The key to writing authentic characters 🔑
Today's guest is author Joyce Chua
Embrace the unique background you bring to your story.
When you let what you think readers want dictate your writing, it’s easy to lose your personality and voice — and your story will suffer.
Instead, stay true to yourself. The story you want to tell. The people you want to write about. And the right readers will find you.
Be authentically yourself, and your characters will follow.
By leaning into your unique background, experiences, or voice, you’ll craft stories and characters no one has experienced before. They’ll feel so much more real and alive on the page.
In today’s interview, author Joyce Chua shares how to stay authentic in your writing, her approach to drafting effectively, and the reality of marketing your book.
OUR SPECIAL GUEST TODAY IS…
Joyce Chua
Author
The full Children of the Desert trilogy is out now in e-book and paperback:
#1: Land of Sand and Song
#2: Kingdom of Blood and Gold
#3: Empire of Gods and Beasts
What’s the best piece of feedback you ever received? How did it change your story?
As an author of colour, I used to whitewash my stories when I was a younger writer and was trying to cater to the international market. My characters didn’t sound or appear authentic as a result, and agents told me that they couldn’t quite grasp the setting of my story because it was so generic.
And then I took a playwriting class in university, where my writing instructor (celebrated Malaysian playwright Huzir Sulaiman) told us to be proud of our unique culture, setting, and voice, and that we did not need to write for a western audience for our stories to be valid. I’ve leaned more into my roots and my culture since then, and my contemporary stories are set in Singapore while my fantasy ones draw on my Chinese heritage.
What part of the writing process brings you the most joy?
I love love love ideation and copyediting. These two are the most fun parts of the novel-writing process and I wish they took up more time than drafting and structural editing!
I love when the seed of a story takes root and I delve deeper into the idea, branching out into the characters, the world, the setting, the conflict and stakes. It’s like going on a ride with my WiP and letting it take the reins mostly. I loved getting surprised at every turn!
And copyediting is where I get to tinker with the words and polish up every sentence. As a prose reader, it’s important to me to get the rhythm and diction right. I want every sentence to evoke meaning and emotion, and copyediting is working with something already half-made to create something even more exquisite.
What is the most memorable writing tip or technique that you have heard, and how did it influence your process?
Figure out your opening line/scene, inciting incident, mid-point (pivotal moment), climax, and your ending scene before you start drafting. It’ll save you so much time and you’ll run into fewer roadblocks. (I think it was Sarah Dessen who shared that tip, and I added on to it.) Leigh Bardugo also suggests reading your work out loud after you’ve finished writing it to identify any awkward rhythms or diction. It really helps to smoothen out your prose and pacing!
When life gets busy, how do you protect your time to write?
I find pockets of time in the day to write -- during lunch, after work, even on my commute, where I’d be tapping away on my phone in the train (and sometimes almost miss my stop!). It all adds up. I generally try to write 1,000 words a day, give or take.
What’s one thing you do (creatively, mentally, or physically) that helps you stay in it when writing gets hard?
I definitely try to get some distance from my WiP! I’ll set it aside, watch a movie or read a book outside of the genre I’m currently writing in, go on a solo date or spend some time with friends and family, anything that is enjoyable and takes my mind off writing completely.
I feel that we get stuck because we spend too much time in our own head. If we just give our story some room to breathe and develop on its own, the answers will come to us when we least expect them to!
Ready for feedback that takes your story to the next level?
“Because of Alyssa’s feedback on my query letter, I was able to obtain a reputable agent who then sold my book to a top 5 publisher! When I needed help choosing an editor, she was there to chime in and offer guidance! And even eleven months later when I asked for insight choosing an imprint, she helped then, too!”
—Bailey Evers, contemporary romance author
What’s one thing about the publishing process no one tells you, but should?
How much of the marketing falls on the author. I used to think my publisher would handle most of the marketing and publicity, but a lot of the efforts also falls on the author - setting up street team, preparing swag, hosting giveaways, reaching out to local booksellers, doing IG lives/AMAs to engage with readers, collaborating with book reviewers/booktokers, etc.
Also, the publisher also moves on from your book fairly quickly after it has been published because they have a constant slew of books to promote, so the author has to continue marketing their book after launch day to continue that momentum.
What’s a myth about publishing or being an author that you wish more people understood?
We get rejected A LOT! Even after getting published, I’m still getting rejected by agents. My friends who have agents are getting rejected by publishers. Even friends with agents and a publisher are getting rejected for grants, events, anthologies, bookstore placements, etc.
Nothing is guaranteed, and a lot of it comes down to persistence and luck, which is why I’m grateful for every opportunity that comes my way and every ‘yes’ I hear.
ICYMI…last week on YouTube, I chatted about the surprising genre trends for 2026 that reveal what books agents want most.
