Once We Were Blog Tour: Interview with Kat Zhang

Hi, guys! Long time, no see. (This is Blythe here, and, as you may or may not have known, I took a break from Twitter, reading, blogging, etc for reasons that are behind me as of now.) However, I like to think that I'm coming back with a bang, because today I have an interview with the lovely Kat Zhang for you guys as part of the blog tour for Once We Were (which is released tomorrow!). And then tomorrow I have another interview for you all! But anyway, if you haven't read Zhang's What's Left of Me yet, you should really get to that because both that, and Once We Were, are really just great. 


Now, let's welcome Kat to the blog!

Hi, Kat! First off, as I was reading What's Left of Me and, more prominently, Once We Were, I couldn't help but read some aspects of the novel (the overall prejudice towards Hybrids) to be something of a metaphor for the xenophobia that is throughout our world today. Although I'm sure readers may disagree with me on that point, did you go about writing The Hybrid Chronicles with the intention of having some aspects of it be a metaphor for xenophobia? 

When I first got the idea for the Hybrid Chronicles, it was very much focused around Eva and Addie and their private situation (Eva being unable to move, unable to really live, etc). The rest of their world hadn't even solidified yet. So it definitely didn't start as a metaphor for anything like that. But as I built the rest of the world more during the initial drafts of What's Left of Me, I think hybrids became, more and more, a kind of "othered" people.

I wouldn't say they're a stand-in for any one marginalized group. There have been many, and their stories are unique. But human beings have always tried to draw lines between "us" and "them," for various reasons, and I think xenophobia and the Americas' dislike of the hybrids (and, by proxy, foreigners) certainly have similarities.

How were you able to juggle the responsibilities of writing two full length novels, as well as the responsibilities of a college student (considering you've drafted both novels as a college student)?

With some difficulty, haha ;) I can't say it wasn't pretty hard sometimes to balance everything. I'm a perfectionist, so I want to do everything well, and both college and writing are obviously huge time sucks. Sometimes, I definitely wished I had more time to focus on one or the other. There was a lot of waking up early/staying up late to write (...I won't tell you how many scenes were drafted at 3am in the morning...). On the other hand, I wouldn't ever give up what I had--the  writing and publication of these books is an inextricable part of my college years (and really, my life from about age 17-now...). 

On the topic of writing novels as a student, what advice would you give to a young aspiring writer hoping to eventually be published?

Finish the book, read lots (and analytically--try to figure out why you think certain books are good, and others not-so-much), and learn the industry ropes, but try not to stress about it all too much. A lot publishing (trends, if the right agent/editor sees your work at the right time) can be outside of your control. Focus on what you can do. 

Is it difficult for you as a writer to have to provide such a wide array of characters who are Hybrids with two very distinguishable voices?

It wasn't hard for me to come up with the characters, but it was hard, especially in Once We Were, when we have a larger cast, for me to try to get them all into the story. When you need, say 5 characters, but they're really 10, because they're all hybrid, it's hard to have enough page-space for all 10 of them to shine through. Inevitably, a lot of backstory/scenes get cut, and I always mourn the fact that some of my favorite, albeit more minor, characters don't get fleshed out as much on-page as they are in my mind.

If you were a character in your novel, and you were given the choice of being a Hybrid or not, what would you choose? Why would you risk the consequences all Hybrids face in your world if you choose to be one?

In the Americas, probably not, haha. If I were overseas, though, where it would be considered normal? I'm not sure... My gut reaction is "No!" because wow, awkward, plus complicated. But there are definite pluses--never being lonely, always having someone to understands you, etc. And really, many of the "downsides," if you think about it, are "downsides" because of what we're used to.

I get questions a lot about how hybrids can possibly have relationships because isn't it just incredibly weird for everyone involved? Well, yes, it is for our main characters, because they (like us) were raised in an environment where relationships are supposed to work a certain way, and bodies are supposed to work a certain way, and the idea of family, and relationships, and life, have been formed around this "way." But if everyone were hybrid? Well, then, society would have developed entirely differently. What we see as "weird" wouldn't be weird at all.

Once We Were is, in scope, very different from What's Left of Me. How difficult was it for you to transition from one tone--What's Left of Me's--to a very different tone--Once We Were's?

I think it was pretty natural for me because Addie and Eva are in a different place, mentally, and emotionally, and physically. The scope of their world has changed, so it's only natural that the scope of their story changes, as well.

If you could describe the world in the Hybrid Chronicles in three words or less, what words would you choose?

Hmm... Well, I guess if I were to describe the Americas from the POV of a hybrid living there: Claustrophobic, Regulated, Dissemble.

In Once We Were, Eva is met with a subtle yet remarkable growth, having used the words "I" and "my" more than she did "we" and "our," like she did in What's Left of Me. Did you plan out Eva's growth before even starting the series to be so reliant on something as simple as a change in how she refers to herself?

Eva's use of pronouns is definitely something I pay a lot of attention to, and I choose which set of pronouns she uses (I/my/me; we/ours/us; she/hers/her) in each scene with a particular meaning in mind. She's a character who is literally forming a greater sense of self throughout the series, and while I planned for that, I think a lot of the pronoun choice happens while I write, as I think about the state of mind she's in.

