The Writing Barn is thrilled to feature young adult fiction writer Traci Chee, author of the debut novel, The Reader. We sat down with Traci at the Texas Teen Book Festival to talk about her new book and where her inspiration comes from.

Author Spotlight Interview with Traci Chee

Tell us about your writing career. How long have you been writing, especially in the YA fantasy genre?

I knew in high school that I loved writing and wanted to pursue it, so I only applied to colleges that had creative writing programs. That’s how serious I was! In grad school I started thinking, no one’s a writer. That’s not a real job. I’ll be a teacher instead! I taught for a while, but then I realized the public school system is not a super great place for creative and rebellious spirits. I quit and gave myself a shot at what I always really loved and wanted to do. Occasionally, I’ve tried to write realistic fiction, but then magic sort of always sneaks in some way. It’s just where my mind goes.

What inspired you to write for a young adult audience?

I was in graduate school writing literary, experimentalist fiction for adults and one of my classmates suggested that I write for teenagers because it seemed to match my voice. So it’s partly because of that, and partly because most of my favorite books are children’s literature—the one’s that I come back to over and over again, the ones that formed who I am, Harry Potter, The Golden Compass. Those are the ones that I am drawn to.

Tell us about The Reader. Where did the idea of a book as a foreign object come from?

It came out of a couple of things. One, I’ve always been a huge book nerd. Books are magical! And this turned into what if they were actually magical? What if the act of reading was actually an act of magic, and you could influence the world in a certain way? I feel like that’s a metaphor for what reading and writing actually are in our world.

You were recently nominated for a Kirkus prize—Congratulations! How does that feel?

Yeah, that was exciting! Weird, unexpected, and wonderful. The whole thing has been kind of this glorious dream. My book came out on September 13th, and a short while later some strangers liked it, and then even more strangers liked it! I don’t feel like I’ve adjusted to it yet. It’s so new and so wonderful, too. I’m really lucky.

What has the process of publishing been like for you so far? How has it helped your writing?

I love working with my editor because she is a genius. Together, we’ve gone through over five revisions. We’ve looked at the book together for over a year, and that has been amazing. She is pretty much always right! The support from Penguin has also been really amazing. The adjustment is a big struggle because you go from writing only for yourself, writing things that you hope get to see the light of day but you’re not sure if they will. And then you cross a threshold where you’re still writing, but there are so many other voices and eyes.

Tell us about your revision process. What were your focuses?

I really love revision because that’s the chance to pull everything apart and take the core of it and refine that. I love that process. I love finding out what the story’s really about. For The Reader, I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve found people on my team who understand what the core of the story is so they’re all on board with that. There’s no pushing or pulling the story in a different direction, it just feels like everybody working to make this the best book it can be and everyone believes in the same direction.

What advice do you have for writers of the fantasy or YA genre?

I have two pieces of advice. One is something that I try to do myself: always keep learning, because there is so much out there. No matter where you are in your writing or publishing journey, there’s always something that you could do better or a new trick that you can learn. With every draft that I write or every project that I take on, I really try to do something challenging and new. Take classes, read books on craft, study other people’s books because there is so much to learn out there! I never want to get to the point where I’m just like, I’m good! I’m done! 

The other piece of advice is something that I got while I was in college. My book has weird and lovely formatting; there are fingerprints on the pages and hidden messages. I was writing this unconditional stuff in college and I kept hearing people say, just let the words stand on their own. You don’t need all of that stuff, just let your story come through. I was feeling so down about it. I was writing on my friend’s blog because I was having such a hard time with this, and her mom (who is a writer) commented on her blog after me and said, Tracy, stick to your guns. 

I feel like these go hand in hand—the more you learn, the more you learn to stick to your guns. The more you learn what you love to write and what drives you to write, stand your ground about that.

What do we have to look forward to in the sequels of The Reader?

There are three books. I’m working on book two with my editor now, and book three, I am planning lots of death and destruction.

What about other genres? Are you interested in diving into other areas?

I hope that I have a lot of different stories in me to tell, and I don’t think they’re all going to be high fantasy. They will probably all have some sort of magic or weirdness in there, but I want to explore other ways of storytelling.

 

Traci Chee studied literature and creative writing at UC Santa Cruz and earned her master’s degree at San Francisco State University. She is an author of speculative fiction for teens and loves “book arts and art books.” She lives in California and is working on the sequels to her first YA fantasy novel, The Reader.

 

For more information about Traci Chee and her work, visit her site.