"Morrow Buys Kuang's Yellowface" read the headline for Publisher Weekly's Deals of the Week in 2021. Nearly three years later (and a waitlist 168 people long for the digital audiobook-- doubled for the hardcover!) I finally got my hands on it. I was luck to be hired into a library system that celebrated Yellowface with various programs and activities leading up to R.F. Kuang's Community Reads visit. One of those activities included a book club that had me reflecting on the book much more than I initially did after finishing it two months ago. I absolutely hated June Hayward. While others in the club held some contempt for the fictional author, I was surprised by how some members were able to sympathize with her. It is my belief that every character means something. Writers are not only storytellers, but wise wizards that hide their lessons within their characters. Some lessons are obvious, some are subtle. Some are good, some are not as good. And so, I started mining Yellowface for what I could learn from June. A tale of two authorsYellowface by RF Kuang tells the story of two authors: One famous and one not so famous. One with a talent for words, and the other unable to find her words. One Asian ("exotic"), and the other white ("basic"). But, as June narrates: "for this story to make sense, you should know two things about Athena: Frist, she has everything… Second, perhaps as a consequence of the first, she has almost no friends” (p. 1) From the very first page of this first person narrative, we are emersed into a Athena Liu’s life as seen by June Hayward, a “plain, straight white girl from Philly” (p. 256) who, throughout the novel, gives us a front seat to her assiduous envy and girl-crush on Athena. "A perfect combination of classical and exotic,” Athena is “tall and razor thin, graceful in the way all former ballet dancers are, porcelain pale and possessed of these massive, long-lashed brown eyes that make her look like a Chinese Anne Hathaway” (p.5). She controls a an audience with her infectious aura and beauty. She lures them with her words. Athena Liu is everything June Hayward is not.
Despite her envy of Athena and new found fame because of Athena, June maintains that she is not at all problematic. Instead, she blames her critics. “I never lied,” June says. “That's important. I never pretended to be Chinese or made up experiences that I didn't have… and if anyone makes assumptions, or connects the dots the wrong way, doesn't that say far more about them than me?” (62) June continues to roll with everything her new identity has gotten her: fame, friends, notoriety regardless of how its earned— “I was willing to make myself the villain for the sake of entertainment” and ”White lady publishes tell-all! June Hayward writes the memoir none of us wanted, because this psycho just can't stop” (p 318). Never have I hated a character as much as I hated June...and that is a testament to RF Kuang’s writing! While I did not hate the book, but I was invested in the story because of how hateable the character was. I found myself cycling through the emotions of intense dislike, irritation, and hate. Then, rather than put the book down, I thought about all the ways she could learn her lesson by the end. When wishful thinking didn't work, I was banking on all the ways June would get her comeuppance. I wanted her to fail! And, when she finds her way out of each and every situation where she’s been caught, I kept thinking "next time… They’ll get you next time!" June’s descent into madness is telling. As she begins adopting Athena’s perceived life and identity, June starts to see Athena everywhere. In the audience of her book reading and panel, online, on the street. It's at this point that you see June and Athena switching places. I saw this less as June’s conscience catching up with her and more of a “what comes around-goes around” situation. June had been obsessing over Athena for years, and now that she essentially is Athena, she sees Athena as the person she had been: the person in the audience, the person on the computer, the person always hanging around on the fringes of Athena’s life. In the end, June becomes everything that she think Athena-- she has everything... and, as a consequence to the first, she has no friends. While June never learns a single lesson from her whole ordeal, there is much for us to learn from her.... especially in the "what not to do" area. She struggles so much with her own versions of success and fails in all the ways, but from her continuous failures and victim-mentality rose these three lessons that I've learned: 1. (As authors) We must find our voices.What makes Stephen King Stephen King? What makes Beverly Jenkins recognizable from other Harlequin Historical Romance authors (besides her subject matter)? Its like movies; I love Wes Anderson’s movies and if you are a fan— you just know his style. From the cinematography, way the characters are written, dialog, music, you know its a Wes Anderson movie. It doesn't matter if its animated (The Fantastic Mr. Fox and Isle of Dogs) or various genres of live-action (Darjeeling Limited, Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Asteroid City etc.). He has a distinct style; A "voice" that sets him apart. June lacked voice in three important ways: the stories she told, the voice she uses when telling those stories, and self advocacy (this last point is different from her lashing out at netizens). Early on, June describes Athena's voice as a writer: “Her voice has matured and sharpened. Every description, every turn of phrase— its all sings” (p. 14). The only completely original thing June has written and published, fails, and she