Washington follows a ninth-grader navigating the chaos of high school, who, after transferring to a new school, finds a group of friends and starts to build a new normalcy, until it is shattered by the sound of gunshots. What made you write a story about this topic?

The story had actually been rolling around my brain since I myself was in high school. Columbine happened when I was in freshman year, and kind of stuck with me throughout sophomore, junior and senior year. I used to walk around the halls and wonder what would I do if that happened? Where would I go? What if one of my friends was being bullied? Going there in my mind over the years created many different mixed feelings. On the one hand, it is of course a dark taboo topic and very tragic. On the other hand, it could also be a beautiful concept and very pure when paired with the strength of spirit and the power of human connection. I wanted to try to dissect all of this darkness and light through a sweeping romance with pulsing action and painful drama, all at the same time.

In many contemporary coming-of-age fiction novels, authors often add their own life experiences to the story. Are there any bits of you in this story?

I had a group of friends, like in the book. I transferred schools in my freshman year, like in the book. I also used to doodle and draw a lot. I used to go to the arcade and comic book shop after school. So, there’s many bits and pieces from my life and from people I know. But whenever I sit down to write, I never do an exact replica of myself or anybody else. Rather, I kind of Frankenstein together different composite sketches. I remix reality in a sense to fit my narrative, to better idealize a character, and to emphasize personality and contrast. It leads to an immersive experience writing it so my goal is to also lead to an immersive experience reading it.

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

One of the first things I remember thinking before I committed to writing this was how much I missed that younger period in my life. I missed the innocence of it. Being such close friends, you would put your arm around one another. Having nothing else to do, but to hang out and joke and have fun. So, friendship definitely was one theme. Falling in love was another, and especially first love. I thought it was interesting to explore crushes and liking one another. At the time when Columbine happened, the news outlets really blamed video games and movies and music, which bothered me quite a lot. Those were the games that we all played. Those were the movies we all watched. That was the music we all listened to. Because so many others enjoyed those things and went on to be perfectly normal and fine, I guess I wanted to counter that and examine what would really drive someone to do something so horrific in the end.

What is one thing that you hope readers take away from Washington?

For me, this project began as part of my practicing how to write. I never intended to try to publish a book like WASHINGTON since it is so controversial. I was gonna keep it in a drawer somewhere if agents and publishers were ever pressing me for more. However, something magical sparked on the page, and I couldn’t hide it from the world. My aim was to walk the fine line between authenticity but not glorify anything, to keep it neutral and universal, and focus on the characters in the attack, not the attacker. I want readers to go back in time, to fall in love again and have those kinds of friends again. I’ve taken many Asian literature classes and the best part was always the discussion and reflection. So, finally, I hope that there are plenty of deep talks and deep thinking long after the last page.

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