How the Pandemic and Violence Against Asian and Asian Americans shaped LOVE & RESISTANCE, a guest post by Kara H. L. Chen

THE IDEA for this book came exactly ten years ago, with a seemingly random idea… what if there was a secret society of nerds that covertly worked to thwart the bullies at their school? It was December, 2013, and I had just given birth to my second child four months prior. I had no idea that, over ten years later, not only would my book be published, but it would be profoundly shaped by a global pandemic and a rise in hate against Asians and Asian Americans.

During those early years, I had to learn how to construct and tell a story. I had studied writing at Brooklyn College, but leaving a MFA program is like turning off your favorite baking show: everything seems easy and clear until you try to do the thing yourself. Easy, you might say. I can make this beautiful cake with fondant. But then you turn the television off, you leave your sheltered classroom and you are left with an empty mixing bowl, or a blank page. Wait, you might think. Do I crack the eggs first? How do I crack the egg? What is an egg?

So I found myself listening to screenwriting podcasts while coaxing my baby to eat solids. I learned about the three-act structure while watching my kids learn to crawl. As they learned to walk, I, too, took my first steps into uncharted storytelling territory. I started drafting my book, affectionately nicknamed The Nerd Network Project, or NN, which later evolved to its first title, THE NERD’S GUIDE TO STARTING A REVOLUTION.

I always knew a few things about this book: that it would deal with bullying, that it would have some mischievous shenanigans aimed at taking down bullies, and that it would in some way address the racism that happened towards Asians and Asian Americans.

It was 2013, during Barak Obama’s presidency, when I first started drafting. He had been elected to office on a platform of “hope and change.” Two years after I started writing my book, the Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that same-sex marriage would be recognized in America. It felt like an optimistic time.

The years passed and I kept writing and revising. I finally finished what I thought was a solid manuscript, helped along by my generous and insightful critique partners, and was offered representation by an amazing agent (Alex Slater of GreenburgerKids, the Best Agent Ever ™) in 2020. My manuscript was submitted to editors and I was lucky enough that it was acquired by the brilliant Jen Ung of Quill Tree/HarperCollins.

This was in late 2020-early 2021. Since I had started drafting, Donald Trump had been elected President and a global pandemic had brought the world to a shocking standstill. Trump referred to COVID-19 as “kung-flu” and the “China virus” and made other racist remarks while he was in office. There was an unprecedented rise in violent acts against Asians and Asian Americans across the United States, shouted refrains of “go back to your country”. Never had the stereotype of being a perpetual foreigner been so dangerous.

For years, my parents had cautioned me against everything. Their way of saying I love you was to repeat drive safely. Make sure you don’t walk by yourself at night. Lock your doors. But now it was me worrying about them: don’t go shopping at night. Always walk in groups. Be careful.

I had grown up in Ohio, had known very well what it was like to endure microaggressions and stereotypes. But to me, especially because there were not many other Asians or Asian Americans in my small city, racism seemed like a personal cross that I had to bear. But during the pandemic, something shifted. Asians and Asian Americans were more open and vocal against the treatment that we had silently suffered for so long. Groups, like Stop AAPI Hate, were formed. And when the Atlanta shooting happened, it seemed like an attack against us all.

It was in this environment that I began my revisions. My book, now titled LOVE & RESISTANCE, had, from its early drafts, a racist incident that happens against my protagonist, Olivia Chang. But a very insightful note from my editor, Jen, wisely asked about Olivia’s roots in becoming a revolutionary at her school. She left the question open, but asked if Olivia’s experiences of being bullied in the past could be more grounded in specific incidents, such as being more overtly tied to her race, or perhaps her father’s abandonment of her family. I saw that one word, race, and instantly knew what the heart of my revision was going to be about.

Writing is oftentimes the way that writers process their issues. As the pandemic and violence against Asians and Asian Americans raged on, I carried unspoken grief, fury and frustration at what was happening to my community. In the past, I had heard racist microaggressions be dismissed as no big deal. Oh, they’re just kidding, why are you so sensitive? As if these “jokes” were not harmful. As if each one was not a brick creating a structure, a narrative of the Asian or Asian American person as the other, the less than, the people it was somehow okay to attack and blame when everything in the world was askew.

I wanted my book to be the rebuttal to this dismissive attitude. I wanted to show that these careless attitudes had an impact. And I wanted to honor immigrants like my parents, who often had to endure this racism but did not always have the language or cultural tools to adequately defend themselves.

My book is broadly about empathy and showing that each person carries their own stories and challenges, even if it is not apparent on the surface. But it is also about a person learning to give voice to her Asian American identity, to say this thing that happened to me is not okay. Both themes, to me, are intertwined—for what is racism but the stripping of individuality and replacing it with a flat stereotype? LOVE & RESISTANCE is the story of a person demanding that her, and her immigrant grandparents’, experiences be seen and acknowledged. In 2023, in our current era of censorship and aggressive attempts at book banning, perhaps it’s the most revolutionary thing we can do: speak. Or listen.

Meet the author

Kara H.L. Chen is a debut Taiwanese American writer who received her MFA in fiction from Brooklyn College. She grew up in Ohio but now lives with her husband and two daughters in Northern California. She can be found online at karahlchen.com. 

Twitter, Instagram and Tiktok: @hl_kara

About Love & Resistance

Moxie meets Mary H.K. Choi in this funny, whip-smart YA debut about love, resistance, and the enduring friendships that make it all worthwhile. 

Seventeen-year-old Olivia Chang is at her fourth school in seven years. Her self-imposed solitude is lonely but safe. At Plainstown High, however, Olivia’s usual plan of anonymity fails when infamous it-girl Mitzi Clarke makes a pointed racist comment in class. Tired of ignoring things just to survive, Olivia defends herself.  

And that is the end of her invisible life. 

Soon, Olivia joins forces with the Nerd Net: a secret society that’s been thwarting Mitzi’s reign of terror for months. Together, they plan to unite the masses and create true change at school.

But in order to succeed, Olivia must do something even more terrifying than lead a movement: trust other people. She might even make true friends along the way . . . if Mitzi doesn’t destroy her first. 

A cheeky, thought-provoking force of a book, perfect for fans of E. Lockhart’s The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks.

ISBN-13: 9780063237834
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date: 07/04/2023
Age Range: 13 – 17 Years

Filed under: Guest Post