Episode #134: Are your books based on your real life? with Jessica Kim
Welcome Back! Kids Ask Authors is pleased to welcome Jessica Kim to answer another wonderful kid question! Grace and Jessica both answer, “Are your books based on your real life?”
TRANSCRIPT:
Grace Lin: Hello, I'm Grace Lin, children's book author and illustrator of many books including the middle grade novel, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and the picture book a Big Moon Cake for Little Star.
Grace Lin: Today, I am here with Jessica Kim, the author of the middle grade novel Stand Up, Yumi Chung! As well as a new novel that you'll have to stay tuned for, in the summer of 2023.
Grace Lin: Hi, Jessica.
Jessica Kim: Hi. How are you, Grace? I'm so glad to be here.
Grace Lin: Oh, thanks for coming on. Are you ready for today's question?
Jessica Kim: I'm ready.
Grace Lin: All right. Today's question is from a person named Sarah and they ask, "Are your books based on your real life?"
Jessica Kim: The answer to that is kind of. For Stand Up, Yumi Chung!, a lot of my readers have asked me if I am actually a comedian or if I have an interest in standup comedy and the answer to that is, no. I've never done it and maybe I should, but I actually have never had much experience in that world.
Jessica Kim: But this book was about a girl who wanted to try something creative and was unsure if she had the talent and kind of the panache, to pull off standup comedy and those are very real feelings because that's exactly how I felt when I was becoming a writer. So much like Yumi, I wanted to do something creative and risky and different, from the kinds of things that people in my community were usually doing, like going to law school and going to medical school or becoming a pharmacist or something very stable and reliable. And heading into a creative world was super scary because you just don't know if you have enough talent and there's so much risk involved.
Jessica Kim: And so in a way, I was channeling all those feelings into my book when I wrote Stand Up, Yumi Chung! And so just like Yumi, I remember when I first decided to become a writer. I was so nervous and I went to my first critique group meeting, which is a writing group meeting where you meet with other writers and you read your work in front of them and they tell you, give you feedback. I was terrified because what if my writing was horrible? It's terrible and then they would tell me that it was.
Jessica Kim: What if I was sitting in my car and I'll never forget, it was in August. It was super hot because I lived here in San Diego and I almost turned the car back on and went back home. So nervous about having to introduce myself as a writer because I'd never really seen myself that way and I wasn't sure if anyone else would either.
Jessica Kim: And so I had to kind of put on my big girl pants and just take a deep breath and remind myself that nobody in that room knows me and so I could walk in and pretend to be anyone I wanted to be. And so they could meet Jessica Kim, the writer who's super funny and charismatic and wonderful and talented. And so I kind of played that part and I kind of thought about Yumi when I was writing Stand Up, Yumi Chung! and all those feelings that she must have been feeling because they were very much from a very real place.
Jessica Kim: So, that's why the answer is, kind of. I would say all my books come from a very intimate and deep part of myself. The next book I'm working on, deals a lot with being a people pleaser and friendship breakups and how hard it is to say no, when you don't want to go along with your best friend. And so all those come from very real place as well.
Grace Lin: I have to ask this, only because I know kids will want to know. So, what was the research then since you said you're not a comedian?
Jessica Kim: Oh, well yeah. I did tons of research and I don't know why, but I always write about things that I have no business writing about, so I have to always do a bunch of research. And so when I was researching comedy camps and different things, I actually was writing with the comedy camp director and she was teaching me her curriculum and I was watching online and watching YouTubes of different classes and what kind of improv activities they do. And so, I feel like I've been to comedy camp.
Grace Lin: So have you even tried to do any standup just as research?
Jessica Kim: No, but when the book came out I had to do some promotional things and so I taught kind of. At one of event, we set up a microphone and then we had the kids come up and tell jokes and I told a few and so that was the extent of it. But should one day. I hear it's really empowering and wonderful.
Grace Lin: I think that's so interesting. I would've swore that because of the book that you wrote, that you at least did, you were a secret standup comedian, want-to-be inside?
