National Book Award Nominee Malinda Lo in Conversation with TikTok Creator Moongirlreads
Oct 6 2021
Fable's YA Book Club hosted a special event and author Q&A with Malinda Lo. In this video, you'll meet the amazing writer of the YA Book Club's first read, Last Night at the Telegraph Club. She's joined by Selene Velez, the BookTok creator known as Moongirlreads.You can watch the official video of the event above, but keep reading to explore the edited transcript.
Topics Discussed by Moongirlreads and Malinda Lo
- Discovering queer stories across genres
- How to research a historical novel
- How to write complex characters
- How to develop your writing voice
- Publishing advice for young queer writers
- The next book from Malinda Lo
- The importance of comfort foods
Selene Velez
Good evening everyone. I'm Selene, also known as Moongirlreads on TikTok. And I just want to thank you all so much for coming to our first ever author event for the YA Book Club on Fable. We've been reading together since May of this year, and we focus primarily on discussing diverse stories by authors from marginalized communities. And today I'm so honored to be welcoming the incredible author of our first read, "Last Night at the Telegraph Club."Malinda Lo
Hi everyone, I'm so happy to be talking to you, because, as many of you know, Selene has been such a huge champion for this book all year and I'm so excited to finally get to meet her virtually.Selene Velez
Here are some things about Malinda: She is the critically acclaimed and bestselling author of several young adult novels, including “Last Night at the Telegraph Club,” which received eight starred reviews and was named by Oprah Magazine as one of the 50 Best LGBTQ Books That Will Heat Up the Literary Landscape in 2021. Her debut novel “Ash” was a lesbian retelling of Cinderella and a finalist for the William C. Morris YA Debut Award, the Andre Norton Award for YA Science Fiction and Fantasy, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, and was a Kirkus Best Book for Children and Teens. She has been a three-time finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. Malinda’s short fiction and nonfiction has been published by The New York Times, NPR, Autostraddle, The Horn Book, and multiple anthologies. She lives in Massachusetts with her partner and their dog.Discovering queer stories across genres
Selene Velez
We read "Last Night at the Telegraph Club" together in May. For some of our newer members who might not be familiar with your work, how would you describe the books you write?Malinda Lo
Well, I do like to say that my brand is lesbians, because I write predominantly young adult books with lesbian, bisexual, and queer girl main characters. I write for readers who want to read those books, and many of those readers are maybe queer girls themselves, or queer allies. I just want to tell these stories, because when I was growing up (and well into my adulthood), there were very few books with queer women as the leads. So I feel quite called to write books of multiple genres that have queer women as the lead characters. That's why I have written in many different genres. So "Last Night at the Telegraph Club" is historical. But as you noted, in my bio, my first novel was a fairy tale retelling. I've written fantasy, science fiction, and I wrote a psychological thriller. I skipped around to a new genre every single time, but the consistent theme has always been that the main characters are queer girls and women.How to research a historical novel
Selene Velez
One club member would like to know: what inspired you to write "Last Night at the Telegraph Club?"Malinda Lo
I actually first wrote this book as a short story. The short story was called "New Year" and it came out in an anthology called "All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens throughout the Ages." For the story, I was actually inspired by reading nonfiction books. One was called "Rise of the Rocket Girls" by Nathalia Holt. And that was about the women who worked at the Jet Propulsion Lab. So when we think of computers, we think about computers today are like machines, right? But in the 1940s and 50s, a computer was a person who computed things. And they were mostly women. So this book was about the women who worked at the Jet Propulsion Lab. That was one inspiration. I also read a book called "Wide-Open Town: A History of Queer San Francisco to 1965." It's an academic history of San Francisco, and the queer community there. I was reading it around the same time as "The Rise of the Rocket Girls." The two books have nothing to do with each other, but in my head, they combined and I was inspired to write a story about a girl living in 1950s San Francisco who wanted to be a rocket scientist. I'm not sure if you're familiar with San Francisco, the city. Chinatown is kind of right in the middle of the city. And right next to it is a neighborhood called North Beach, which is a traditionally Italian community. Literally, it's like one block away. And a lot of the lesbian bars were in North Beach. They were all along Broadway in San Francisco. You could stand on Broadway and see Chinatown. So I just thought, if there's this Chinese American girl living in Chinatown, it's very easy for her to encounter the community. It's so easy. There had to have been some crossing of the street, literally. So