The Girl King Author Mimi Yu in Conversation with A Curse So Dark and Lonely Author Brigid Kemmerer

Mimi Yu: Hi Brigid! I’m so glad we have this chance to “talk” before our upcoming group book tour.
Brigid Kemmerer: Hi, Mimi! Me, too!
 Yu: I love fairy tales, and “Beauty and the Beast” and its various iterations is one of my favorites. I adored the fresh humor, depth, and contemporary perspective you brought to it with A Curse So Dark And Lonely. What made you want to write your own version of this particular story?
Kemmerer: Well, it’s definitely one of the most popular fairy tales, and I think that speaks to something at the core of us all, how we want to know who someone is deep inside—and how badly we want others to see the true us. I knew I was taking a risk in retelling it, so it was important to me that my story be more inspired by “Beauty and the Beast” rather than be a true retelling. I started thinking about the villain (the enchantress) and why she would create such a horrific curse, and I wanted to give it deeper meaning and motivation to match the severity of her curse. I also wanted to get out of the castle and see what this curse would be doing to the people of the kingdom. Surely they’re suffering without someone to make sure things are being handled? I loved being able to build the kingdom of Emberfall in that way.
Speaking of, there are multiple imagined kingdoms and even dimensions in The Girl King. Could you talk a little bit about what went into writing those? To what extent were you influenced by history?
Yu: Many of the broad strokes of the story came from my imagination. I layered in the historical references later, though they ended up having a pretty foundational influence on the final product. The world of the book is loosely derived from East and North Asian histories, the most obvious real-world parallel being China’s late Qing dynasty, which I used as a template for the Empire of the First Flame: a sprawling and diverse society founded by outsiders, both a colonizing force and one being steadily colonized itself. It just seemed like the perfect model of a moment of sea change, when eons-old hierarchies and logics of power and domination were being challenged.
It’s strange, because it’s an imagined world, but I actually felt a lot of responsibility to give it some level of respectful historicity. I think that struggle speaks to a lot of contradictions that are inherent to who I am as the author: a U.S. empire-born Asian American millennial, writing about an imagined pre-modern “Asian” empire. My cultural touchstones and vocabulary are a world apart from those of someone from Asia, who would’ve grown up steeped in particular myths and legends and histories. There was a lot to be mindful of at every step, and not a lot of easy solutions.
Kemmerer: That sounds like it was really challenging! I think all that detail was put to good use, though. Your world leaps off the page.
Yu: Were there any parts of Curse that you wrangled with in particular?

Kemmerer: It’s funny, but finding the right narrative voice was the biggest struggle. I wrote 80,000 words in third person past tense, but I kept thinking the story would be better in first person present. I finally scrapped everything I’d written and started over. Prince Rhen’s voice popped off the page for me, something that hadn’t happened before. That rewrite ended up being 145,000 words long, which is WAY too long for a YA novel, so I had to go back to the drawing board and make some major cuts…especially since my editor wanted me to add some scenes. I joke that I wrote 300,000 words to get the 118,000 that make up the final novel, but that’s actually almost true.
Yu: I also ran into very similar challenges, actually! Lots of cutting and then adding new material back in when the story swung in a different direction. Editors are such sensible, clever people, aren’t they? Forcing you to make your book “palatable” to an “actual audience.”
Kemmerer: Yes! Editors are phenomenal.
Yu: On the subject of struggle, I was excited to see you thanked your CrossFit gym in your acknowledgments! I recently moved across the country, and honestly the thing I miss the most is my old gym. After a childhood of ditching gym class, I’ve been amazed to see how much physical exercise has taught me about patience, endurance, and delayed gratification. How do you feel working out has changed your craft or writing habits?
Kemmerer: Anyone who knew me growing up would be floored to hear how much I love CrossFit. I was a chubby bookish kid and I’m a chubby bookish adult. I started CrossFit back in the fall of 2017 because I needed something to get me off the couch. I couldn’t keep up with my kids, and my stress was out of control. Now, I can’t imagine going more than a few days without picking up a barbell. A firefighter at my “box” once said, “I need to come in here and pick up heavy stuff just to remind myself that I can.” I’m constantly shocked by what my body can do.
Yu: Yes! I feel the same way. And that confidence really bleeds over into my attitude about writing as well. It gives you a sense that when the unexpected pops up, you’ll have the capacity to deal with it. On that note, was there anything that surprised you while writing Curse?
Kemmerer: Yes! I have two male characters who are fierce and intensely loyal, but also a little ruthlessly violent. I could not WAIT for them to meet, because I was sure they were going to be immediate friends. I was so eager to write their chapter together. But when I got there…they hated each other! They could not stand to be in the same room together. It really took me by surprise. I love when the characters take over the story. Does this happen for you?
Yu: Oh, my gosh, absolutely. They never do what you want or expect, do they? I ran into this a lot with Lu, especially. Not only is she royalty, she’s utterly comfortable being royalty. I don’t even know what it’s like to feel comfortable in my own skin, so it took a lot of thought and time to figure out what makes her tick, what would drive a point home for her, what could shake her assumptions about how the world is, and her place in it.
If you could meet any character from your book, who would it be?
Kemmerer: This is such a hard question! Rhen! No, Grey! No, Harper! Zo! Freya! Noah! I just love them all.
Yu: I think I’d pick Grey, even though he is, in Harper’s words, a little “scary.”
Kemmerer: What about you? Is there a character from The Girl King you would want to meet?
Yu: I want to say Lu, but I know we’d bicker nonstop. I might pick Min; I could take her out for ice cream and let her vent about her problems. She contains so much of my teenage self’s sharpest little insecurities, and I think she could use a friend!
Kemmerer: It’s been so awesome talking today! Before we sign off, what can we expect next from you?
Yu: I don’t think I’m allowed to share the title yet, but the sequel to The Girl King will release in Winter 2020. How about you?
Kemmerer: I have a contemporary YA coming out in June 2019, Call It What You Want, also from Bloomsbury, about a boy who’s dealing with some bad choices his father made, and he thinks the answer is playing Robin Hood at his high school, where there’s a clear line between the rich kids and the poor kids. My next YA fantasy will be the sequel to Curse, A Heart So Fierce and Broken, out January 2020.
The Girl King is on sale now, and A Curse So Dark and Lonely, out January 29, is available for preorder.