Ann Y.K. Choi isn’t the only author in the family. Her brother, John Choi, had his first book (“Dark Side”) released on August 22, 2016.
While John’s education was focused on becoming a child and youth mental health professional (which has been his profession for over twenty years), he considered writing as a side hobby for a long time. “Back in high school, I did a little bit of writing and I guess I enjoyed it since then,” John Choi exclaimed when asked when writing took his interest. John even went on to explain how he would always craft his emails into little creative stories and how he took joy from that process. “I think that’s how it started many, many, many years ago,” he said at the end of his tale. The pursuit for higher learning didn’t stop the first time around. Around two years ago, John started taking writing courses at the School of Continuing Studies at the University of Toronto. “I kind of followed in my sister’s footsteps,” John admitted, “Ann has taken a lot of courses and she talked about how it was helpful so I did that too.”
With all that under his belt, John wanted his first book to reflect what he encounters during his profession on a regular basis. “A lot of the work that I do is with youth that have a lot of struggles and a lot of them are the ones that have been labelled as troubled and they’re struggling,” John explained, “I’ve learned that there are a lot of youth that appear to be doing fine on the outside. They’re the high-achieving, they’re very involved in a lot of different things and they are quietly struggling with their mental health.” And that is where the inspiration behind “Dark Side” started, “I wanted to portray that in a character.”
“Dark Side” focuses on Emerson Yeung, a high school senior in Toronto who finds his stressful life spiralling out of control when he loses his phone. On a normal day, Emerson deals with the pressures of exceeding high expectations (like getting good grades) while working for his family’s dry cleaning service. With his sister away for college, Emerson is left to care for his Chinese parents, who tend to be abusive towards him and each other when things don’t go their way. Unfortunately for Emerson, things take a turn for the worse when his phone falls into the wrong hands, leaving Emerson to be framed for eliciting racist cyber threats against his school’s staff. Feeling more alone than ever, Emerson contemplates the thought of suicide which leads him down an unexpected journey of self-discovery. This riveting tale sheds light on the struggles teenagers face as they transition to the next stage of their lives. The exploration of Emerson’s internal struggles allows for the readers to connect to Emerson on many different levels, proving that no one is ever alone when facing a problem. It’s a concept that Emerson slowly realizes when he meets Max and together they realize that sharing their problems can make a world of difference. With the struggles featured in “Dark Side”, John only hopes that his readers could relate to his characters and see all the possible outcomes and resources available to them.
“I guess the ultimate message is instead of suffering silently, you should talk to somebody about your problems,” John advised, “That can really help.”
As to how the story came to be, John Choi has a former classmate to thank for that. At the time, John was working on a different story when a classmate suggested Lorimer (a publishing company she used to work for) to John since she thought his work matched what Lorimer focused on. However before making contact, John did a little research and found the Sidestreets Series that Lorimer published. John read through them and wondered if he could write something that fit the theme. “I thought about the different kids I knew and the different stories that I associated with them and I started to jot down some ideas,” John explained before he shared how those jot notes turned into rough plot outlines that had him feeling like there was story potential from these notes. With an idea set, John met with Lorimer about his idea. “They asked me to do a full outline, sort of a chapter-by-chapter synopsis,” John explained before he went into detail about how he met with the editor and talked with her about the story potential and where it could go. “We were pretty much in-sync and on the same page from the beginning,” John stated when talking about meeting his editor. Shortly after that, John was offered a contract to write the book. It took John about 3-4 months to write the first draft. “Other stories have taken me forever to write,” John joked, “taking all kinds of twists and turns.” In the end, “Dark Side” went through three major revisions. The direction of the story was usually what was affected during those revisions. “My editor and I wanted the story to be fun but not fun in the ha-ha kind of way but in the interesting and dynamic kind of way,” John explained when asked about the revisions. “A lot of the plot turns were designed to keep the action going,” John continued, “but we wanted it to have elements that were somewhat believable and that could happen to a young person in 2016.” As far as the characters went, they remained consistent throughout the revisions. “The person Emerson is, in terms of his personality, was pretty consistent from start to finish,” John stated, “The different sort of challenges he faced, some of the significant ones, was what changed as the story developed.” John even confessed that Emerson had a love interest in the first draft that was eventually cut out of the story.
With all that said, how was Emerson Yeung created? “He is sort of a composite of different people I know in real life,” John confessed, “He is sort of the stereotypical high-achieving son of an immigrant family with lots of expectations on him.” Through Emerson, the audience dives into his life when the worse thing happens to a teenager; they lose their phone. For Emerson, misplacing his phone turns his world upside down as he’s framed for making death threats against faculty members at his high school. The pressures that Emerson experiences as a high school senior applying to college only increases tenfold when he’s accused for things he hasn’t done. With no control over his life, Emerson finds himself drowning in it all. There is no light at the end of his tunnel and Emerson wants it all to stop. Just when he’s about to put on the brakes, Emerson finds that flicker of light that he needs to escape his tunnel of darkness. “We really wanted Emerson to find some hope,” John admitted about Emerson’s journey, “To have him go from feeling really hopeless and feeling like nothing is worth it for him to a point where life could be worth living, that maybe people are worth connecting with and to even come to a realization that his parents aren’t quite as bad as he thought they were.”
So will there be more stories about Emerson Yeung? For the Sidestreets Series, John Choi hasn’t seen a sequel written for any of the books in the series but he still gets asked about potential sequels. “I get asked that question a lot,” John teased when asked about any sequels. “If I ever did write something connected to that story, it might be from the perspective of Max, who is the person that Emerson meets along the way,” John explained, “There is a story there that could be told.”
While “Dark Side” was a short book with a 25,000 word count limit, that didn’t give John the opportunity to explore other characters like he hoped. Fortunately for him, John’s next project will focus around that aspect. “I really wanted to focus on one character and just the relationship he has with his friends,” John revealed before he went into the evolution of that story concept which brought another character into the limelight, “I think it’s going to continue to evolve to where there are three essential characters that the reader is going to learn a lot about.” Aside from his latest writing project, John also mentioned the possibility of returning to a previous project of his, a screenplay that he wrote with his brother.
When asked for any advice that he could share with aspiring authors, John immediately suggested taking courses as it gives a writer an opportunity to be a little more critical about their writing while learning new writing skills. These courses are also a great way to surround a writer with fellow writers. “In my day-to-day life, I don’t meet other writers but in those classes, I got a chance to connect with other folks that are passionate about writing and reading,” John explained before going into detail about how reading a lot is another important thing a writer should do.
“If you’re a writer and you’re not reading then that’s something you need to take up,” John advised, “You need to soak up as much good writing as possible because I think that really helps in the craft of writing.”
Another thing John suggested was a writing group. John’s own writing group consists of six people that write for different genres. “It’s important to surround yourself with folks that are passionate about writing and are going to be critical about the writing,” John explained before mentioning how supportive and critical his own writing group was about his past and present projects.
So when it comes down to it, “Dark Side” is a riveting adventure that portrays the internal struggles that teenagers face beneath the surface. John Choi dives into the psyche of Emerson Yeung, a high-achieving seventeen year old boy who silently suffers from all the pressures placed upon him. It’s astonishing how John Choi exposes the internal struggles in a way that is relatable to anyone who reads Emerson’s journey. It truly shows how universal these struggles are and how no one is ever alone in experiencing them. When it comes down to it, John Choi can deliver a message in a powerfully creative way. Be on the lookout for John Choi and his work in the future.
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Publication Note:
This was published for AsianWave Magazine.
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