Fans of sapphic thrillers, I’m sure, will have been waiting impatiently for the release of Sarah Lyu’s I Will Find You Again. Well the time is almost upon us! In less than 24 hours, you’ll be able to get your hands on it. But if that’s still too long a wait, you can give our interview with Sarah a read in the meantime.
Before we start, you can follow Sarah on twitter and there’s still time to preorder I Will Find You Again here!
Have you always known you wanted to be a writer? How old were you when you wrote your first story?
The first story I can remember writing dates back to third grade and was about a magic pen that could transport the main character to wherever they wrote about. Pretty sure it was a self-insert (ha), but after that, I was hooked. I don’t think I always knew I wanted to be a writer though. For most of my life, it was something too scary to want. I didn’t know anyone who was a writer growing up, and so it was hard to even imagine what that looked like. But I loved books and I knew the stories that saved me during an unhappy childhood were written by someone and that maybe one day, I could be that someone too. I feel very lucky I get to tell stories now and when I receive messages from readers telling me my book was the exact thing they needed, it feels like I’ve fulfilled a kind of a promise to my childhood self.
What pieces of media would you say were formative for you? Do you see any of their features in your own writing?
I love stories about underdogs. Matilda and Ella Enchanted were early favorites, and with my work, I’m always trying to give a voice to the voiceless and misunderstood. It’s what draws me to writing for young adults. In many ways, to be young is to be oppressed, powerless. And while Chase, the main character of my novel I Will Find You Again, belongs to great privilege in terms of wealth and education, she’s still up against the whole machine of societal expectations surrounding achievement and success. She constantly feels like a failure; she sets impossible standards for herself. Sometimes the gold cage you live in is so shiny you can’t see how it’s a prison. I wanted to write about that.
When you close your eyes and imagine an apple, what do you see? An actual apple, a sketch of one, a blackness? Do you think that impacts your writing process?
I can see an actual apple, and I find it really fascinating that we’re all so different. I used to think everyone could “see” the apple, turn it, change its color, slice it open, take an imaginary bite. I’d like to think it doesn’t make a huge difference in the writing though. There are moments where I can see a scene clearly, see the entire room and how the characters move, but the overwhelming majority of the time, stories still take form in my mind through words and language first. For me, dialogue often comes the most naturally, and so I can hear characters talking to each other before I can see them physically.
If you wanted to learn about craft, which three authors would you suggest reading?
Reading widely and voraciously is crucial but I actually love books on craft and think they’re essential reading for writers. For me, it’s like learning how to play music by ear and then going back to study music theory. Some favorites: K.M. Weiland’s Character Arcs, James Scott Bell’s Plot and Structure, and John Truby’s Anatomy of Story.
When you’re building your world, what do you focus on? How do you try to make it come to life?
World building is fairly difficult for me and I definitely cheated with my first book by setting it in my hometown. For I Will Find You Again, I was inspired by a commuter hamlet in Long Island with two or three LIRR stations and multiple golf courses within a few square miles. I fictionalized the wealthy enclave but on the real town’s local high school website, nearly all the faces in their graduation pictures are White despite the fact that Long Island as a whole is more diverse overall. There’s something really fascinating about that tension of being a liberal exurb of New York City that’s also undeniably (and uncomfortably) exclusive. It was the perfect metaphor for a character like Chase, who always feels like she’s on the outside looking in.
What projects are you currently working on? Can you share any details yet?
I’m working on something that might end up being my first book for adults. A lot will likely change, but it’s about identity and grief and loss of control, all recurring themes for me. And of course it’ll probably have a bittersweet ending 🙂
Three pictures that capture the aesthetic of your book?
A gray sky over Montauk’s waters. Two girls sitting on a low roof, a blanket wrapped around them, their eyes on a bright moon. A girl running through light rain at midnight.
Three songs you would put in your book’s soundtrack?
Supercut, Lorde. Bigger Than the Whole Sky, Taylor Swift. Light Years, The National.
What would be your dream project?
I Will Find You Again is my dream project. A queer love story about finding and losing your soulmate, about the aching and transformational power of grief—the power of a love that saves you even after you think you’ve lost it. A story starring Asian-American characters about the corrosiveness of perfection, the untenable demands we place on ourselves and the ones we love, the desire for control in an often brutal world. It’s the book I needed when I was a teen, and I loved spending time with these characters.
Which of your characters would you most want to fight a zombie apocalypse with?
Chase, for sure. She’s a survivor!
You’re stuck on a desert island and you’re allowed only three (LGBT) books. What are you taking?
The Girls I’ve Been. Red, White, and Royal Blue. Tipping the Velvet.
You can collaborate on anything with anyone in the LGBT community: who would it be and why?
I’m good friends with Anna Birch and Kristin Lambert and it’d be fun to work with them on a queer Let It Snow set in the South or something similar!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sarah Lyu grew up outside of Atlanta, GA, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. She loves a good hike and can often be found with a paintbrush in one hand and a cup of milky tea in the other. She is the author of I Will Find You Again and The Best Lies. You can visit her at sarahlyu.com.
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