describes it as the novel that she'd written "in a fit of inspiration during a year bored out of my skull working for Teach for America" (p. 3). June, then, goes in to compare it to Athena's debut novel which had been praised for Athena's ability to seamlessly straddle multiple genres in one piece. (Tldr: June= one note singing in a bathroom; Athena= Polyphonic singing on stage). "She's published two more books since, and the critical consensus is that she's only gotten better and better" (p. 5) "It's a little different from your range," June's agent, Brett, says after reading the stolen manuscript she presents to him. This was the first indication of a difference between June's style and Athena's style. We continue to see that June cannot write her own material— she always needs help. She needs a story, a voice— something to emulate whether its Athena’s unpublished works, or the stories of the restaurant employees in Chinatown. The only self-reflection we get about June’s voice as a writer is when Brett proposes she take up IP work. June scoffs, “IP— intellectual property— work is for mediocre writers… it’s cheap, work-for-hire labor for people who couldn't manage to sell their own original projects.” (234). June, as we’ve seen, can't sell her own words and work, either. Finding your voice doesn't just extend to your craft. It also extends to your agent and publisher. You must advocate for your work. Now, I’m not the best self-advocate, but I try to be. I’m learning to be. A friend and fellow writer who published his debut novel two years ago, told me a bit of his experiences. He had to turn down a publisher when the editor made so many changes that essentially compromised the story he wanted to tell and his own voice as an LGBTQ+ person and writer. June didn't stand up to Daniella, her editor. She let her whole team at Eden Press take over. She reconstructed June’s image, she change characters and historic events in June/Athena’s book to “soften” the image of white people. Yes, June may have stolen the manuscript, but she continued the research to keep the story as true to Athena’s vision. Yet she caved to her editor’s changes. (The only time we see June take a stand is during the hiring of a "sensitivity reader," but she only does so out of fear of getting caught.) 2. Take Criticism— especially when writing about a community and culture that's not yours. June sees herself as an expert on the Chinese experience because she’s done her research. She even has her Chinese sensitivity reader fired. June wants absolutely zero criticism or input— especially from Asian Americans. My personal opinion is that, you can be the most well read person on a topic, but until you’ve lived it, you never truly know it. For the record, I am not claiming that White authors cannot write characters of other races, or for POC not to write outside of their races. I'm not saying "write what you know." There is a difference between writing characters of different races, and claiming to be an expert on their experiences. Accept feedback and criticism on topics outside of your identities (this doesn't mean you have to implement changes, but accept that you do not know everything). June’s experience going to Athena’s funeral and going to the Chinese Community Center was deplorable and extremely racist. There was her blatant stereotyping, disgust of their food and traditions, and over all ignorance. But it did affect her, especially when she spoke with a man who lived the story she’d “written” about. In front of her was a man with real experiences, and it made June uncomfortable. Rather than listen to him, she left. On Criticism, Ta-Nahisi Coates writes:
While there is a lot that I agree with, the idea of “I said what I said” can be harmful. I feel as though, in June’s case, she doubled down hard on this idea-- everyone else didn't know what they were talking about or couldn't possibly understand what its like in this industry. She could have learned from the criticism and feedback. She could have used that to do better in her next book— not repeat old mistakes. Growth comes from criticism. 3. Be confidentIn many ways, it was June’s own insecurities that lead to her fear driven actions. She lacked confidence in her own abilities hands down. In an interview between authors Leslye Penelope and Beverly Jenkins, the latter responds to the question about Imposter Syndrome and the feeling of not being worthy of your successes: “Writers have big egos in order to think people will buy their books. How can you have the ego and not think you are worthy of this gift— because writing is a gift.” She goes on to say of success that it looks very different to different people. “The only thing you can control, is what you write.” June's debut novel was not "successful." She was aiming for the (in her mind) instantaneous success of Athena. She doubted her own skills and sacrificed her growth as a writer by attempting to fast-track her way to the top. To me, June's debut novel was a success. Success— to me— is finally finishing my WIP. It's hooking an agent with my work. It's holding the printed copy of my labors in my hand. It's seeing just 1 person enjoy it. Its seeing it on a bookshelf. Is that my ego talking? You can't control what successes come your way, but you also can't lose your confidence what it doesn't happen the way you want it to happen. You can't quit after a few bad sales or after the first 50 rejections. (This is what I tell myself… but I’m much better at giving myself advice than taking it!) Honorable mentions that go without saying:
If you’ve skipped all the spoilers — or have read them! — I strongly recommend reading Yellowface.
