Episode #72: How do you start a story? -With Mike Jung
Welcome back to another episode of Kids Ask Authors! Today authors Mike Jung and Grace Lin answer this kid question: “How do you start a story?”
TRANSCRIPTS:
Grace Lin: Hello. I'm Grace Lin, children's book, author, and illustrator of many books, including the middle grade novel, When The Sea Turned To Silver and the picture book, A Big Mooncake For Little Star. Today, I'm here with Mike Jung, the author of the middle grade novel, The Boys In The Back Row. Hi, Mike.
Mike Jung: Hi, Grace. Thank you for having me. It's a real pleasure.
Grace Lin: Thanks for coming. Are you ready for today's kid question?
Mike Jung: Oh, I'm so ready. I planned for it. I'm 1000% ready.
Grace Lin: Oh, good. Okay, because today's question is from a person named Blue, and they ask ...
Blue: How do you start a story?
Grace Lin: How do you start a story?
Mike Jung: Hi, Blue. The way I start a story, it's not something that I was really clear on for a long time. It's only now after having written three novels that I have a handle on it, because the way it feels like I start is that I get just some random idea like, I want to write a book about superheroes, which is how I started writing my first book. Or I want to write a book about a kid whose family is a family of immigrants and is having a hard time with that. Or I think I have this great idea about evil fish who read minds and live in another dimension. That book hasn't actually worked out yet. But it turns out that the point when I really actually start writing the book and figuring out what it is about is when I start to focus on a character and I start to develop that character and think about, "Who is this child who's the center of this book? What are they like? What are they interested in? What kind of things do they do? What kind of friendships do they have? What's their family life like?
Mike Jung: And then if I have that other element of superheroes, people in spandex, spaceships, things exploding, then I could bring those things in. But the story doesn't really start to feel solid and real until I know who at least one of the characters is. And sometimes, it's multiple characters. So I'll flail around like an octopus for a while, then I'll be like, "Okay, the character," and that's when things start to really move forward.
Grace Lin: Oh, that's so interesting. And I've heard that a lot for a lot of people, they say the character is the one that starts the book. So what characters started the book for The Boys In The Back Row for you?
Mike Jung: Well, it was both. I mean, it was the protagonist, who's the narrator of the story, and his best friend. So the protagonist is named Matthew Park and he has a best friend named Eric Costa. And in some ways, these characters were easy to start developing, because the book is inspired by a real life friendship of mine from high school. I was really close friends with a guy named Chris Heliopolis, and so a lot of what happens in The Boys In The Back Row is actually lifted directly from my friendship with Chris way back when I was in high school, 1000 years ago. And then aged down a little bit, because this is a middle grade novel. They're not high schoolers in this book. And so there was a ready-made foundation for who these characters were and what their friendship was like. And then I was able to start crafting who they are as unique people, as not me and my friend, Chris, and start developing what kind of story was going to happen around them.
Mike Jung: They're both in the marching band, they're both huge comic book fans, and one of them ends up moving away at the end of the year. And so they're both devastated by this, and so they are figuring out, what can they do to have a last hurrah? And so they planned this big adventure where they're going to leave a field trip that their school marching band is taking to perform in an out-of-state exhibition. And they're going to go AWOL, and they're going to go to a nearby comic con and get their favorite comic book artist and author to sign a book for them. So there's hi jinks and things like that, but the real root of it is about who these two boys are and who they are as best friends and they love each other, and they are unabashed about it.
Mike Jung: And how do they figure out how to really say goodbye in a way that in a way that really acknowledges the depth of the loss that they're about to experience and also communicates to each other really how much they love each other? And in the context of a society, an American society, that really, really tries very hard to stop boys from being vulnerable and emotional. So that's the root of the book.
Grace Lin: Oh, that sounds wonderful.
Mike Jung: Thank you.
Grace Lin: What a great book. Are you still friends with Chris?
