'The novel just plopped fully formed into my head one morning, which is not a super helpful way to understand where creative inspiration comes from.' Author kuangrf spoke to The Times' helenliwrites about her new satirical thriller Yellowface:
against your publisher, HarperCollins. How much are the plotlines in “Yellowface” shaped by these scandals?, but on the level of social realism, and it doesn’t even get close to describing the ridiculous things that happen day-to-day. There are so many Junes in publishing, and the things they are doing to each other are much, much worse than what June individually does. “Yellowface” was very much directly influenced by stuff that was happening in publishing.
I don’t think writing friendships are any more vicious or intense than everyday friendships. But in any industry that feels intensely competitive, we do a lot of clique forming and name-dropping and petty gossip. June and Athena are the only two professional writers that the other knows, so they stick together, even though they really despise each other. I’m fortunate in that my writing friendships are much healthier and mutually supportive.
Before I read the book, I found people who had read the advance copy on TikTok. They were saying: “Oh, my gosh, this protagonist is so terrible!” But sometimes, June says things I have been thinking about but have been afraid to say for fear of calling out my own community.