If you’ve read it, please leave a comment below! I’d love to know your thoughts.
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This post is about race: I thought about putting a “warning” behind it, but realized it defeats the whole purpose of this post. Because, until anyone mentions race other than “white,” it is met with controversy. My race should not have to come with a trigger warning: I am a black woman and a BIPOC writer. Terms that have to be entered or applied in a world where the default function is set to “white.” The Default Argument, in programming language, is a function that when a value is not specified, results will return to the values initially specified in the parameters. This is why when you search for a term in images (depending on your location), the images you get will always be of the standard default (white) unless specified otherwise. ![]() Growing up, I never realized (or paid attention to) the defaults of the world. From a young age we were conditioned to associate the “default” with “white.” There is the idea that, unless a book character’s race is explicitly stated, then he or she is “white” (check out White As Default). Most recently when receiving feedback on my manuscript, a beta suggested I describe my main character’s description in chapter 1 so that they (singular “they”) could visualize her from the beginning. I sprinkled in a few key details throughout the first three chapters, stating that her mother was a black woman in the very first chapter, and detailing her physical features in chapter 2 and 3. “Aminat is not the typical Eurocentric heroine, just as Rivercross is not the typical Medieval-Renaissance-esque town. You should make that clear from the beginning,” said the Beta. Good feedback. However, you have the Janet Watson Chronicles, a retelling of Sherlock Holmes starring a queer black woman living in a dystopian society, where the author takes Every. Single. Opportunity. to hammer in that this character is black in the most stereotypical ways possible (from stares whenever she walks into a room, the “don't touch my hair” quips, the afro, people clutching their belongings when she walks by). Then you have the reverse: Book covers primarily featuring/favoring white characters regardless of their in-book description such as the case in the Liar controversy. I first came across this story in my first year of public librarianship researching displays. The story has been around since the book’s 2009 publication but has been popping up as a prime example in visibility (or lack thereof) when it comes to book covers and minorities, most recently mentioned in The Sistah Girl Next Door. ![]() “Default” once again resurfaced in library school where we learned that, when it comes to programming technology, black and brown faces are primarily kept out of the algorithms, leading things like automatic faucets not to recognize black and brown hands, and even facial recognition software to struggle. Generative AI technology needs specific descriptors to generate characters, or else it will automatically default to giving “white” results. You would never have to type “White woman reading” in Midjourney or other text-based generative AI applications. the cover photo for this post compares the results to “Woman reading” on Canva. Canva generates 4 results each iteration. All four results to this text for every iteration yielded the default white woman reading. Minorities must type “[insert race] woman reading." This is the same for stock photos. Nappy.co An ad on my newsfeed inspired this dive into “defaults”. Nappy.co states, “I love Unsplash, Pexels, and Shot Stash, but one of the things I’ve noticed is that all of their content could use a little more diversity. As an influencer mgmt agency for black and brown creators, we’re very intentional about cultural representation in the work that we do. And because of that, we aren’t always able to find the photos we need from those sites.” The site is simple: it provides diverse stock photos as a default. From hiking, families, office spaces, the people in the stock photos are of BIPOC. It eliminates the need to have to type in "black_____" to yield results. As an amateur photo manipulator (Gimp and Canva), when I illustrate my characters, the pool just got a whole lot broader with Nappy.co. Further Reading: ![]() *Long Post Ahead* Today is Juneteenth, the day in history 138 years ago that slaves in Texas learned that they were free (two years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863). Under one of my many hats in the library, I hosted a Lunch & Learn where my guest speaker said something very powerful: Juneteenth is a recognition of how important knowledge is to freedom, for it was a lack of knowledge that kept them bound to slavery, and knowledge that eventually set them free. Francis Bacon famously said “knowledge is power.” Truer words this occasion. It wasn't until six years ago— at twenty three years old— that I first learned of Juneteenth. So in addition to the Celebration of freedom for all, this day is also about Reflection, Knowledge, and Power. Reflection: My coworker and I recently received an award honoring the diverse books we bring into the community on behalf of the library. Not only did we give away books about Juneteenth, but we gave away books written by Black authors, like Octavia Butler, Kai Harris, and Kennedy Ryan (in 2019, became the first black person to win a RITA) and for children, “Remi Blackwood”. We don't just stop at black books; as an ordering librarian, I am amazed and excited each time I see a book written by and about people of color (and an extra surge in LGBTQ fiction). It also saddens me. As a child (and really, into my adulthood), there