Judy: Research! My ideas usually come to me in the form of a question, but I find though that I build my plot after I’m aware of the environment my characters will be inhabiting. What is the first step in your creative process? We have since reconnected and she is also a published author! Thank you, Mrs. I never forgot what she said to me, and it motivated me to find a publisher for my stories many years later. My Language Arts teacher at the time encouraged me to look into pursuing publication, which was something I never thought was possible, because I was only aware of one or two prominent Asian American writers, and no Asian American authors who were writing specifically for teens. Judy: I started writing my own stories in junior high and sharing it with my friends and my teachers. Tell us about a librarian or educator who made an impact on you. The story and the worldbuilding developed from there, as I continued to draw inspiration from my culture and history, with a little sprinkling of the fantastical. Is the magic contained within the tea leaves or is it something about how it interacts with the water? That was when I started to look into the origins of the tea that I enjoy from Taiwan, and how the tea plant was brought over from China, as well as how tea became a prominent drink in ancient China and was actually used as currency. I was interested in imagining how a practitioner of tea magic would use this type of magic due to the limitations of it. Judy: My love of tea is definitely the spark that started the whole book. What inspired you to write The Book of Tea duology? But sometimes I do enjoy a London Fog tea latte when I am writing!Ī competition to find the greatest shennong-shi-masters of the ancient and magical art of tea-making-sounds even better than The Great British Bake Off. I like the more heavily fermented Red Oolong Tea and the unique Taiwanese cultivar Ruby 18 black tea. Judy Lin: I’m very particular about the type of tea I drink because I grew up in a family of tea connoisseurs and tea is such a prominent part of Taiwanese culture. Judy shares more about her inspiration for the story and her advice for young writers here! Plus, request a digital review copy of A Magic Steeped in Poison on NetGalley! Lin’s sweeping debut A Magic Steeped in Poison, first in a duology, is sure to enchant fans of Adrienne Young and Leigh Bardugo.

The Singing Stone by O.R. Melling