event recap: charles yu @ sal
Hey y’all!
How have you been? February has felt so so long – tax season is in FULL swing and this past week I actually felt like there was a point where I was 100% delirious and losing it, lol. I unintentionally went a social media hiatus for four (!) days because I just did not have time to scroll. Weekends mean full work days now, but I am so happy I was able to sit down on Saturday night to watch the Seattle Arts & Lectures event with Charles Yu! Very thankful they are recording these events so I can watch on my own time.
Yu wasn’t on my radar until I saw the winter/spring SAL line up – I immediately put on hold at my library his most recent novel, Interior Chinatown, after learning about him. He helped write the first season of HBO’s Westworld as well, which I’ve heard amazing things about.
Yu’s talk was very casual and punchy – I loved it. He’s a funny guy! I loved learning about his background in law and how writing was his side hustle for years before he quit working at his law firm. His talk was structured as a list of 637 steps on how to become a writer. It was hilarious and poignant. Throughout the steps, he delved into the Asian American experience, and how most of us feel like the background character in someone else’s story.
After Yu’s talk, Shawn Wong, a writer and professor at UW, joined Yu for the Q&A portion. Wong was also hilarious (I would’ve loved to have him as a professor!).
I really loved the Q&A, I think with Yu’s background it called for a wide range of questions. I especially loved the discussion around Yu wanting to give up on writing, but remembering that Asian representation is important – thus, the publication of Interior Chinatown.
It was so cool hearing about his experience screenwriting for Westworld too – it sounds like he really was lucky to be invited to join the writing team without having submitted a writing sample. Yu’s main takeaways when he was new to screenwriting and collaborating with other writers were 1) to be in the moment and flow with the brainstorming conversation and 2) write for the showrunner’s objectives, not your own. It seems like a group effort for sure and highly contrasted with being a novelist on one’s own.
After hearing Yu speak fondly about the characters in Interior Chinatown and his intentions behind setting up the structure as a script, I can’t wait to pick up the book. Stay tuned for my thoughts next month!
What ideas have you been thinking about lately?
Thanks for reading,
Jen x
I review events for #SAL as part of the #SALSuperFanClub; in exchange for a free ticket, I offer my unbiased review.