Author Interview: Jenna Yoon on Lia Park and the Heavenly Heirlooms, Her Writing Process, and More!5/20/2023
Hi bookworms and welcome to an author interview! Today I'm chatting with Jenna Yoon, author of the Lia Park series! This middle-grade series is filled with magic and mythology. I had a lot of fun reading the first book, Lia Park and the Missing Jewel, and you can read my review here for more of my thoughts. The sequel, Lia Park and the Heavenly Heirlooms comes out tomorrow and you can preorder your copy here!
Synopsis: Twelve-year-old Lia Park and her best friend, Joon, are now full-time students at International Magic Academy after defeating corrupt diviner Gaya, and their first assignment is an ambitious one. The evil nine-headed monster and King of Darkness, Jihaedaegukjeok, wants to destroy the three Heavenly Heirlooms that create fire and light to plunge the world into darkness and destroy humanity.
The heirlooms can only be destroyed if they are all together, so over time, they have been hidden carefully with magic. Except now, one of them is missing. Lia, Joon, and their classmates have been tasked with recovering the lost heirloom and bringing it to IMA for safekeeping. They expected the task to be difficult, but the number of obstacles the magic trainees run into makes Lia start to wonder if the sabotage could be coming from someone inside the school.
Hello Jenna! Welcome to Page by Paige Books! I am so excited to chat with you today. To get things started I'd love to get to know you a bit more. Could you share 3 fun facts about yourself?
1. I've lived in 11 different cities in both the United States and Korea. Hopefully this is the last one! 2. My least favorite things are flowers and chocolates. I like to admire flowers from afar but don't like having them in my house because I'm allergic. Most chocolate is too sweet for me. 3. I played the cello since I was six years old until the end of high school. Recently I picked it up again and it's become a fun way for me to release stress. Congratulations on the upcoming publication of Lia Park and the Heavenly Heirlooms, the sequel to Lia Park and the Missing Jewel! I can't wait to dive in. What can fans expect from this sequel? In the sequel, readers will meet two new friends who will embark on a journey together to protect these magical heavenly heirlooms. LIA PARK AND THE HEAVENLY HEIRLOOMS has an expanded world, higher stakes, mystery, more action, Korean mythology, language, food, and landmarks. What is your writing process like? Do you have any favourite quotes or scenes you could share from either of your books? I like to start by researching ideas until I find one that just feels right. Then I build on that idea, and eventually write out chapter summaries. These are very general and not set in stone but I need to have a general idea of where the story is going while I draft. After drafting, then there are multiple rounds of revisions and edits! I really enjoyed writing all the different parts of the books, but my absolute favorite scenes were the big reveals and plot twists. Your Instagram post where your kids helped unbox your ARC copies of Lia Park and the Heavenly Heirlooms was adorable! Have they helped influence or inspire your writing? Thank you so much! My kids loved being a part of the unboxing and wearing their fancy outfits, which they of course coordinated themselves. They definitely are my inspiration! Growing up I didn't see myself in books or authors that were Asian. I loved reading as a child and even wrote fan letters to a few authors. But I never thought being an author could be a career path for me. Fast forward to when my oldest was three years old, she loved dressing up as Elsa. One day she yanked off the long braided Elsa wig she was wearing and demanded to know when she was going to start looking like her. It was then that I realized how important representation was and began to write stories so that my kids and others like her would be able to see themselves in books as heroes of their own stories. I wanted to do my part in creating a more diverse and inclusive world for them.
What would you say was the biggest challenge you encountered while writing this sequel?
The biggest challenge while writing this book was figuring out how to write from scratch under a deadline. For most debut authors, their debut book was written without a deadline. Meaning I could spend as much time as I wanted drafting, revising and perfecting it. It also meant that the draft my editor finally saw was not draft zero. Normally I am a slow and clean drafter. But writing a contracted book was a completely different experience and so I learned to fast draft and let go of my perfectionist tendencies. I ended up with a very rough draft and throughout the revision and editing process probably added 20,000 plus words! I'm so glad I went through that experience or I would never have attempted fast drafting. Also I now that I know how long each part of the process takes me, I can budget my time better and not pull all-nighters. Thank you so much for chatting with me today, and congratulations again on Lia Park and the Heavenly Heirlooms! My last question I have for you is, how are you planning on celebrating its release? I have a virtual book launch event at 6pm CST with Book People on May 31st. On May 30th, the actual release day I plan to celebrate with a bbq pool party with family and close friends. This was my kids' request. :)
Author Information
I had so much fun chatting with Jenna about Lia Park and the Heavenly Heirlooms. Don't forget to preorder your copy, and check out Jenna's virtual book launch on May 31st! Do you prefer books with one POV or multiple POVs? Let me know in the comments below!
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AuthorPaige is a bookstagrammer and blogger who loves all things bookish. From fantasy to mystery she can’t get enough! She’s always ready to recommend you a book and she can talk about her favourites all day. When she’s not reading, you can find her watching Marvel movies, playing video games, and taking bookstagram photos. Visit her on Instagram and Twitter for more updates. Categories
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