Mike Jung: I am still friends with Chris. In fact, we're going to start working out a little bit of a promotional video for this book that's going to be put out on the launch day. Chris and I had an interesting saga, because he didn't move away, but he did go to college a year before I did and we lost touch. We had a communication breakdown and we lost touch during that time, and so we were out of touch for the next 30 years, but I did occasionally just search for him online, because I had heard from mutual friends that he had gone into the comic book industry, which is something that we used to talk about and dream about. He actually did it, and he's had a long career working for Marvel Comics. The way we got back in touch is that one of our marching band friends from high school passed away far, far too early, far too young, and I saw him chatting with some mutuals of ours on Twitter and he was saying how our friend Julie was one of the people who really helped him survive high school.
Mike Jung: And I thought, "Oh, this is a moment. If I'm going to do this, it's now." And so I reached out to him and I said, "You were one of the people that did that for me. You're one of the people who made it possible for me to get through high school. I don't know if I would've been able to do that without you." Yeah. Yeah, and so we reconnected, and it turns out that not only has Chris been working for Marvel Comics all this time, but that he is actually a children's author and illustrator now.
Grace Lin: Wow.
Mike Jung: Yeah, isn't that wild?
Grace Lin: That's great. It sounds so much like my story with Alvina Ling in The Year of the Dog. She was Melody.
Mike Jung: Right.
Grace Lin: And we were best friends and we stayed in touch, and now I'm a children's book author and illustrator, and she's a children's book editor. So it's like this parallel thing. That's so cool.
Mike Jung: There's some parallels now, you're right. You two are working together and doing great things. And so yeah, it's just this wonderful full circle experience, and we're both working in the field now.
Grace Lin: That's amazing. Wow, that's great. Well, thank you so much for answering this question.
Mike Jung: Of course.
Grace Lin: And thank you, Blue, for asking it. And I think you got everybody excited to read your book, The Boys In The Back Row.
Mike Jung: Oh, I hope so.
Grace Lin: Thanks so much.
Mike Jung: Okay. Thank you so much, Grace.
Grace Lin: Bye.
Mike Jung: Bye. (silence)
Grace Lin: Wasn't that great? If you would like to learn more about today's author, please go to our website Kids Ask Authors for more information. Grownups, remember if you know a kid that has a question, a book review, a poem, or even a joke they would like to share on this podcast, please submit it to kidsaskauthors.com. If you'd like to reach me, Grace Lin, you can sign up for my author newsletter by clicking on the little link icon at the top of the Kids Ask Authors page, or follow me on Instagram where I use the handle @Paceylin. Also, please consider becoming a patron of this podcast. If you become a patron, you'll keep our podcasts running, help pay for transcripts, which helps keep our podcasts equitable, and also help expand our Kid Book Reviewer Club, which had more than 200 applicants.
Grace Lin: We were only able to take six, but your help will let us take more kids. And if you become a patron, there are some great perks, like exclusive access to our special Patreon podcast random questions. Lastly, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts. That really helps me know that you like what we're doing so we can keep doing it. Thanks.
Today’s BOOK REVIEW comes from Carter! Carter is reviewing The Alien Adventures of Finn Caspian: The Fuzzy Apocalypse by Jonathan Messinger
The book I would like to review is The Alien Adventures of Finn Caspian: The Fuzzy Apocalypse by Jonathan Messinger. This book is about a team of adventurers who go on a mission to save a planet that is going to explode, or what the author calls a “coconut.” I liked this book because it is funny and exciting. The illustrations throughout the book helped me see what was happening in the story. The most exciting part of the book for me was when aliens were chasing the main characters over a rock ledge above a lava river.
Thank you Carter!
More about TODAY’S AUTHORS:
Mike Jung is the author of Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities, Unidentified Suburban Object, and The Boys in the Back Row. He is a library professional by day, a writer (and ukulele player) by night and was a founding member of #WeNeedDiverseBooks team. He lives in Oakland, California, with his wife and two children.
He can be found on Twitter @Mike_Jung and Instagram @mikejungwroteabook.
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.
Special thanks to the High Five Books & Art Always Bookstore, Ms. Carleton’s 2nd grade class at Jackson Street School for their help with our kid questions and reviews.
