel, Bestiary?
I think that my writing process has kind of stayed the same. I find that whether I'm writing novels or short stories or poetry, I oftentimes have a very similar process: I tend to let language lead me first before things like plot and character. I find that this allows me to be a bit more spontaneous and playful, and kind of go down some unexpected pathways and roots. I love to begin with an image, a piece of language, or a first line that is interesting to me and then I follow that and see what comes out of it.
Would you consider yourself more of a plotter or pantser?
I aspire to be someone who can outline and have a bit of a blueprint for myself... but I think realistically, I'm someone who really enjoys discovering the mystery of what I'm writing as I'm writing it. And I find that sometimes when I outline, I end up knowing too much about the story and it loses its sense of mystery for me. Then I stop wanting to write it. So for me, what motivates me is not knowing what's going to happen on the page or with the story... so I'm definitely who just arrives at the page to see what happens next.
Where do you pull inspiration from? And as weird as it is to ask this, where do your ideas come from?
I wish I knew the source of ideas, but I think for me a lot of it comes from dialogue I’ve overheard, snippets of conversations that surround me, and things people have told me (idioms, phrases, anecdotes, etc.) sometimes these things linger in my mind and my memory and they end up coming out in the writing. Other times, I generate first sentences or the beginning of things and that leads me to be really curious about who would say a first sentence like this, and what kinds of characters/inner life can spring from that initial first sentence. Titles are also things I'm drawn to as well. So I think it’s a combination of things I encounter and read in the world and things that I overhear that spark my interest and feel could be explored more.
I write a lot of emails to myself to keep track of snippets of things I generate throughout the day. I can't keep notebooks because I lose physical things easily, and the email system makes sure that it never gets lost. If I'm not able to write it down, if it continues to linger in my memory, I know that it's something worth writing.
You have experience in many forms like short fiction, fiction, and poetry. How do you think this impacts your overall style?
I think it definitely impacts my language first style, and also how I approach the page. Language, metaphor, and sound come first, and things like structure I work on later.
What does your work schedule look like when you’re writing?
It definitely depends on the day, but I tend to be someone who does better with a longer chunk of time less frequently, rather than having a smaller chunk of time every day. For me, I would rather write less frequently but with longer chunks of time to clear days where I can spend the entire time thinking about writing/editing. I think it helps me immerse myself. I plan based on when I have large chunks of time for writing.
How long does it usually take you to finish a short story?
Short stories typically take me around two weeks, sometimes less for the first draft, and the revision process can take months or years. But there are some stories that I've written in one/two days that I haven't had to edit much, so it really depends. Some of the stories in my short story collection took years of revisiting, editing.
What do you think makes a ‘good’ story?
It's really subjective for a lot of people, and that's exciting because it makes room for a lot of different kinds of writers to write what they're excited about and still find audiences that enjoy their writing. For me, I really enjoy the element of surprise. It doesn't have to be a physical thing, but I love surprising language or surprising imagery... just the feeling of something unexpected. That's something I gravitate towards and get excited by in storytelling. I find in my own writing and reading I tend to seek out those moments.
What advice would you give to young writers?
I think for me, it was really helpful when I was beginning to make it low stakes for myself so it didn't seem so intimidating to face a blank page. So, I tried to remove the pressure of publishing/producing away from the creative process and treat writing as something playful and experimental. It's okay to have writing days where it's not related to your main project or any project at all. Otherwise, it can be really intimidating to start something new or write consistently because of this pressure. It's most fun when it can just feel like practice.
What are your favorite things about your upcoming short story collection?
The structure, it's a three-part structure... it was a surprise for me because when planning the collection I had no idea that it would be in three parts but it was really fun to play with how the stories could be thematically linked and how they could be related to each other through characters and images.
Thank you so much to K-Ming Chang for sharing this insight, her short story collection ‘Gods of Want,’ is stunning, showcasing her unique and provoking style. Her themes center around feeling ‘other,’ (queerness, immigration, sexism) stories inspired by the ghosts and myths of her Taiwanese heritage. Please go check her work out, her stories are so compelling, could not recommend her more.
