Miya T. Beck is a native Californian who always had a deep interest in the Japanese side of her heritage. Though she tried and failed to become fluent in Japanese, her studies did introduce her to the myths and fairy tales that inspired this novel. A former daily newspaper reporter and magazine writer, she lives in Brooklyn with her family.
Beck's new novel is Through a Clouded Mirror.
My Q&A with the author:
How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?Visit Miya T. Beck's website.
I never meant for Through a Clouded Mirror to be the title. It was a placeholder inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass. I mentioned to my editor a few times that I was open to other suggestions, and I was surprised that HarperCollins wasn’t insisting on a title change. Around the time the initial cover design came to me for review, I asked for a brainstorming session. My editor and I couldn’t come up with anything that resonated more deeply. However, going through that process made me realize how well the title sets up the story for the reader. You know the plot is going to hinge on Yuki going to the other side of the mirror. That the mirror is “clouded” conveys a sense of mystery.
What's in a name?
My main character, Yuki Snow, is half Japanese and half white, and I wanted a name that mirrored her biracial identity and the feeling of not belonging in either world. Yuki (pronounced you-key) is the word for snow in Japanese, a doubling that her parents found meaningful but to her is a burden. She hates that kidsat school tease her and call her “Yucky.” Yet the one time she visited her relatives in Japan, they laughed at her double name.
Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?
Beginnings are the toughest for me because I’m still figuring out who my protagonist is as I write that first draft. The best piece of advice I ever received in a creative writing workshop was that you won’t know the beginning until you’ve reached the end. So I try not to obsess too much over the beginning and keep moving forward. Through a Clouded Mirror opens with Yuki at her new school writing a letter to her best friend from her old school. While the setting never changed, her interiority deepened with every draft.
Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?
Yuki reflects my own experience as someone who is biracial, in my case half Japanese. How do you find where you belong when you feel like you don’t fit anywhere? She also would rather read a good book than go to a pool party where she doesn’t know anyone. I can relate to that. Though on a hot, humid day in New York City, I’d make the opposite decision now.
The Page 69 Test: Through a Clouded Mirror.
--Marshal Zeringue