Susie Luo: On Dreaming About Our Characters
Author Susie Luo discusses how she trusted her gut in the rewriting process of her debut literary novel, Paper Names.
Susie Luo is a writer based in New York. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell Law School. She wrote at night while working as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. Paper Names is her first book.
In this post, Susie discusses how she trusted her gut in the rewriting process of her debut literary novel, Paper Names, why writers should have other hobbies, and more!
Name: Susie Luo
Literary agent: Stephanie Kip Rostan
Book title: Paper Names
Publisher: HarperCollins (Hanover Square)
Release date: May 2, 2023
Genre/category: Literary Fiction
Elevator pitch for the book: Paper Names is a story about two families who start off on different tracks of the American Dream and end up on a collision course with each other. One is a Chinese family who immigrated to the United States, and another is a white wealthy family with a dark secret.
What prompted you to write this book?
I started writing Paper Names in the first month of lockdown—March 2020. During that time, we were all on pause, isolated, and missing our family and friends.
But what also struck me was that I was missing the small, daily interactions that I had with my doormen, the security guard at my office, the barista who knew my coffee order. I had seen these people more regularly than some of my closest friends and family. I realized that these more in-between interactions make up the fabric of our lives.
And I wanted to explore these kinds of relationships—in particular, one between a doorman and the residents of a very posh building. How do they interact? What do they really think about each other? How would their lives intersect? That was the beginning of Paper Names.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
I wrote this book while working as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, which meant that I would regularly turn to it around 10 or 11pm. I also wrote on weekends and would take vacation just to have more time to dedicate to the novel. I finished editing my first draft around the eight- or nine-month mark and got my amazing agent pretty soon after that.
I was close to finalizing the manuscript with my editor when a new story emerged. By that time, I had been improving my own writing and storytelling abilities, and I had a few months’ distance from my previous draft. I ended up scrapping about 20 of the 28 chapters, and rewriting new ones! It was definitely a daunting and intense process, but I knew in my gut that it was the right choice.
I went into a writing black hole for about four months and came out with more or less what Paper Names is today. The characters are all the same, but I shifted them into a more elevated storyline. I’m so glad that my editor gave me the extra time to complete my book with no regrets.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
Paper Names is my first book, so I felt like everything was a surprise! Before getting into writing, I was a lawyer, and then I was a banker. I didn’t take one creative writing class in college. And publishing can already be somewhat of a black box even if you’re in the industry or have an MFA. I’m so grateful to my wonderful agent for steering me and educating me on the process.
The best surprise for me was realizing that I was publishing this book with a team. Writing is such a solitary endeavor, but publishing a book requires many people to come together. My agent, my editor, everyone at Hanover Square, publicity, marketing, typesetting, subrights—the list of the book’s supporters goes on and on. There is no Paper Names without them.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
I was very surprised when I realized how obsessed I had become with the characters. When I went out for runs, I would find myself not even listening to the music but thinking about their story arcs.
Waiting in line at the grocery store, riding the subway, even while talking to my mother (sorry, Mom!)—I would find myself zoning out and thinking about how to change their scenes, what they would say in certain situations, and how to better portray who they are. The biggest surprise came when I started dreaming about them!
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
I hope the book will move the readers in some way. That’s the kind of book I love to write and the kind I love to read. In the world of Paper Names, I hope they can learn something new, find themselves better able to empathize with complicated people, or unexpectedly cry! If my fiction can feel real to them—that would be the ultimate accomplishment.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
I would suggest that other writers find hobbies and communities outside of writing. It’s so easy to become too immersed in your writing—in your own bubble—that you forget that the outside world exists!
For me, only focusing on writing (which sometimes I have to buckle down and do) wasn’t healthy. I needed to remember that while I love writing, it’s still a job, and that my spirit is better sustained by balancing that with other joys.
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.
