The Epiphany 10: A Ten-Question Interview with Juhea Kim

Epiphany: William Trevor began his adult life as a sculptor and later described his writing as chipping away at a block of marble. Are you a chipper or a builder?  In other words, do you chip away at a block of writing, or are you more methodical, building up the block brick by brick?

I'm a chipper of short stories and a builder of novels. I visualized my novel's writing process as the construction of a cathedral, because it is an epic historical novel with a large cast of characters taking place over half a century. Years ago when I shared the first 100 pages or so with my agent, her feedback was, "This is great but where is this all going?" But I always had a finished structure in mind and knew how all the different pieces would, in the end, fit together. With short stories though, there is much more of a sense that the story is there already and you must quickly release it from its raw state in your mind. 

What was your first publication?

A short story called "Body Language," published in Granta. 

Five books you are reading or thinking about now?

Singing Lessons for the Stylish Canary by Laura Stanfill, Skinship by Yoon Choi, The Prince of Mournful Thoughts by Caroline Kim, The Brothers Karamazov, Harrow by Joy Williams

If you had to inhabit a fictional world, what would it be (i.e., the environment of which novel or short story or poem)?

I would love to live in the world of Anna Karenina in 19th-century St. Petersburg, minus the serfdom and patriarchy. Another good one is Rivendell in Middle Earth, minus the occasional orc invasion and apocalyptic fight against evil. 

Most interesting day job you've had (from the perspective of a writer)?

I was a fashion designer for a few years before moving on to publishing. I have also worked as a cocktail waitress and a barre instructor at various points in my early to mid twenties. I think every non-writing job you have is 1000% valuable to a writer, because you can write about characters with non-writing/academic jobs with authority. Most people work jobs that have nothing to do with creative writing, but far too many books are about authors! It's crazy. 

Novels?  Short stories?  Which do you prefer to write?

I find that writing a novel is like running a marathon, and then when you cross the finish line, they tell you "that was great—but now go back and do it again." And then this may happen 3–4 times. Writing a short story is like driving a Formula One car—fast, dangerous, adrenaline-pumping. They're torturous for different reasons, but I find that the pleasure of being in the zone is actually the same for both—when you're figuring out just a little bit ahead what's going to happen, and you're typing to keep up with your subconscious intelligence. It's thrilling when that happens.

One sentence of advice regarding writing?

Develop your quality (voice, craft, style, excellence, how you write) and develop your mission (why you write). 

Your novel title: was it your first choice?

Oh, gosh no. I told my agent (Jody Kahn of Brandt and Hochman) that I was thinking of Love and Time, because that to me was the essence of this book. She was very very against it — and then she came up with Beasts of a Little Land based on a passage from the book. I don't deserve her. 

In a nutshell, what are you working on now?

I'm working on a ballet novel and an ecological short story collection. 

What's an interview question you've never been asked that you wish had been?

Why do you write? No one ever asks me this but I repeat this every morning while taking a walk in my neighborhood. I write to save nature and reduce animal suffering. That's the throughline of my work across genres (essays, journalism, short stories, novel) even when the writing in question doesn't look like it has anything to do with nature. Knowing the reason I write was what kept me from giving up whenever I was staring down yet another rejection. And it will continue to inspire me through the ups and downs of writing life. 

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Juhea Kim is a writer, artist, and advocate based in Portland, Oregon. Her novel Beasts of a Little Land (Ecco) comes out in the US the world today, December 7, 2021. Her writing has been published in Granta, Slice, Zyzzyva, Guernica, Catapult, Joyland, Times Literary Supplement, The Independent, Sierra Magazine, Portland Monthly, and elsewhere. She is the founder and editor of Peaceful Dumpling, an online magazine at the intersection of sustainable lifestyle and ecological literature. She has received fellowship support from the Bread Loaf Environmental Writers’ Conference, the Regional Arts & Culture Council, and Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing at Arizona State University. She earned her BA in Art and Archaeology from Princeton University.