that's, that kind of got stuck in my head. I wrote the story and I thought that was it. I was talking to my agent about the story, and he said, "You know, this is a novel." The idea really stuck with me, but I would not have thought it was a novel had he not said that to me. So then I wrote a proposal to turn it into a novel. And my editor at Dutton books bought it very quickly. So like, within a month or two, I was like, “Oh my god, I had this short story. And now I've turned it into a novel.” I didn't really know anything about the 1950s. So I had to then do all this research, and that's why it took me like three years to write this book, because I knew nothing.I learned so much about the 50s, which is not a time period that I really thought I was interested in. But it was very, it was a really interesting time. A lot of stuff was happening in the 50s. I think it's a really transitional time between World War Two and the 1960s. So all this stuff is happening and churning around and I put some of that in the book.How to write complex characters
Selene Velez
One book club member would like to know how you created your complex characters. Are there any processes that you go through or you went through while you're writing your characters?Malinda Lo
Let me talk to you about one of the characters in the book, Kathleen Miller. Kath went through a big evolution in the course of writing this book. In the first draft, there was no romance. I wrote a whole first draft where they were just friends. And then the second, I did a major revision after that, and that's when I realized there was a romance happening and I needed to bring it out. Then I had to get to know Kath a lot more, because I didn't really know her that well in the first draft. I can see myself in many of the characters. Obviously, I can see myself in Lily, and surely and I see myself in a lot of the Asian characters. But Kath was so different, because she wanted to be a pilot and I knew nothing about that. So I started reading books about early women pilots, because in the 1930s, and 40s, planes were pretty new and they were very dangerous. And so in the 1950s, interestingly, flight was getting safer, but it was still not something everyone did because it's hard to learn how to fly a plane. So I read about a lot of early women pilots, and how they had to have a lot of courage and calmness, putting themselves in these situations where they have to, be on their own in the middle of the air in a machine that may or may not work properly. I learned a lot about early airplanes, and what really impressed me was the kind of person who wanted to do that. And I tried to create a character who wants to do that. So Kath is quietly confident. She's not really scared to do things like sneak out of her house and go to a lesbian bar and use a fake ID. One way I got to know her was by reading about the people who did things that she wanted to do. She would have been inspired by Amelia Earhart, who was really famous in the 1940s and 50s, it was right after her plane disappeared and she was never found. So that's one way I got to know Kath and that's how I get to know a lot of characters that I'm not like. I read about people who are like them and I kind of steal personality traits. Then I have I make the character do things in the story. I needed to put her through some scenes and see how she reacted, to see how it felt right and how it didn't feel right. And at that point, because I knew I was building a romance between Lily and Kath, I attempted to make her do things that would lead in that direction. So there was a lot of trial and error. Nothing ever works out right at the beginning. And that's what revision is for—you get to know the characters more and you deepen them with each round of revision.Selene Velez
How does it differ from writing like the characters that you don't really find much in common with as you're writing?Malinda Lo
A lot of the characters in this book were Chinese Americans. I often begin with a character's parents. Teenagers live at home, mostly, right? So their parents are around all the time. And who is more influential on a young person than their parents? So I often begin with how their parents raised them. And as a Chinese American, I know how my parents raised me. I know, I know how a lot of Chinese Americans feel about their parents. So I can bring that kind of family knowledge to the characters, like Lily and Shirley. Whereas with Kath, I really don't know her family. I was not raised in a white family. A lot of people think that writing like diverse characters or marginalized characters requires all this research into who they are. That is true, but writing white characters is like that for me like that, because I was not raised in that kind of family. Honestly, I talked to my white friends. Yeah, and it's, it's really interesting, because white parents, especially low caste families, which were, you know, Irish Catholic, Roman Catholic, they have a very different culture than Lily’s. So there's like a totally different, they're just so different. It was, it was a challenge, honestly, too. It was a challenge to get to know Kath, that's, that's why I had to do all the research for her. Because I've known many Chinese American families and parents, and their expectations for their kids. It's very clear that Chinese American families have expectations for their kids, and I'm familiar with that kind of pressure. I'm also familiar with the Chinese American community in various places. It’s definitely easier because I can draw from my own life and from the lives of people in my family.Selene Velez
