Debut Author Interview: Chloe Gong and These Violent Delights Giveaway and IWSG Post

Happy Wednesday Everyone! Today I have debut author Chloe Gong here to share about her YA fantasy These Violent Delights. I’m super excited to read it because it’s set in 1926 Shanghai.

Here’s a blurb from Goodreads: 

Perfect for fans of The Last Magician and Descendant of the Crane, this heart-stopping debut is an imaginative Romeo and Juliet retelling set in 1920s Shanghai, with rival gangs and a monster in the depths of the Huangpu River.

The year is 1926, and Shanghai hums to the tune of debauchery.

A blood feud between two gangs runs the streets red, leaving the city helpless in the grip of chaos. At the heart of it all is eighteen-year-old Juliette Cai, a former flapper who has returned to assume her role as the proud heir of the Scarlet Gang—a network of criminals far above the law. Their only rivals in power are the White Flowers, who have fought the Scarlets for generations. And behind every move is their heir, Roma Montagov, Juliette’s first love…and first betrayal.

But when gangsters on both sides show signs of instability culminating in clawing their own throats out, the people start to whisper. Of a contagion, a madness. Of a monster in the shadows. As the deaths stack up, Juliette and Roma must set their guns—and grudges—aside and work together, for if they can’t stop this mayhem, then there will be no city left for either to rule.

IWSG Post

Before I get to Chole’s interview, I have my IWSG Post.

Posting: The first Wednesday is officially Insecure Writer's Support Group Day.

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

The awesome co-hosts for the October 7 posting of the IWSG are Jemi Fraser, Kim Lajevardi, L.G Keltner, Tyrean Martinson, and Rachna Chhabria!

I want to start out by sharing two great online writing conferences that you may want to take advantage of:

• YALLWrite Festival: The YALLWrite Festival is a free conference on November 13th and 14th presented by Fierce Reads. There are some awesome classes and panels that can benefit writers even if you don't write in MG or YA.
• WriteOnCon: WriteOnCon is coming February 19-21, 2021. This conference is low cost--less than $50--and is jam packed with panels and classes. They also have presentations by agents, and some of them represent adult authors too. They offer a lot of other benefits, like paid critiques and groups where you can get feedback on your manuscript or query from other conference members.

Optional Question: Albert Camus once said, “The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.” Flannery O’Conner said, “I write to discover what I know.” Authors across time and distance have had many reasons to write. Why do you write what you write?

Sometimes I wonder why I write at all since I'm not sure I ever want to be published. I think one reason I write is because I enjoy it and am finding a creative part of myself that I didn't know was there.

I write what I write--MG and YA fantasy--because I enjoy reading in the genre and thinking about a world that has magical creatures and magic. I also have really been enjoying mysteries and may want to try one of those soon too.

I'm only on my second manuscript. Both stories have an adopted main character. I think that's another reason why I write and why I might try getting published some day. As an adoptive mom, I don't see enough books with adopted kids as the main character where the adoption is not the main theme of the story. Like other minorities, these kids, including my daughter when she was younger, need to see themselves in the stories they read. 

And not only are there not enough books featuring these kids, but many of the stories are about "poor orphans" who often have unhappy living situations. I know that the "poor orphan" theme lends itself to good plot, like the Harry Potter series. But I don't think it's a good portrayal for kids in adoptive and foster homes. That's just my two cents on it, and one of the reason that I feel more compelled to continue writing.

What about you? Why do you write what you do?

Interview With Chloe Gong

Hi Chloe! Thanks so much for joining us.

1. Tell us about yourself and how you became a writer.

Thanks so much for having me here! I’m a YA author and a senior at the University of Pennsylvania. I’m originally from New Zealand, but now I’m here in the States studying English and International Relations. I first started writing in high school, mostly just as a hobby to occupy my time. I was an avid reader, and I tore through my piles borrowed from the library at frightening fast speed. When I was short of good reading material, I decided to start telling my own stories just as a way to pass time. Because I didn’t take myself very seriously (I was 14, after all) I wrote incredibly fast, pumping out manuscript after manuscript that had no purpose except to tell a semi-incoherent first draft story. From there, eight manuscripts later, my craft kept growing and developing to bring me where I am today!

 2. Writing all those stories must have been great practice for what you write now. Where did you get the idea for These Violent Delights?

These Violent Delights started from two separate puzzle pieces. First, I was really interested in the

concept of a blood feud, and what sort of story I could draw forward from that. I had this image in my head of two families at war, and star-crossed lovers who are forced to choose sides, except they have a certain bitterness toward each other too because of the circumstances they have been slotted into. The second puzzle piece was about the 1920s, because I adored the aesthetic, but I was tired of seeing the setting being used without engaging with the colonial and racial tensions of that time. Eventually, those two things clicked together, and I thought I could tell a story about a blood feud set in the 1920s, grappling with both the question of hatred between two equal groups, and then hatred from exterior groups when oppression and imperialism are in play.

 3. This is a retelling of Romeo and Juliet. How did you plot it out and what challenges did you face writing a retelling?

Once I knew I was telling a story about star-crossed lovers and a blood feud, I also knew I wanted to engage directly with Romeo and Juliet, because that’s the very touchstone text about star-crossed lovers and blood feuds! Instead of circling around the play’s themes and trying to insist on my originality, I decided to embrace the idea of a re-imagining by taking the very heart of Shakespeare’s ideas and then entirely changing the context to give the story a breath of fresh air. The plot, the arcs, and the character traits came from my head, but I worked this around certain original scenes and symbols that I wanted to adapt for a modern era with more modern relevance. But it was challenging at times to remember that I was allowed to stray as far from the original play as I needed to! Sometimes I would grow really attached to the way I wanted the scene to play out in reference to Romeo and Juliet, before realizing that it wasn’t working as effectively for my story, and then I changed it for the sake of the larger arc.