was zero visibility for BIPOC authors and stories. I'm sure there were some out there, but again… visible. Diverse books were either written by white authors (Chu Ju’s House by one of my favorite authors at the time was written by a white author, and sixth grade required reading of To Kill A Mockingbird, an important story about racism and black pain through the eyes of a little white girl also written by a white woman) or about the trauma of being "other" in a white world (required reading in eighth grade was Black Boy by Richard Wright and Diary of Malcolm X by Alex Haley). This isn't to knock required reading, I was exposed to some of the greats through required reading: Toni Morrison (Beloved in high school and Song of Solomon in College), Zora Neale Hurston (Their Eyes were Watching God in High School), Nella Larsen (Passing in College). But, as a child and really into adulthood, these things I couldn't relate to. They were topics I did know enough about (because they weren't taught and taught well). I had no connection to it. I received my first "black book" from my aunt when I was in middle school: Belle and the Beau, an Avon Teen Romance written by Beverly Jenkins. Though historical fiction, it did not focus on black trauma as a plot device. At its core, it was about a black girl falling in love with a black boy. I asked my aunt for the sequel, Josephine and the Soldier after I ate up the first. Until then, the first black book I bought for myself was after seeing an ad in an American Girl magazine, Honey Bea by Kim Siegelson, about a slave girl on a Louisiana Plantation who, on her 13th birthday, realizes she has a certain power and uses it to thwart the romantic advances of her master and save a boy she likes…. Are you seeing a theme in black books? I frequented Borders Books and Barnes & Noble. I spent almost every day after school at one library or another and read voraciously. I didn't know enough to seek them out, and happening upon them was rare— especially in the genre I gravitate more toward: horror, science fiction, and fantasy. Knowledge: In Tananarive Due’s Introduction to her book, The Wishing Pool and Other Stories, she writes: “As a creative writing student learning from the “canon,” I lost sight of myself as I began writing contemporary realism about white male protagonists having epiphanies. Not genre. Not black women… Gloria Naylor’s Mama Day taught me that a Black woman could be respected writing Black characters and the metaphysical” ![]() In a similar situation, the stories I told as a child and wrote were of the default. In my mind, they were either white or undefined. Black characters, in my mind back then, suffered and were slaves. Working at a public library opened my eyes. Going through the stacks, I saw all these books that were not displayed (I found Jason Reynolds’ Track series, and read them all in two weeks!). Paging through ordering magazines and Ingram lists and Publisher’s Weekly, I saw a rise in black (and other marginalized) authors (I JUMPED on My Sister the Serial Killer the moment it hit my library’s shelf, and how I came to discover the work of fellow SHU grad, Michelle Rene Lane). I focused on displays and curated lists highlighting the diverse collection we had (At Night All Blood Is Black, for the speculative/horror fans). I didn't start with the intention of “diversifying the collection.” I started ordering diverse books because I finally had the access I never had growing up to diverse materials. And, because of this, it inspired a push in my library to continue to order and highlight diverse books. In a year, the combined efforts of the Children’s collection development department, and Adults (my department) increased the diversity of the collection by 88% in a single year. Power: #WeNeedDiverseBooks trended on Twitter in 2014 and snowballed into a non profit organization dedicated to bringing the stories of marginalized communities to the forefront so that everyone can see themselves on the page. The movement created by the lack of diversity in children's books, spawned the #OwnVoice movement by Corrine Duyvis meant to inspire authentic stories written by those of the communities written about (“OwnVoice” movement and hashtag are no longer in used as of 2021. Check out Book Riots to learn why). Both movements also lit fires under the publishing community which historically has been “unbearably white” and has favored the careers of white male authors. I read about Serendipity Literary Agency in Publisher’s Weekly at work. Serendipity’s founder Regina Brooks, stated in the feature, “After I saw the dearth in the number of people of color in the business, I made a commitment to try to bring more people into the business and train them.” Serendipity was founded in 2000 and has since cultivated a number of bestselling and award winning authors of color. In my querying journey, I came across literary agent, Hana El Niwairi, a founding member of BIPOC Publishers of Canada. Just as the list and visibility of BIPOC authors are growing, so are efforts within the publishing industry. “Times are also very different now than when I first began testing my skills as a writer,” Due writes in the concluding paragraphs of her Introduction. “With the growing respect for the late Octavia E. Butler, the rise of Jordan Peele, and a slew of talented writers of all races and ethnicities, no speculative fiction syllabus would be complete without a much broader spectrum of voices.” To the person who said about Juneteenth that the slaves should have known that they had been free, and that they should have taken it upon themselves to find out/learn: you don't know what you don't know. |
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