One of the biggest challenges that Lilly faces within the queer community is racism from why LGBTQ+members, whether they were microaggression, microaggressions, or blatantly offensive remarks. And can you share the significance of including intersectional struggles that queer people of color face in your book?Malinda Lo
I just wanted to make it historically accurate and also realistic. As an Asian American lesbian, when you go out in the world, people don't see you as one thing. Like, they're never like, “Oh, I'm only gonna discriminate against you for being gay today.” It’s all together. So I just wanted to make that part of the story, because that's the world that Lily would live in and those are the experiences that she would have. When I was doing research for this book, I did talk to two queer Chinese American women who were in San Francisco in the 50s and 60s in the community. They were very generous and told me about their lives. They both said that they were often the only Asian American in a queer space. They often felt like tokens, and there was also fetishizing because they were the only ones. So I wanted to make it realistic and show Lily experiencing that. Even though the white lesbians that she meets say things that we today think are offensive, it was normal in the 50s. Lily doesn't like it, but she is not living in 2021, and she's not going to be like, "Why are you saying that to me?" She would not know how to do that, even though she recognizes it as offensive internally, she knows that's the way it is. And she also knows that even though they say those things, they don't hate her. They’re welcoming of her in the way that they can be. The lesbians that she meets really are supportive of her, they come from a totally different world and are not familiar with her community. That was just part of the landscape at the time. And I wanted to make sure that that was in the story.Selene Velez
One of our club members noticed that you had some really good biblical references in "Last Night at the Telegraph Club." What were your reasons for including such references in the book?Malinda Lo
The Presbyterian Church was very interested in outreach in Chinatown and also in China. They would send missionaries to China to convert them to being Presbyterian. In San Francisco, the Chinese Presbyterian Church was quite big in the community. So it made sense to me that Lily's family would be Presbyterian. Because that was such a big part of the community at the time, Lily's father comes to us partly on a scholarship that is given to him by missionaries. So that's part of their life their lives at the time. I was raised Episcopalian, but I literally do not know that much about religion. So I had to do some research there too. I was looking at records of the Presbyterian Church in San Francisco in the 1950s. I know it would have been a much bigger part of their lives back then.How to develop your writing voice
Selene Velez
How did you develop your writing style? And are there any tips to develop one's writing style?Malinda Lo
How did I develop it, I probably just wrote a lot of really bad. I wrote a lot about, I've been writing since I was a kid, you know, and I wrote three fantasy novels when I was in high school. So from knowing that key will tell you immediately that I was not super popular. But I did write these three books. I think developing your voice as a writer really, is just about writing, just write a lot. Also, read a lot. So you do have to be a really good reader to be a writer, because it is a really good idea to read widely, and see all different kinds of writing voices and styles, so that you can learn and learn what you like and express that in your own writing. So read a lot and write a lot.Selene Velez
You put a lot of research into this book, and how important was it for you to have historically accurate and proper representation in "Last Night at the Telegraph Club?"Malinda Lo
Oh, it was super important because I am a recovering academic. So I almost got a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology, but I dropped out. So I only have two master's degrees.I'm overly obsessed with research. So when it came time to write the "Author's Note," my editor asked me to put all these things in it, and I was like, "This is gonna be really long." And he was like, "Just write it. We'll just see." So I wrote it, it was really long. And this is actually it has been cut down a bit from the original draft.Publishing advice for young queer authors
Selene Velez
One club member would also like to know: do you have any advice on just like writing or even the publishing industry for young queer authors?Malinda Lo
