Allison King stops by Reese’s Book Club to share more about her writing process and LitUp experience.
The Phoenix Pencil Company is a deeply personal novel. How did you approach weaving your own history into the story?
The Phoenix Pencil Company is dual point of view, with one point of view (Yun) set in 1940s Shanghai, and the other (Monica) in modern day Cambridge, Massachusetts. I started writing with only Yun (who is named after my grandmother) in mind. I quickly felt out of my depth though, like no amount of research would ever prepare me to write something in such a different time period and place. Though it is inspired by my own grandparents, they passed away long ago, and I had a real fear of messing up the history.
Which was why I started writing the second point of view, set in the modern day. I made Monica’s life extremely similar to my own as a way to counter my unfamiliarity with the 1940s timeline. Although Yun’s journey follows the basic outline of my grandparents’ journey—a pencil company that expands from Shanghai to Taiwan—the details are extremely different, and are instead drawn from other accounts I’ve read of families who fled Shanghai during that time period. It is actually Monica’s life that is much more personal for me, especially her relationship with her grandmother.
You’ve mentioned finding your passion for writing in the world of fan fiction. What about this space called to you?
As a middle schooler interested in creating my own stories, I found fan fiction to be the easiest way to start. The only thing I needed was an internet connection and a passion for the fandom. I think fan fiction in particular is a great way to start because not only do you get a sense of community out of it, but you get to work within the confines of an established story. It’s like having the scaffolding already in place before building a house—the world is there, but you have the freedom to create your own characters, or explore outside the canon if you want. I’m afraid I was always a rule follower and never wrote outside the canon!
And as a reader of fan fiction—well, there’s a lot of poorly written fan fiction out there. But I think that also helped me improve my own writing—reading stories where something felt off, maybe the pacing or character motivation, and trying to identify why it read strangely.
How has mentorship, specifically within the LitUp program, shaped you as a writer?
I had the great fortune of attending a weeklong workshop with Fonda Lee who talked me out of a lot of imposter syndrome and encouraged my little pencil story. Our talk about writing stories inspired by a culture we haven’t totally grown up in was deeply inspiring. Through LitUp I got to work with Adrienne Young, who read my manuscript multiple times and helped me streamline many plot points. It was the first time I had a professional read my whole novel and it was such an exciting experience, to be able to talk about all the details of the books with someone who has such a keen eye for plot and story arcs.
I also learned so much from the LitUp lectures featuring We Need Diverse Books and MadCap Retreats. In particular, the different editing strategies they presented were extremely helpful. It was so helpful to learn different editing techniques and be able to apply them immediately to my story and diagnose what was not quite right yet.
Can you share a moment where a mentor’s feedback changed the direction of your story or character development?
Adrienne told me about how in one of her editing experiences, she ended up cutting down a few characters, or combining them into one, and how this helped keep the novel both simpler and tighter. She suggested I do this for Mr. Gao, who is the closest to a villain that The Phoenix Pencil Company has. Originally he was two characters—one in Shanghai, and another similar government official turns up in Taiwan. But once I considered combining them, it was startling to see how much the story tightened, and how much more sinister it became for this person, who the characters have known since childhood, to continue to be a presence in their adult lives. I think it actually made the book darker than I intended, but in a way that the story needed.
Tessa Gratton of MadCap Retreats shared CJ Omololu’s 9 box strategy for outlining a story’s arc. I applied this to both Monica and Yun’s sections, and almost immediately it made some things obvious. I can’t go into it without spoiling it, but it changed a key decision Monica makes in the end about a pencil she is given. The 9 box made me realize that Monica had to do something very specific with the pencil in order for a full, satisfying, resonance.
