Author Interview—Eunice Hong
Debut author Eunice Hong (she/her) has arrived in the Rambling Realm. During her stay, she kindly agreed to chat with me about herself, her debut novel Memento Mori, and the secrets of her writing process.
About the Eunice Hong
Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I am a serial hobbyist. My current hobbies, aside from writing, are weaving, jewelry-making, and video games. I like to experiment with different styles of weaving, which usually end in me sitting in a tangle of yarn. With jewelry, I love recreating objects from the Ancient Mediterranean and Near East, as well as from video games like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.
Professionally, I am a somewhat recovering attorney (I still practice here and there, and I love it in small doses). My full-time job is as the Director of the Leadership Initiative at Columbia Law School, where I run a Fellowship and Grant program, and co-teach a seminar on Lawyer Leadership.
What inspired you to start writing?
My mother gave me her copy of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott when I was very young, and Jo March left an indelible mark on me. I wanted to be just like her. I also used to daydream a lot as a kid (as if I don’t do that now), and lived much more in my imagination than in the real world. So it probably isn’t surprising that I started writing down whatever was in my head. Plus, my dad had a fountain pen I was obsessed with, so the whole ritual of what I thought a writer was appealed to me as well.
About Memento Mori
What can you tell us about your debut?
MEMENTO MORI comes out on August 13 from Red Hen Press. It is a Greek myth retelling-ish, in that the themes, characters, and some of the chapters are explicitly based on Greek myth, but it isn’t a retelling in the vein of Madeline Miller or Jennifer Saint.
The book begins with a bedtime story that the narrator, a Korean-American woman, is telling to her younger brother about Persephone and Hades, which then leads into the story of Eurydice and Orpheus. Her younger brother interjects here and there with the kinds of silly questions you might expect of a child who is sort of paying attention but mostly wants to cause mischief and delay going to bed. The Greek myth chapters are interspersed with other stories the narrator tells about their own family history, starting from their grandmother’s childhood in North Korea, as well as letters she writes to him about her own life, because there are some things she finds it easier to write than to say face to face.
What was the inspiration for your novel?
Much of it was inspired by family history and lore, as well as ancient sources on Greek myth—most notably, Hesiod’s Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Euripides’s Alcestis, Plato’s Symposium, and Vergil’s Georgics.
If you were a character in your book, who would you be and why?
There has been a debate in my writing group as to whether I would be more aligned with the Eurydice or Persephone of the novel. I can certainly see arguments for both, but I think Orpheus is an overlooked answer. Not because I have any extraordinary musical talent, but because I can’t imagine not trying everything in your power to bring someone you love back from the dead, and at the same time, I also can’t imagine having the fortitude not to look back at least once.
If your book was turned into a movie, who would play the main characters and why?
My best friend Rachel has demanded that she play every character, so I guess it’s Rachel. Except for the dogs in the book, who will be played by my dogs.
Are there any fun behind-the-scenes moments or any hidden easter eggs in your novel that you’d like to share?
There is a chapter in which the narrator learns her grandmother’s childhood home in Korea is being turned into a museum, because her grandmother’s father was a hero of the Korean independence effort against Japan during the time of Japanese colonial rule. This actually happened, and you can visit the museum!
Can you share a favorite quote or excerpt from your book?
This is an excerpt that makes me giggle a little every time I read it, and it also provides an example of the younger brother’s interruptions to the story:
About Writing
What was the most challenging part of writing your book?
Getting the structure right took a long time and a lot of reworking. I originally had written it as a series of vignettes, with the idea that the reader could hop around and read the chapters in different orders, inspired by Julio Cortázar’s Rayuela. But I quickly decided that wasn’t going to work. And I also became fixated on the role of narrative in the text. Who is this narrator? Why are we privy to her thoughts? Who is she talking to? I don’t get hung up on this at all when I read other people’s writing, but for some reason, I get really stuck on it when I am writing. So it took me some time to figure out how to put everything together in a way that I thought was cogent and internally consistent. The result is a book that is part bedtime stories, part letter—sort of. I won’t give the rest of it away, because it’s a core part of the plot.