Well, I think the most important thing is to focus on your craft. So read a lot and write a lot and make sure that you have spent enough time with your writing before you go out on submission. I think a lot of people want to immediately go out and look for an agent. But before you do that, you have to make sure that the book or the story you're submitting is ready. And to figure out whether it's ready, it's often a really good idea to have a critique partner or someone else to read it and give you feedback. You have to kind of get comfortable with getting feedback and taking criticism. That's one of the most difficult parts of becoming a published writer because as soon as someone buys something from you, they're going to tell you everything that's wrong with it. And then they're gonna ask you to fix it. So I tell writers to not rush into querying because that seems fun, but you got to make sure your writing is ready. Because querying will soon become a ton of rejection. It's important that you have worked enough on your writing to feel confident in it to know that you have done everything you can do to make it the best piece of writing that you can do. Craft is really the most important. This is my sixth novel. If I count my high school books, I've written like 10 novels, I don't know if I count on them. But it's really true, the most important thing, the best part of being an author is the writing. It's not, it's not really the being published and having an agent. I mean, I love talking to your book club. This is obviously one of the highlights. It's great talking to readers. But the thing that will sustain you through all of the other stuff is knowing that you have spent time with your words and made them your own. As a queer author, an author of color, there are demands that are made of you that can be very stressful. And I don't want that to take away from the joy of writing. So for me, the most important part is always the craft and the writing. And that's what I encourage writers to focus on, especially younger ones.The next book from Malinda Lo
Selene Velez
I've heard that you're coming out with a new book. So can you let us know what to expect from a scatter of light?Malinda Lo
Yeah, so” A Scatter of Light” is, as they say, a companion novel to “Last Night at the Telegraph Club.” Although let me warn you, it's very different. Because first of all, it's set in 2013. So consider a lot of time. 2013. Like if you the way I think about it is if you've read she's Madeline L'Engle, you know, she wrote “A Wrinkle in Time” but she has a lot of contemporary books as well that were published in the 80s and 90s, and 2000s. And they are set in the same world. It's the real world, but the characters kind of cross over into different books. You’ll see one character in one book, and they'll show up in another one. So that is kind of the way that I see these two books together. It's set in the same world, but 60 some years later. It's not a historical novel, because I don't think 2013 counts as historical yet. There's a reason it set it then, and you'll find out in reading the book. And so there you will see something about Lily and Kath in the book. So you’ll find out stuff about them. That's not the point of the book. The book is about this girl in the summer after high school, and she is sent to stay with her grandmother who lives in Northern California. Lily's from the Boston area, but her parents sent her to live with her grandmother for that summer, just north of San Francisco. And while she's with her grandmother, her grandmother was an artist. And while she was with her grandmother, she meets these other women in the community and kind of gets involved with them. And the book is really about her coming of age and her identity.I'm still finishing it. And it's but I'm very excited for it to come out. And I hope that people will like it. As I said, it's very different. And oh, I should say also, it is not a romance. It’s coming next fall. I don't I don't know exactly when yet, but about a year from now.The importance of comfort foods
Selene Velez One of my favorite elements of the book was the detail you put in food descriptions. I love reading about food. What's your favorite comfort food or dish?Malinda Lo
My favorite comfort food is my mom's home shot row which is this like beef stew kind of thing. And I've tried to make it myself several times and I've never quite got it. She does make it when I go home. I haven't been home in a long time because of the pandemic so I miss it.Selene Velez
That sounds so good. I will take like my mom's food over literally anything. There's something about it. And okay, so you're known for writing wonderful queer young adult books. And what besides your own would you recommend that's within that genre?Malinda Lo
You know what I just finished reading "The Midnight Lie" and "The Hollow Heart" by Marie Rutkoski. it's a romantic fantasy. It's sapphic. It's so sexy, and there's so much adventure. It's beautifully written and it's just completely riveting, you should read it. I had to wait for like a year and a half for the sequel. And I was just like, I can't handle this. But now they're both out now.Selene Velez
Malinda, I want to say thank you again for joining us, it was a pleasure to have this conversation about one of my favorite books, and I honestly truly appreciate the wonderful insight you were able to share with us. And whenever I read this book, because it's a book that I can reread all the time, I'll reread it with a different perspective and like having kind of more background knowledge on a lot of these scenes. I hope everyone has a wonderful evening or night wherever you are.Malinda Lo
Thank you so much, Selene. I really enjoyed it.