Also, while we're on the topic of the change in how Eva refers to herself from What's Left of Me to Once We Were, how did you know when to use "I" versus "we," or "my" versus "our"?

It's mostly a case of how she's viewing herself/herself+Addie during the scene. Sometimes, she sees them more as a unit. Sometimes, she'd rather delineate more clearly between the two of them (when she's with Ryan, for example, or when only one of them is awake, or when one of them is making a decision separate from the other).

Do you have any plans for future projects outside of the Hybrid Chronicles you can tell us about? Or do you plan on continuing the Hybrid Chronicles after you're done with Eva and Addie's story, with a different set of Hybrids?

I definitely have plans for future projects! There are a couple I'm exploring right now, and they're all quite different, so we'll see how things turn out :) Right now, I don't have plans for continuing with the Hybrid Chronicles after the trilogy, though. For me, it was always really Eva and Addie's story, in the end. :)

Thanks for having me on the blog!

Thank you, Kat! You can also find Kat on her website, her blog, and on Twitter.


11 comments :

  1. I haven't yet read What's Left of Me, but it has been on my TBR list for quite a while. And I really admire how Kat wrote the first draft while she was a student! Thank you so much for the giveaway and I really hope to read What's Left of Me and Once We Were soon!

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  2. Great interview! I finally got to read What's Left of Me recently and I really enjoyed it. Can't wait to get my hands on Once We Were. :)

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  3. Read the first book and liked it. Looking forward to the second book. Hoping for lots of action and get to know both hybrids personalities better.

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  4. I keep hearing a lot about this book and now I'm dying to read the first one and the sequel! I hope I get to soon! :)

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  5. I'm a big fan of this series and of Kat's, so I'm excited to hear she has future projects in the works. Love the interview, sincerely, you ladies covered a lot of great ground.

    And it's nice to see you back, Blythe!

    Wendy @ The Midnight Garden

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  6. this sounds awesome! Thanks for sharing!

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  7. I'm so excited about this sequel and I am so glad she has some other ideas she is working on. If they are anywhere near as good as What's Left of Me, count me in!!!

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  8. I really loved What's Left In Me but I never knew that Kat was in college when she wrote it! Woah... talk about genius.

    Thanks for sharing and it's great to see you around again, Blythe!

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  9. Thanks for the interview!! I'm amazed that she wrote both books as a college student--as a college student myself, I can't even imagine adding that to my workload!

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  10. I haven't read What's Left of Me just yet o.O. I was kind of put off by the summary just because I didn't know whether the philosophy of the novel would be handled as well as I'd like, but with your rec and so many others, clearly that assumption was wrong.

    A kind of "othered" people. "But human beings have always tried to draw lines between "us" and "them," for various reasons" <-- very true. And I could relate to the fact that she didn't start off thinking of them that way, but started with an image of those characters and then built the world around that. I've read a lot of the best writers who've done something similar, like C.S. Lewis and his fawn with Lucy before he made the story into the Gospels Retold.

    I AM SO IMPRESSED WITH HER DOING THAT AS A COLLEGE STUDENT. I had to take a break in my blog -- posting only once a week -- because the work load was just too much to handle! I tried to write, but I can't imagine writing 2 full length drafts and managing college. And being a perfectionist. "There was a lot of waking up early/staying up late to write (...I won't tell you how many scenes were drafted at 3am in the morning...)." <-- Ahh, like I am now lol. Trying to catch up with my favorite blogs early, early in the morning. You either give up your sleep, your social life, or your grades in college; I guess it was the first for her :D.

    Reading a lot has changed the way I write so I also really identify with the advice she gave. Do you write too, Blythe?

    So very true. I imagine it's really, really hard to get all the back stories of the side characters into the plot - I really marvel at how JKR was able to manage such a huge character cast. Most YA novels don't have that large of a cast anymore.

    "I get questions a lot about how hybrids can possibly have relationships because isn't it just incredibly weird for everyone involved? Well, yes, it is for our main characters, because they (like us) were raised in an environment where relationships are supposed to work a certain way, and bodies are supposed to work a certain way, and the idea of family, and relationships, and life, have been formed around this "way." But if everyone were hybrid? Well, then, society would have developed entirely differently. What we see as "weird" wouldn't be weird at all." <-- I really like this response. I like how she takes into account how we're socialized into a lot of our beliefs. It's an incredible thing to consider, and now I'm wondering how much of that is addressed in the novel or if it's left as metaphor for us to decipher.

    Pronoun choice to show character development? And to explore the world and the philosophy - that's some intricate plotting there. Admirable how so few words could change the entire tone and development of the novel.

    Oooh, okay! So even if I don't get on the Hybrid Chronicles soon, there's always a chance of reading Kat Zhang's work in the future :). It always make me a bit happy to hear that writers are constantly working on their next project.

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  11. Awesome interview! I haven't read her series yet, but it looks really good! I'm definitely adding it to my TBR list!

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