Another related challenge was that I decided the chapter titles should be numbered and be integrated into the story itself rather than just being “Chapter 1,” “Chapter 2,” and so on. Ordering the chapters in a way that made sense narratively took some effort, but I’m very pleased with the result.
How would you describe your writing process?
I am not a writer with a routine. I write when I must get something out of my head, or when I am in a mood to experiment. I am not the type of person who sets out a regular schedule of writing X hours or Y words per day, because the worst way to get me to enjoy something is to make it feel like homework. That isn’t to say a routine could never work for me, and I would be curious to try something like that again in the future to see if I have changed at all, but it isn’t how I have typically worked.
How would you describe your writing style?
Understated, maybe? I tend to overemphasize the value of subtlety, so I am trying to balance my natural reticence with making sure a reader can actually get to where I want them to go by reading the words I write rather than by reading my mind.
What have you learned from writing your debut novel?
I learned how important it was to have a supportive writing group and to experiment outside of my comfort zone. The final version of my novel has some significant changes and additions from the manuscript I first submitted to my publisher, and I couldn’t have gotten there without the incredible feedback of my writing friends.
I also learned that, in the U.S., books are released on Tuesdays. I literally had no idea this was a thing until a few months ago.
Do you have any strange or fun writing habits or rituals?
I like to switch between hand-writing and laptop-typing, depending on my mood and what I’m writing. Especially when I’m feeling stuck on something, moving to a different medium helps me a lot. Also, because of my aforementioned love of fountain pens, hand-writing gives me an excuse to play around with different colors of ink. Some of them are sparkly, because I am a child.
What's your favorite writing snack or beverage?
Nerds Gummy Clusters (rainbow flavor). I am obsessed with them. It’s really good for my health. And I drink a lot of seltzer water.
If you could choose any place—real or fictional—to write your next novel where would it be and why?
Maybe northern Iceland during the autumn or winter. The stars and the Northern Lights are stunning everywhere in Iceland, but particularly so in the north, and I love an isolated cabin surrounded by snow.
What's the most unusual place where you've found inspiration for your writing?
I don’t think this is that unusual, but without fail, I have my greatest writing breakthroughs when I’m in the shower or just after I’ve left the house and have nothing to write on but the notes app on my phone. This is particularly tragic for me, because I really hate typing on my phone.
Hong’s Advice
What do you think is the most important thing for debut authors to know?
Keep your goals in mind. I love the community of the 2024 Debut Authors Slack, and I am so grateful for the friends and extraordinary support I have found there. At the same time, it introduced me to a world of metrics that I didn’t even know existed. I think it can be easy to get really caught up in worrying about those metrics that in a way that serves nobody. To be clear, I understand why they are important, both financially and emotionally. And I am differently situated from people who have or are pursuing a full-time writing career. But when I feel myself falling into a rabbit hole about preorders and lists and reviews, I try to pull myself back and ask myself, “What do I actually want from this book?” It would of course be lovely to sell tons of books and become a bestseller, etc., but what I really want is for the book to find the people who need it, and for the people who read it to feel a little less alone. When I focus on that, the rest of my debut anxiety fades away.
How did you go about getting your book published?
Like much of what I do in my life, it happened on a whim. I had been working on the manuscript on and off for a number of years, but I was never sure it would make sense to anyone who wasn’t living in my head. I submitted it to a few fiction prizes over the years for fun, and I was a finalist for a few but never won, so I forgot about the whole thing. Then one day, out of the blue, I got an email from Kate Gale, the co-founder and managing editor of Red Hen Press, asking if my novel was still available. To be honest, my first reaction was that this was some sort of niche phishing scam. But then she called me, and she was a real person, and she gave me the lovely news that I had won their Fiction Prize, which came with a cash award and book publication.
What surprised you most about the writing and publishing process?
