After two toiling years of tears, sweat and helpless cries, I finally completed my novel and was fortunate enough to have it published on Amazon! While the novel initially started off with the plan of writing in it a diary-like style, where I would write my actual real life through a made-up character, my story gradually evolved into something completely different.

*a quick sneak peek into my original plan*

*note that I ended up deleting chapters worth of content about other characters later on* PAIN

It was supposed to be a second point of view novel, where I would directly address the audience. However, it became harder for me to talk directly to the audience without making the novel sound like an eight year old had written it.

As my story progressed, the story became more focused on the bully that my main character used to be best friends with. It was supposed to be more focused on the main character’s life, but because I had to deepen the relationship between the main character, Hana, and her ex-bestfriend, now enemy, YeEun, I realized a few of my chapters were entirely focused on YeEun instead.

As Hana is portrayed as a very fainthearted, introverted girl, I wanted her to have a source of comfort, something or someone who she could easily share her concerns with, which quite interestingly came up with a magical talking cat. This magical cat was actually inspired by the magical egg that curses Jun Naruse from the animated film, The Anthem of the Heart (Japanese: 心が叫びたがってるんだ。).

All was going well until the feature of this magical cat. The genre of my novel had suddenly changed from realistic fiction to fantasy, which I had never anticipated, and a magical cat..?

Then came a slump in my novel. I did not want to continue working on my novel, and I began to hate all the characters, the plot, and the project itself. I tried re-drawing my story arc to see the overall story, but this didn’t help.

However, thankfully, through reading several novels and completing a few exercises of writing new pieces, I became more motivated than ever to complete it. And here I am.

My book addresses the issue of student suicide rates in South Korea. Hana, a Korean American girl, encounters internal conflicts regarding her identity and discimination from her sister, Hayul. Hana envied Hayul’s life because of her superb grades, and a ravishing appearance. However, as all trivial misunderstandings overshadow Hana’s perception of Hayul, Hana doesn’t know the pressure Hayul encounters, especially as the college entrance exams approach. Eventually, Hayul commits suicide from the pressure.

Please check out the book on Amazon!

– Joanna Kim, February 26th, 2022, 11:35PM KST –