48 | The Writer • January 2020
HOW I WRITE
BY ALLISON FUTTERMAN
G
loria Chao’s path to becom-
ing a writer was not a
straightforward one. Fol-
lowing her parents’ expecta-
tions for her to pursue a path in math/
science, she attended MIT as an under-
graduate and then went to dental
school. In dental school, Chao found
herself reading YA books as a stress
reliever; she also wrote the first draft of
a manuscript that would later become
her critically acclaimed debut novel,
American Panda. Eventually, she made
the leap from full-
time dentist to
full-time writer.
Her second novel,
Our Wayward
Fate, follows Tai-
wanese-American
teenager Ali Chu
as she navigates
her cultural iden-
tity, family secrets, and first love in rural
Indiana. Woven throughout the book is
Chao’s imaginative retelling of the Chi-
nese folktale The Butterfly Lovers, which
adds another compelling layer of story-
telling to the narrative. Her third novel,
Rent a Boyfriend, is due out in fall 2020.
Leaving dentistry for writing
With math and science, there’s a clear
right or wrong. Changing careers to a
creative, subjective field was difficult,
and it took me some time to learn to
trust my gut and write what was
authentic. It’s also wonderful not to
have to shower immediately after work
since no one else’s saliva is in my hair.
And working in my pajamas is an
added bonus.
Real-life inspiration
I often draw from my experiences
when I write. Because I spent my 20s
figuring out how to meld my Chinese
and American sides, my first three
novels deal with identity. In Our Way-
ward Fate, Ali is trying to figure out
who she is in a place where she
doesn’t look like anyone else. And the
miscommunication she experiences
with her parents is drawn from the
fact that it took my career change to
make me start communicating with
my parents – only for me to realize it
had been what was missing all along.Starting point
My novels start with a single spark of
an idea, often based on my life or an
interesting fact. Then I try to mold that
into an entertaining book. If I start
with the character, I think about what
setting will challenge her most. With
Our Wayward Fate, the idea started
with an article my mom sent me abouta park in China with a unique tradi-
tion. From there, I worked backward
to find what made Ali tick. Eventually,
she grew into a badass martial artist
who has lost her voice in her small
farming town in Indiana but will soon
relearn how to fight.Dialogue
Dialogue is one of my favorite parts of
writing. When I draft, I imagine real
people talking. I skip the in-between
narration until I get the heart of the
conversation down. Then I go back
and add tags and actions. Finally, read-
ing the words out loud helps to bring it
even more to life.Writing routine
What works best for me can change
from book to book, and realizing that
there isn’t one way to write helped me
find my process. With Our Wayward
Fate, I would write when I was
inspired, then take breaks when I
needed to refill the creative well. With
my third book, I had a short deadline,
so I set a daily word count.What’s next?
Rent A Boyfriend will be out this fall.
The romantic comedy follows a col-
lege student who hires a fake boy-
friend to appease her traditional
Taiwanese parents. When she falls for
the guy behind the role who is not
“’rent-worthy,” her carefully curated
life begins to unravel. This story is
loosely inspired by the real-life prac-
tice in some Asian countries of hiring
fake boyfriends to bring home for
Lunar New Year.Allison Futterman is a freelance writer based
in Charlotte, North Carolina.Gloria Chao