Jessica Kim: Oh. Well, been a big fan. I've always been a fan of comedy. I've always... I've gone too many comedy shows. I've been in the audience. But yeah, I've never been the one up there. And that's kind of what the book is about, is not being able to see yourself up on stage. And so yeah, that's the truth.
Grace Lin: Well, I think it's so interesting how you said you could go in into the critique group and be whoever you want because it is an interesting idea about how your family, they know you so well that in some ways they don't know you at all, because when you want to be somebody else, they're kind of stuck in who you used to be.
Grace Lin: Because I know my books are based on my real life too, The Year of the Dog and The Year of the Rat, that's very much based on my own real life but it's so much based on my real life that sometimes I forget what's true and what's not true and I'll say like, "Oh, this is what happened." And then my family will be like, "That didn't happen." I was like, "Oh no, that's just in my book."
Jessica Kim: Yeah, definitely. There's certain characters that are kind of a combination of two people in my life or an exaggeration. In the book, Yumi has a big sister who's in medical school and she's done all the academic things and blah blah blah. The parents are always just so much, I wouldn't want to say favoring, but bragging more about the older sibling.
Jessica Kim: And I have an older sister who is also a doctor, also to medical school, so there're definitely some parallels, but it's not exact, exact. Not the personalities or anything. So, it's a composite. It's like a kind of mishmash Frankenstein of...
Grace Lin: I think that's how all authors are like that. All the books are based on our real life but not... They're all based on our real life emotions.
Jessica Kim: Yes.
Grace Lin: Not our real actual events.
Jessica Kim: Right. And then as time goes on, that character kind of takes on their own personality, which I think is really fun too because originally it was stand up, Youngme Chung and Youngme is the reverse of my Korean name, which is Meyoung.
Jessica Kim: And so in the beginning, in the first several drafts, she was very much me, or young me or a lot of Jessica was there. But in the revision, as she kind of grows and goes on her own journey, she morphs into her own and it is farther and farther away from me and kind of mixing in different elements of other people who are in my life.
Jessica Kim: And so it isn't exactly, exactly, exactly, Jessica because I'm not at all shy and I definitely am more the chatty one. Her friend Jenny is a little bit closer to my personality, so it's just funny how the characters take on a life of their own.
Grace Lin: Great. All right, well thank you so much Jessica, for answering today's question and thank you Sarah for asking it. Bye.
Today’s Kid Book Review comes from Norah! Norah is reviewing Stand Up Yumi Chung by Jessica Kim.
Hi, I'm Norah. I just turned 10, and I'm in fifth grade. I am a half Chinese girl and half Caucasian, and I love to read realistic fiction books. My absolute favorite is probably Stand Up, Yumi Chung! by Jessica Kim
Stand Up, Yumi Chung! is about a girl who is used to being called Yu-Meat because she always smells like her mother and father's restaurant. Yumi loves comedy and when she figures out comedy camp will be held by her favorite comedian, she can't resist the urge to join. But this is hard when your parents don't have much money and you end up stealing someone else's identity just to be in comedy camp, which shouldn't be stressful. But, well, if you're an imposter of a totally different girl, it'll totally be stressful.
Thank you so much Norah!
More about today’s authors:
Jessica Kim writes about Asian American girls finding their way in the world. Before she was an author, Jessica studied education at UC Berkeley and spent ten years teaching third, fourth, and fifth grades in public schools. She now lives in Southern California with her family. Learn more about Jessica at jesskimwrites.com.
Grace Lin, a NY Times bestselling author/ illustrator, won the Newbery Honor for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and her picture book, A Big Mooncake for Little Star, was awarded the Caldecott Honor. Grace is an occasional commentator for New England Public Radio , a video essayist for PBS NewsHour (here & here), and the speaker of the popular TEDx talk, The Windows and Mirrors of Your Child’s Bookshelf. She is the co-host of the podcast Book Friends Forever, a kidlit podcast about friendship and publishing (geared for adults). Find her facebook, instagram , twitter ( @pacylin) or sign up for her author newsletter HERE.
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