Kyla Zhao: On Writing Away Homesickness
Author Kyla Zhao discusses writing the book she wanted to read with her debut novel, The Fraud Squad.
Kyla Zhao had her first women’s magazine byline at the age of 16, writing about weddings for Harper’s Bazaar Singapore before she even had her first kiss. Since then, she has also written for the Singapore editions of Vogue and Tatler.
A native Singaporean, Kyla now works in Silicon Valley after graduating from Stanford University in 2021. She’s still trying to understand why Californians adore hiking and Patagonia fleeces so much. Find her on Twitter and Instagram.
In this post, Kyla discusses writing the book she wanted to read with her debut novel, The Fraud Squad, her hope for readers, and more!
Name: Kyla Zhao
Literary agent: Alex Rice (CAA)
Book title: The Fraud Squad
Publisher: Berkley (Penguin Random House)
Release date: January 17, 2023
Genre/category: Women’s fiction
Elevator pitch for the book: A working-class woman pretends to be a socialite in order to get her dream job at Singapore’s poshest magazine. But as she sinks further into her glamorous new life, her fears of being exposed also deepen—especially with a mysterious gossip columnist hunting for high society dirt.
IndieBound | Bookshop | Amazon
[WD uses affiliate links.]
What prompted you to write this book?
When the pandemic hit, I was living alone in California and separated from all my loved ones back home in Singapore. I got terribly homesick and lonely and turned to books for comfort (as I usually do when I feel down).
But at that time, anti-Asian racism was surging across the country, and I began to realize that most books did not feature protagonists of color. Not seeing characters I could identify with made the fictional world feel just as lonely as the real world. And that was when I got the idea of writing my own book that would star Asian characters.
I decided to set it in my hometown of Singapore, which helped me feel connected with my loved ones back home at a time when I didn’t know when I would get to see them again. And I knew I wanted to make my story as fun, breezy, and glamorous as possible—just the escape I needed from pandemic reality!
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
I started writing The Fraud Squad on June 28, 2020, at the height of the pandemic, and got to announce my book deal exactly one year later! It’s one of those full-circle moments in my life I’ll always remember. By the time my book comes out on January 17, 2023, two and a half years would have passed since I wrote the first word.
The core of the book stayed the same since day one, and amazingly, so did the title! I think the title of the book came to me even before the idea did. I envy how easily I came up with The Fraud Squad because I struggled a lot more with titling my next two books (another adult novel and a middle-grade novel).
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
That the word count of the typical adult novel is not 50,000 words. When I first got the idea of writing a book, I did a quick bout of Googling to see how long a novel should be. The first result I saw told me 50,000 words, so I took that as gospel. I began to panic when I hit 50,000 words and was only at the midpoint of my book. It was a big relief when I found out later that most adult novels are closer to 100,000 words than 50,000.
It also amazed me that I could even write 50,000 words! I genuinely worried I couldn’t reach that goal because I’ve never written anything longer than a school essay before. In fact, I only allowed myself to tell my family that I was writing a book after I hit 50,000 words.
My reasoning was that if I manage to hit that word count, I’d have already invested too much time and effort into the book to not finish it. I didn’t want to tell anyone about my secret project until I was sure I could see it all the way through.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
I’m surprised that my characters’ names stayed the same from the first draft to the published version. I’m horrible at coming up with character names so when I was writing the first draft, I turned to my bookshelf for inspiration.
There were two books on my shelf whose authors are named Samantha and Timothy. I decided to use those as placeholder names for my main female and male characters respectively, figuring I could always change them during revisions.
But I never got around to changing them. And before I know it, my book is out in the world and my characters’ names are still Samantha and Timothy.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
Above all else: fun and escapism!
I wrote the book for myself when I was going through a rough time during the pandemic, struggling with loneliness and homesickness. I wanted to escape into a fictional world that was so unlike what the world was like back in 2020. I got to live vicariously through my characters as they go through their high society schemes and shenanigans, and I hope my readers enjoy those too!
I also really want more people to realize that Asians can also be the stars of fun, vibrant, and joyful stories.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
Write the story you want to read. As I shared earlier, two and a half years passed between writing the first word and my book coming out—that’s a very long time to spend working on something that you’re not passionate about.
Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.
