Ink (39 page)

To my fantastic editor, T.S. Ferguson. TiduS, you have loved my world and characters as your own, and your thoughtful and brilliant advice allowed me to take the story to a level I didn’t know was possible. Your wit and kindness continue to inspire me, and I’m so fortunate to have you as my editor and friend. I look forward to the great things we will accomplish together.

Thank you to my agent, Melissa Jeglinski, for your advice, confidence and support. I am so grateful to you for your hard work and passion, and for saying what I need to hear when I need to hear it. Thank you for believing in me, and in
Ink.

Without my family’s support, I could never have reached this point. Thank you, Mum and Dad, for always believing in my writing and in me. Kevin and Emily, thank you for those trips to the park so I could meet my deadlines, and for the long plot discussions you were always willing to have with me. Thank you, Nathan Conquergood, for reading my early novels and doing book reports on them in school, and Bridget Ball, for passing around a petition at school to publish my book. I so appreciate your enthusiasm and faith in my work.

Thank you, Mio Matsui, for making sure Tomohiro speaks like a real Japanese teen. Thank you, Harumi Sugino and the Hasegawa family, Nobuko, Yoko and all my friends in Japan.

Because you opened your arms to me, I can now share that love through
Ink.
ありがとうございました。

Thank you to Caroline Schmeing and Diana Jardine, who read every piece of fan fiction, every full notebook passed under the table in class. To Terry Lim, Clélie Rich and Wal-ter Davies for cheerleading every step of the way. To Alex Neary for my beautiful author photo, and my fellow Lucky 13s for their support. To Nerdfighteria for being a haven where I am understood.

And finally to my readers. Thank you for sharing this journey with me. Wherever you may go in life—
itterasshai.

Q.

Q What inspired you to write
Ink
and why did you
choose to set the story in Japan?

A
. I lived on exchange in Osaka during my time in high school. Even after I returned from the exchange, the culture and mythology stayed an integral part of my interests. I wanted to make the experience of living in Japan accessible to anyone. At the same time, I was devouring piles of YA books. While watching Japanese dramas for language practice, the two interests merged in my head.

Ink
is also inspired by my study of the history of writing. Ancient Chinese characters were originally written down to communicate with the gods. And in ancient Egypt, the snake hieroglyphs on tomb walls were often sliced through the middle by paint or a chisel to pre-vent them from becoming real snakes in the afterworld. I started wondering what would happen if what we wrote and drew came to life in such a dangerous way, and then I realized that the Tomohiro I’d envisioned would do just that.

Q.

Q How did you come up with the Kami and their
abilities to control ink and make drawings come
to life?

A
. Something I really enjoy about multicultural YAs are the new and sometimes unfamiliar mythologies the authors draw on for their books. I’ve always found the myths of the
kami
fascinating because the spirits’ reactions and sense of justice are so different from our modern-day thinking. The
kami
were unpredictable and dangerous, perfect for a darker paranormal. I thought about how the emperors claimed lineage to Amaterasu and how they were forced to deny this divinity during World War Two.

And combining that with kanji characters’ original use as a way to interact with the spiritual world, I started wondering what would have happened if Amaterasu was real. What if the emperors really were descended from her? And what if kanji still held some sort of power? And, like Jun, I wanted to blur the lines between whether that power was being used for right or wrong, just like in the old myths.

Q.

Q What artistic abilities, if any, do you have, and
what would you create if you could make your
creations come to life?

A
. I’ve always wanted to be able to draw, but my sketching skills are lacking! I find other ways to express myself through art—I make costumes. Other than writing, my main hobby is cosplay, which is a Japanese term that combines
costume
with
play.
I make elaborate costumes from scratch, learning a little of everything along the way, includ-ing sewing, props, armor, wig-styling—you name it! When the costume is complete, I usually enter competitions and perform onstage. I’ve won a few awards so far, but what I like best is the community and all the wonderful people I meet through cosplay.

If I could make my sketches come to life, though, I’d want to make impossible things, things that aren’t and should be. I’d be tempted to sketch a dragon of my own that I could ride around on—a friendly one, of course!

Q.

Q What do you think are the best qualities of your
main characters?

A
. I think Katie’s best quality is her bravery. Here she is without her mom, in a country she doesn’t fully understand, and she’s doing her best to keep moving forward.

Even when Yuki gives her the option to speak English, Katie keeps trying to speak Japanese, to push herself and rise to the challenge. She knows there’s more to Tomohiro, too, and won’t let anything stop her from reaching the truth. I also admire that she’s a kindhearted person and a loyal friend who does the right thing simply because it’s right.

For Tomohiro, I think it’s his perseverance. Despite the struggle with his Kami power, he keeps fighting. He doesn’t want to be a monster. He’s living under a dark shadow and yet he wants to do good with his life. He wants his life to matter and to belong to him, and he won’t let anything or anyone stop him. I know how hard it can be to keep going when life looks bleak, and Tomo’s courage inspires me—

and I hope it inspires you, too!