I didn’t realize how long the traditional publishing timeline was. I submitted the manuscript in May 2021, got the call from Kate in February 2022, submitted the manuscript in March 2023, and the book is now coming out in August 2024.
Are there any resources or tools that were particularly helpful to you during your writing journey?
Without question, my writing group. Even when I vehemently disagreed with their feedback, it was such a gift to have different perspectives, and to feel how much they cared about my book.
Also, my neuroscientist friend, who is the basis for one of the characters in the book. There is quite a bit in the book about neuroscientific concepts and different areas of the brain, and it was super helpful to have him glance over what I had written to make sure it made sense.
What is the strangest thing you had to research for your book?
In one chapter of the book, the narrator tells her brother that when their grandmother had brain surgery, the surgeons removed one of her skull plates and stored it in her abdomen before putting it back. When I first heard about this procedure in real life, I thought it was a folk tale, but apparently this is a real medical procedure used to keep the skull plate sterile.
What does Eunice read?
What genres do you enjoy reading the most?
I love reading ancient Greek authors, both in Greek and in translation. I also read a lot of Greek myth retellings, although now there are so many that I haven’t been able to keep up with them all. I do otherwise tend to read pretty indiscriminately of genre, but I guess I gravitate towards historical fiction and books with difficult or unreliable narrators.
Who are some of your favorite authors, and how have they influenced your writing?
Style-wise, the writers who have most influenced me for this novel are probably Kazuo Ishiguro, Margaret Atwood, and S.E. Hinton. The voice of my narrator is a descendent of Kathy H. from Ishiguro’s Never Let me Go, Iris Chase from Atwood’s Blind Assassin, and Ponyboy from Hinton’s Outsiders.
The inspiration for my next project is John Edward Williams, who wrote Augustus, an epistolary novel about Caesar Augustus and the beginning of the Roman Empire, and my favorite book of all time.
What's the last book you read that you couldn't put down?
One of my friends in my writing group, Dianisbeth Acquie, just finished her first draft of a manuscript that I already know is going to be a smashing success. I loved it, and I’m excited for the day I will be able to say more about it publicly.
The last published book I read was Daughters of Shandong by Eve Chung, another debut this year. I read it in one night, which meant I was sobbing at three in the morning. 10/10, would sob again.
Hong’s Plans for the Future
What are you working on next?
My next project is an epistolary novel about Brasidas of Sparta, a general during the Peloponnesian War, and Thucydides, who wrote quite a bit about Brasidas in his writings on the Peloponnesian War. It’s an interesting dynamic, because Thucydides was an Athenian general who was exiled for losing the city of Amphipolis to Brasidas and the Spartans during the war, and yet he spends considerable time praising Brasidas in his writings, even if that praise is sometimes backhanded. It’s a lot of fun to explore why that might be, both as a character exercise and in the context of the history and politics of the war.
Where can readers find your book and connect with you?
My personal favorite place for online orders is Bookshop, and I also have a list of other outlets on my website. But readers can find the book at any of the major retailers online, and hopefully in person as well starting August 13. And if buying the book isn’t a possibility for someone, I would love for them to request it from their local library or from Libby.
In fact, anyone who preorders my book or requests it from their library is eligible to receive a bookmark and a signed bookplate from me if they fill out this form. The bookmark was designed by Greek Myth Comix, and it features Eurydice and Orpheus in this gorgeous and very clever fold-out design. The bookplate was designed by Michaela Whitcomb-Weston and features three-headed Cerberus, with each of the heads as one of my dogs.
I myself can be found sporadically on Instagram, even more sporadically on Twitter, and most often on Tumblr which yes, does still exist.
Is there anything you would like to say to your readers?
Thank you for reading my book!
Unfortunately, the time has come for Eunice Hing to continue her journey. But if you wish to find her outside of the Rambling Realm you can do so by visiting her website or following her on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and Goodreads.
You can get your copy of Memento Mori by following this link. Preorders come with a free bookmark and a signed bookplate, which you can request here.