 4. That's a great way to make a retelling fresh. I love that your story is set in 1926 Shanghai. What research did you do into the time period and setting?

A lot of academic reading! To start with, my parents are originally from Shanghai, as are just about all my family on both sides, and I used to visit the city often in a pre-COVID world, so I had a general idea about the culture, the history, and the small little things that you can only really pick up from direct experience and interaction. Of course, since I was setting this in true history too, I wanted to make sure I had my facts straight and I had the right vibe. 1926 was just before the outbreak of the Chinese Civil War, and it was right in the era of warlord rule, after the imperial dynasty fell but before a true government was installed. There was already so much going on domestically, and then there was the foreign influence too because the British and the French held huge sway in the city after the Western victory in the Opium Wars. While not every detail I researched made it into the book, I don’t think any of the time I spent in the library was wasted, because knowing all these historical details helped guide the atmosphere of the content I was writing. Shout out to my school library for letting me sit in its stacks for three hours, flipping through every book in the 1920s China section!

 5. That's awesome that you have family in Shanghai and visited there regularly. Talk a bit about your world building and the two gangs that control the streets.

I’m a very visual writer, so I love to be able to “see” what I’m writing. Setting the scene is always at the top of my agenda, and that way, the reader can also feel very solidly rooted into this world I’m throwing them into. When it came to the two rival gangs too, it was the visuals that influenced how they came to life. I wanted the two gangs to look distinct, and that presented itself first in the colors (which is where the names—the Scarlet Gang and the White Flowers—developed from). The more I thought about the colors they would use to differentiate themselves on their territories, I also started thinking about the spaces they occupy: the Scarlet Gang operates from a large mansion; the White Flowers operate from crowded city apartments. The Scarlet Gang have been around since before the imperial dynasty fell, the White Flowers are relative newcomers who fled civil unrest in Russia. By first finding a few core values and traits that each gang values as a result of their position in the city, I could then expand outward to determine how the gangs operate differently and what their goals are.

6. You are an undergraduate pursuing a double major. How do you organize your time so you have enough time to write and market your debut as well as do the work you need to in college?

So many to-do lists! It’s the only way I keep on top of everything, because doing an undergraduate degree and debuting a book at the same time means there are so many deadlines coming from so many sides. It ultimately comes down to making sure I know what’s the most immediately pressing thing on my plate and prioritizing so that I’m not letting school fall to the wayside when I have heavy edits or let my promotional content suffer if I have midterms going on. Sometimes this means that I’ll be working late into the night and writing at 3AM, but it is what it is. I love everything about being an author, so I don’t mind too much!

7. Your agent is Laura Crockett. How did she become your agent and what was your road to publication like?

I started my road to publication by participating in #PitMad, which is a Twitter contest where you pitch your manuscript and agents like the tweet to show interest. I definitely sort of threw my lot into that, because I had just put the finishing touches on the earliest version of These Violent Delights when that pitch contest rolled around, so I figured there would be no harm in doing it, and cold querying on my own alongside it. The funniest part is that most of my cold queries were responded to faster than my #PitMad queries! I had researched agents very carefully, because I wanted to be sure that my book was something they were looking for, and the sort of books I wanted to write were the genres that they represented. Laura was the very first agent I queried because my manuscript fit her wishlist really, really well. Less than a month later, she offered, I notified other agents who were reading, and I ultimately signed with her after considering a few other offers because I loved the vision she had not just for the book but for my long-term career. We also just clicked as people, which is super hard to explain in words, but it was just a feeling! After signing, we revised the book, and then it went on submission when I started sophomore year of college. By second semester of sophomore year, we had one offer came in, and then multiple, so These Violent Delights ended up selling at auction to Simon & Schuster.

8. What a cool road to publication story! What are you doing to promote your book given COVID-19? What advice do you have for other authors with book releases?

The COVID world has forced all of us online, which is definitely the new playing ground for book promotion now. I’m very comfortable with the internet as a marketing tool because I grew up on the internet, and I’m always fiddling with something new, whether it’s making graphics or filming TikToks. My best advice for upcoming authors in this landscape would definitely be to get creative with what is within your capacity: the internet arena is huge and it often feels like you’re shouting into a void, but when you hit your right niche and enjoy what you’re doing, I promise your audience will come to you.

9. What are you working on now?

I just turned in the sequel to These Violent Delights! So now I’m working on a secret project that I’m super excited about, because I can’t go a day without thinking about some sort of story!

Thanks for sharing all your advice, Chloe! You can find Chloe at www.thechloegong.com, Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok.  

Giveaway Details

Chole has generously offered a signed hardback of These Violent Delights for a giveaway. To enter, all you need to do is be a follower of my blog (via the follower gadget, email, or bloglovin’ on the right sidebar) and leave a comment by November 21st. If your e-mail is not on your Google Profile, you must leave it in the comments to enter the contest. Please be sure I have your email address.

If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog and/or follow me on Twitter, mention this in the comments and I'll give you an extra entry for each. You must be 13 years old or older to enter. This giveaway is U.S. only.

Upcoming Interviews and Giveaways

Monday, November 9th I have an interview with debut author Sheila Averbuch and a giveaway of her MG contemporary Friend Me

Tuesday, November 10th I'm participating in the Super Stocking Giveaway Hop 

Monday, November 16th I have an interview with debut author Rachel Short and a giveaway of her MG spooky mystery The Mutant Mushroom Takover

Wednesday, November 18th I have an agent spotlight interview with Tori Sharp and a query critique giveaway

Monday, November 23rd I have an interview with debut author Carol Coven Grannick and a giveaway of her MG contemporary Renni's Turn

Hope to see you on Monday!