Q.

Q Was it hard to write about a culture you didn’t
grow up in? How did your stay in Japan inform
what you wrote, and how did you fill in the
knowledge gaps as the story started taking shape?

A
. I wanted to be as accurate as possible in
Ink,
so I did as much research as I could. While living in Osaka, I kept a daily journal of all my experiences there, from the temples and shrines I visited to daily life and meals with my host family. I’ve kept in close contact with my friends there, and also hosted students from Shizuoka. While writing
Ink,
I visited Shizuoka again and took numerous photos, wander-ing through Sunpu Park, touring one of my host students’

schools and sitting in the grasses at Toro Iseki.

Katie was an ideal protagonist for me because she is an outsider looking in, and so it was a POV I could iden-tify with and write with confidence. For school life and Japanese culture, I made sure to check with my friends in Japan as much as possible. I also watched every Japanese school-based drama I could get my hands on to see school life in action.

Q.

Q What was the hardest scene for you to write?

What was the most fun scene to write?

A
. I think the hardest scene for me to write was the love hotel.

Beneath the facade he constructs, I know Tomohiro is a kind, gentle person, and I didn’t like to see him acting that way toward Katie. I wanted to shove him in a corner and tell him to think about how he acted! So while it was hurting Tomohiro to act that way to Katie to save her, it was hurting me, too. Poor guy.

The scenes that are the most fun for me to write are when Tomo and Katie interact. From one snarky comment to the next, they have that attitude where they want to one-up each other, but never in a belittling way. Sometimes their replies to each other are so snappy that I have to rush to type them down and I have to separate them in my mind to catch up! I love that they’re competitive in a friendly way.

And of course I love writing the ink scenes. It’s fun to see what sinister way the ink will twist in next.

Q.

Q What are some of your favorite books and/or
authors, and did any of them in particular inspire
you to become a writer?

A
. I always wanted to be a writer. Growing up, my biggest influences were Jane Yolen, Bruce Coville, Lloyd Alexander and C.S. Lewis. I loved traditional fantasy, but then TV

shows like
Gargoyles
and
Beauty and the Beast,
where an impossible thing was happening in our world, became so ap-pealing to me. I loved Narnia because it made the fantasy world accessible to me, and I started to search out similar stories that were possible in our world.

I took a turn into slightly darker-edged YAs after reading books like the Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness,
Half World
by Hiromi Goto and
The Graveyard Book
by Neil Gaiman. I love those books because they aren’t afraid to take you into the darker places, to let the worst possible things happen before they lead you out again. Also, reading lighter fantasy by Terry Pratchett reminded me to keep my books both realistic and human. I didn’t want flat characters. I wanted bad guys who were likable and had good traits, good guys who had flaws and reasons why they were shaped that way. I love complex characters because we learn so much about ourselves from reading about them.

Q.

Q Without giving away spoilers, can you tell us a bit
about what’s going to happen to Katie and Tomo
in Book Two?

A
. Katie and Tomo are going to have to face some serious con-sequences to their decisions in
Ink.
With Katie returning to understand her connection to the Kami, her closeness is going to cause Tomo further loss of control unless he figures out how to contain his power. The Yakuza aren’t going to take their embarrassment lightly, and Jun isn’t going to give up on recruiting Tomo to his idea of the future. It’s going to take everything Katie and Tomo have to save each other. I hope you’ll look forward to it!

1Q.
At the beginning of
Ink,
Katie has to leave everything familiar and move in with her aunt in Shizuoka. Have you ever been in an unfamiliar situation out of your comfort zone? How did it make you feel? Did you learn something from the experience?

2Q.
Imagine you have the Kami power to draw anything and it will become real. What would you draw? What if there was the possibility that your drawing could turn against you? Would you still take the chance?

3Q.
Shiori, Tomohiro’s sisterlike friend, finds herself the target of bullying because of her pregnancy. Did it surprise you that she’d be bullied for keeping the baby? How did you deal with an instance in which you were bullied? Is there any effective way to stop bullying?

4Q.
Ishikawa is always calling Tomohiro to bail him out of bad situations with the Yakuza. Do you think Tomohiro is really helping Ishikawa by rushing to his aid? How else could Tomohiro help him? What would you do to help a friend like this?

5Q.
Tomohiro struggles against his powers, determined to shape his own fate. Is there something you wanted to achieve that you had to struggle for? What sort of obstacles did you face, and how did you motivate yourself to keep going? What is something you would fight for until the end?

6Q.
What did you think of Tomohiro’s decision to push Katie away to protect her? Have you ever had to step away from someone or something you cared about? If you were a Kami, how would you protect your loved ones?