Author of the young adult novel: HEIRESS APPARENTLY (Daughters of the Dynasty #1)
Gemma Huang is a recent transplant to Los Angeles from Illinois, having abandoned plans for college to pursue a career in acting, much to the dismay of her parents. Now she’s living with three roommates in a two-bedroom hovel, auditioning for bit roles that hardly cover rent. Gemma’s big break comes when she’s asked to play a lead role in an update of M. Butterfly filming for the summer in Beijing. When she arrives, she’s stopped by paparazzi at the airport. She quickly realizes she may as well be the twin of one of the most notorious young socialites in Beijing. Thus kicks off a summer of revelations, in which Gemma uncovers a legacy her parents have spent their lives protecting her from—one her mother would conceal from her daughter at any cost.
Interview by SCBWI Member Dolores Andral
DA: I loved that you normalized Asian history, wealth and experiences. You seemed intentional about writing characters that were not reflective of Asian stereotypes.
Diana: This is SO important to me! Growing up, I saw such limited representation of Asians in movies and books. We were either over-the-top nerdy, sinister, or oversexualized. I really wanted to write a novel that challenged those images. But writing Asian characters that resisted these stereotypes wasn’t actually that hard. I just needed to draw from my lived experience to write characters that were fuller and more complex than the Asian caricatures that persist in popular culture.
In my opinion, that’s why #Ownvoices stories and organizations like We Need Diverse Books are so necessary. We need to uplift authors from underrepresented groups who are writing stories from the specificity of their own experiences. I was so fortunate to receive a WNDB mentorship in 2019 with the incredible Swati Avashti, and her encouragement was crucial for me to write my stories and characters in ways that feel authentic to me.
DA: You tackle a lot of topics—the Chinese Cultural Revolution, LGBTQ+ rights, women’s issues, Asian-male stereotypes. Those topics felt organic to the story. How did you make sure they weren’t overwhelming?
Diana: This was absolutely a challenge! Luckily, my Amulet editor Anne Heltzel was fully supportive of my vision for the story and great at getting me back on track when I went completely off the rails. I also had fantastic beta readers!
As you note, there was so much to balance in this novel, and the tricky part was to make all these moving parts come together in a way that didn’t feel too contrived. To complicate things further, Heiress Apparently is the first book in an epic series, so I had to seed the future stories as well. And just to make it really challenging, those “future” stories are actually going to be historical novels set in the past! So, for the first time ever—I used an outline.
Until this book, I’ve been a complete pantser (fly by the seat of my pants) when it comes to creative writing. This will come as a surprise to my students since I teach writing as a process and am constantly talking up the benefits of outlining. In fact, I’ve always outlined my academic writing, so I have no idea why I approached my creative writing differently. But I’m now a committed plotter…to a degree. I still find that my novels always deviate from my original outline.
DA: How much research did you put into making sure that cultural references were correct, as well as current topics and locations? I was so intrigued by the M. Butterfly story that I research it myself and started watching the movie. Now I want to dig into the true story!
Diana: I did do a lot of research, but I was fortunate in that I had already researched much of the historical material that made it into Heiress Apparently! I’m a Humanities and English faculty member at North Seattle College, which has an amazing Integrated Studies program. In this program, students take a course taught by two instructors from different disciplines on a common theme, and I’ve taught many courses in this program. One of the courses was about representation in literature and film, and my wonderful colleague, who teaches media studies and film, suggested using M. Butterfly (both the play and the film) as one of the main texts of that class.
In teaching the course, it quickly became apparent that our students were struggling to understand the historical context of M. Butterfly and couldn’t dive into a literary or film analysis without more background. So, to provide this context, I ended up doing extensive research into both the Chinese Communist Revolution and the Cultural Revolution to put together an accessible outline for students. I had no idea back then how useful this would be in writing Heiress Apparently!
DA: Let’s talk setting: the story is set partly in the Los Angeles, and partly in Beijing. Why was that important to your character?
Diana Ma: That’s a great question. I wanted to convey the feeling that the protagonist, Gemma, is caught between two worlds, and that’s why her search for family and belonging is so important to her. She’s new to the Hollywood world of LA and also a foreigner in Beijing—even though it’s the city of her mother’s birth. And once Gemma arrives in Beijing, she struggles with the sense of being an outsider. In many ways, this echoes the experience she has in Hollywood as a young Chinese American actress.
DA: This is your debut novel! We need to celebrate that! What is that feeling like?
Diana: Thank you! It feels so amazing, and I’m grateful for all the support around my book. The kidlit community has been wonderful, and I’m honored to be a part of it. Of course, my book debuted during pandemic times, so some aspects were different from what I expected. For example, I didn’t get the live book release event I had hoped for. On the other hand, doing a virtual book release event meant that a wider audience could attend or even watch a recording of it later. I’m also able to participate in virtual book festivals all over the country!
I do have to add that I’m happy that my local bookstore, Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park, WA, has reopened. It gives me such a thrill to walk the bookstore and be recognized by the lovely staff there—even with my mask on!
DA: What else can we expect? It looks like this is the first book of the series. When can we expect more?
Diana: Yes! I’m working on Book 2 in the Daughters of the Dynasty series right now, and I’m not sure exactly when it will be out. But I can say that if you’re curious about Gemma’s mother, you’ll be happy to know that Book 2 will be Lei’s story!
Click on the links below to find out more about Diana Ma or purchase Heiress Apparently.
Author page: dianamaauthor.com
Bookshop link: https://bookshop.org/books/heiress-apparently-daughters-of-the-dynasty/9781419749964
What a fabulous interview. Congratulations, Diana!