GBF Author Q&A with... Wendy Shang

Name: Wendy Shang
Book: The Great Wall of Lucy Wu

Website

Where do you find inspiration?
I often find that researching a small detail in my story will produce an interesting moment or subplot. For example, while writing "The Great Wall of Lucy Wu," I was inspired to research Chinese-American basketball players, and discovered Willy "Woo Woo" Wong. Wong was a great competitor during the 1940's, and has been inducted into the University of San Francisco Hall of Fame. He also has a park named after him in San Francisco's Chinatown!

What advice do you have for aspiring authors?
Write and then find someone to share your writing with, whether it's in a class, through a group of writers or just one other person. It's important to get feedback to grow and improve as a writer. I had a wonderful start at the Writer's Center in Bethesda, taught by fellow GBF featured author Mary Quattlebaum.

What are you reading right now?
I am reading "Mudville" by Kurtis Scaletta, which is a great middle-grade book to recommend to any baseball-loving kid. Speaking of baseball books, I also just finished "Cardboard Gods" by Josh Wilker. This is a memoir told through baseball cards - very enjoyable!

What's your favorite opening line from a book?
"Claudia knew that she could never pull off the old-fashioned kind of running away." It's from E.L. Konigsburg's classic, "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler." That compact little sentence sets up so much of the book - what's going to happen and what kind of character you're dealing with. From the Mixed-Up Files is also the name of the middle-grade authors blog I belong to!

What book has inspired or affected you in some way?
"The Chinese in America" by Iris Chang was an inspirational book to me; it was a wonder to me to see my family's life as well as the lives of so many Chinese Americans put into historical context. I am so sad that this talented writer is no longer with us.

If you could sit down at dinner with three other authors, living or dead, which three authors would you choose?
Hmm! Well, I love to laugh, and I think a dinner with Judy Blume, Bill Bryson and David Sedaris would be completely hysterical.