In 2019, we made it our goal is to work with as many debut authors as possible and spread the word about their debut novels. It was such a success last year that we decided to continue the fun this year as well! Follow us this year as we pick the minds of the 2020 debuts and chat with them. Also stay tuned for news of giveaways, Twitter chats and more!
At the end of 2019, we Tweeted about wanting to discover more debut authors and their books. We ended up finding Chloe Gong and her novel THESE VIOLENT DELIGHTS, and we have been interested in it ever since. We are so excited to have Chloe on the blog today to answer some of our questions!
Chloe Gong is an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania, studying English and International Relations. During her breaks, shes either at home in New Zealand or visiting her many relatives in Shanghai. Chloe has been known to mysteriously appear by chanting Romeo and Juliet is one of Shakespeare's best plays and doesnt deserve its slander in pop culture into a mirror three times.
Chloe: Surreal! Absolutely surreal! But mostly I’m grateful, because being a debut author means I have the chance to share this story with the world, and there’s nothing I love more than telling stories.The Book Bratz: In your opinion, what's the best part of the writing process? What's the hardest?
Chloe: The best part is seeing the world of the book come to life. I love it when I start with the faintest seeds of an idea, and then the more I work on it, the more it turns into a concept, and then the concept into a story, and once the story is finished, it becomes this self-contained world where the characters are moving and interacting even once I step back from the page. Growing up, all my favorite books were the ones where the characters felt so real and I could think about them even outside the book’s plot, and when I write, that’s the sort of feeling I want to invoke in my readers. The hardest part is probably the flip side of the best part: it’s actually getting the work done so the book breathes life! You’d think that sitting down and just putting hands onto a keyboard wouldn’t be that hard, and yet, it remains an ever constant struggle.
The Book Bratz: Where did you get the inspiration for THESE VIOLENT DELIGHTS?
Chloe: It sort of just hit me out of the blue one day. I was thinking about how interesting blood feud stories are, especially if there's a romance present, and how tense it would be for two characters caught on utterly opposites sides. That steamrolled into a Romeo and Juliet retelling, and then that steamrolled into a need to retell the original so there was a new setting, new culture, new characters, and voila!The Book Bratz: Who was your favorite character to write? Who was the most difficult?
Chloe: My favorite is always a toss up between Juliette Cai, or Alisa Montagova. Juliette because she’s the main character and her sense of humor is entirely mine, so all the dry jokes coming out of her mouth are pulled directly from what I’m prone to saying. But Alisa is also really fun because she’s the youngest of the main cast, and there’s something liberating about writing a character who just runs around from one corner of the city to another without needing to keep control of the main plot like Juliette. For most difficult, I’m just going to take the cheater’s way out and say all of them. The main cast is big enough that there are constantly so many moving parts, and keeping track of every character is a constant effort on my part!
The Book Bratz: How much research was required to write a book focused in the 1920s?
Chloe: I did a lot of research when it came to the concrete details, but because I’m so familiar with Shanghai already, I imagine I didn’t do as much research as I might have if I didn’t already have an idea of the vibe and atmosphere! When it came to the old-timey descriptions, such as the alleyways, the waterfronts, and culture, I pulled from my own knowledge and stories that I’ve grown up hearing from my relatives. When it came to the true history, such as certain events that were unfolding in 1926, I spent hours in the stacks of my school library flipping through books from the time.
The Book Bratz: What do you hope that readers will take away from THESE VIOLENT DELIGHTS?
Chloe: I want readers to enjoy the story, then send me their beating hearts in an envelope after this book tears it out. Just kidding! I only want readers to have a good time while reading. And maybe fight colonialism. “Have fun and fight colonialism,” = the motto of reading THESE VIOLENT DELIGHTS?
The Book Bratz: Do you plan on returning to the world of THESE VIOLENT DELIGHTS in the future, or do you have any other projects in mind? Can you tell us anything about them?
Chloe: THESE VIOLENT DELIGHTS will have a sequel! After that, I may have some ideas about returning to the world, but my lips are zipped for now...
Title: These Violent Delights
Author: Chloe Gong
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: November 17th, 2020
Summary: The year is 1926, and Shanghai hums to the tune of debauchery. A blood feud between two gangs runs the streets red, leaving the city helpless in the grip of chaos. At the heart of it all is eighteen-year-old Juliette Cai, a former flapper who has returned to assume her role as the proud heir of the Scarlet Gang—a network of criminals far above the law. Their only rivals in power are the White Flowers, who have fought the Scarlets for generations. And behind every move is their heir, Roma Montagov, Juliette’s first love…and first betrayal. But when gangsters on both sides show signs of instability culminating in clawing their own throats out, the people start to whisper. Of a contagion, a madness. Of a monster in the shadows. As the deaths stack up, Juliette and Roma must set their guns—and grudges—aside and work together, for if they can’t stop this mayhem, then there will be no city left for either to rule.
Thank you so much to Chloe for stopping by and answering our questions! We are super excited about THESE VIOLENT DELIGHTS and can't wait for it to be out in the world on November 17th!
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