Authors Interviewing Characters: Kara H.L. Chen

ASKING FOR A FRIEND

This charming YA rom-com follows a strong-willed, ambitious teen as she teams up with her childhood frenemy to start a dating-advice column, perfect for fans of Emma Lord and Gloria Chao.

Juliana Zhao is absolutely certain of a few things:

1. She is the world’s foremost expert on love.

2. She is going to win the nationally renowned Asian Americans in Business Competition.

When Juliana is unceremoniously dropped by her partner and she’s forced to pair with her nonconformist and annoying frenemy, Garrett Tsai, everything seems less clear. Their joint dating advice column must be good enough to win and secure bragging rights within her small Taiwanese American community, where her family’s reputation has been in the pits since her older sister was disowned a few years prior.

Juliana always thought prestige mattered above all else. But as she argues with Garrett over how to best solve everyone else’s love problems and faces failure for the first time, she starts to see fractures in this privileged, sheltered worldview.

With the competition heating up, Juliana must reckon with the sacrifices she’s made to be a perfect daughter—and whether winning is something she even wants anymore.

By: Kara H.L. Chen

A person dressed in all black holds up a sign that says, “Act One, Scene One.”

(In the middle of the stage is KARA H.L. CHEN, a disheveled looking Taiwanese American writer wearing yoga pants and a t-shirt that reads: “Deadlines are not my friend.” She might have just woken up or she may have been working for the past twelve hours. It’s honestly hard to tell.)

KARA

Uh, this is supposed to be an interview. Not a play?

(crew start setting up a backdrop of a boba café. They then wheel in a platform with a table and three chairs on it and place it center stage. 

Already seated are JULIANA ZHAO, a seventeen-year old Taiwanese American female who is dressed in a dark blue skirt, light blue tee with small hearts on them and ballet flats. She has a cup of roasted oolong tea with crystal boba in front of her. Across from her is GARRETT TSAI, a seventeen-year-old Taiwanese male who is dressed in a white One Piece t-shirt, a dark grey hoodie, jeans, Totoro socks and canvas Chucks. He has a mug of green tea in front of him. No boba.)

JULIANA

We liked the energy of a play. So we changed it.

GARRETT

Typical. She changed it.

(JULIANA gives him a dirty look)

KARA

(frantically flipping through a packet of papers)

Is that even allowed? 

JULIANA

(cheerfully)

It never hurts to ask!

(Nudges the chair next to her with her foot)

Have a seat! (calls to one of the crew members). Shane, can we get an extra boba?

(a crew member rushes forward with the cup and sets it in front of KARA as she tentatively takes a seat.).

KARA

(checking notes again)

I mean, is this really okay? Aren’t I the writer here? (pause.) Or is it “am I not the writer here”? (checks the Chicago Manual of Style as JULIANA smiles at her, beatifically. GARRETT scowls at JULIANA.)

JULIANA

It’ll be fine!

KARA

(clutching the Chicago Manual of Style)

I mean, I guess technically, it is all dialogue-based, so it should be fine, right? We’ll just go with it—uh, go for it. Go to do it. Just do it, I mean. But in the non-Nike copyright infringement way. Omg, are we going to get sued by Nike? Strike that. I mean, we’re going to just… do… the interview. (SHANE, the crew member who is behind the front counter, sighs deeply.) 

Uh, okay, okay. (She takes a deep breath then turns to JULIANA and GARRETT. With false cheer) So we need to talk about our book.

(checks watch) 

Kind of quickly because we’re under deadline, but we should be able to finish on time! Right?

(JULIANA nods, vigorously. She is well prepared with notecards and pencils neatly arranged next to her food and drinks. GARRETT has no notes.)

So… our… book!

GARRETT

Our book?

KARA

Yes, the one coming out on July 23. ASKING FOR A FRIEND.

GARRETT 

(with falsely innocent tone)

You mean the one Kirkus Reviews called “[a] swoonworthy, heart-wrenching view into the trials of growing up second generation in an immigrant community”? 

(JULIANA gives him a discreet high five under the table) 

JULIANA

(under her breath)

Nicely done, Tsai.

GARRETT

(modestly)

I thought so.

(KARA coughs and glances at the clock)

KARA

Well, yes. Anyways, it’s a story about love—

GARRETT

(interrupting)

Is not.

JULIANA

Is so.

GARRETT

No.

JULIANA

Yes. 

GARRETT

No. It’s about the experience of second generation Taiwanese American kids whose parents bring them up under their own cultural worldview, but those rules don’t necessarily apply in America – 

JULIANA

— which happens in the context of a love story—

GARRETT

(overlapping slightly)

—so it is not about love because love is temporary and only leads to misery. No one wants to read that.

JULIANA

Um, hello, everyone wants to read that. Who doesn’t want to read about happiness? And look at our cover! Love letters! And we’re romance advice columnists.

GARRETT

 Only so we can lead them away from future suffering.

KARA

(Waves hands, which are smudged with ink. Her hair is starting to stick up. Is that a pencil coming out of the back of her bun? Unclear.)

I think we’re getting a little off track— 

(KARA looks at clock again. Wipes her face and leaves an ink smear across her face.)

Let’s just focus on the book, okay? Deadline, hello!

JULIANA

(ignoring her)

Garrett. We entered the Asian Americans in Business competition as experts on dating advice—

GARRETT

You only did that to honor your father’s legacy, since he started the competition and all. And I needed the prize money for college.

JULIANA

So you claim. But we all know you were secretly pining for me after that summer we spent together at Taiwanese cultural camp.

GARRETT

(was about to take a sip of his green tea, but puts the mug down on the table, loudly)

Pining?

JULIANA

Even though you TOTALLY GHOSTED me for over a year, for unknown reasons —

GARRETT

(looks at audience)

Would we say pining? Really?

(Next to them KARA waves her hands again, but they ignore her. She tugs at her hair and the pencil falls out.)

JULIANA

You pretended that our time together didn’t mean anything to you. Even though it clearly DID. 

GARRETT

If there was pining, I think that shoe is on your foot, Zhao.

(Now JULIANA is pissed.)

JULIANA

Don’t make me break out the Taylor Swift.

(GARRETT gasps.)

GARRETT

You won’t dare.

KARA

Uh, people—I mean, characters? Characters that I am supposed to be interviewing? Can we get back on track?

(KARA points to her shirt, at the word “deadline.” JULIANA ignores her and holds eye contact with GARRETT as she says the following)

JULIANA

Alexa, play “All Too Well.” 

(calls out, furiously) 

Cue the montage! 

(GARRETT’S eyes widen in outrage.)

(Montage begins:

• A title card that says: “The summer between sophomore and junior year. New Hampshire. Taiwanese Cultural Camp.”
• JULIANA and GARRETT walking into the main cabin of cultural camp. They glance at each other, but don’t say hi. They vaguely know each other from Chinese class, but are not close. They wander off in separate directions.
• Breakfast time. JULIANA looks around but doesn’t see anyone else that she knows besides GARRETT. She shyly asks him if she can sit next to him. He gives a little smile and nods, then looks away. They eat next to each other in silence.
• Dance class. They are the only two people who go the wrong way. They make eye contact and laugh.
• Dinner. Juliana puts her tray down next to his and they start to talk, in fits and starts at first, then more and more. 
• Breakfast. GARRETT makes a little fort out of his waffles, which makes JULIANA giggle. He looks quietly pleased.
• Baking workshop. They sit in the back together, trying to roll out mooncake dough, but GARRETT keeps making JULIANA laugh. The teacher scolds them, but they don’t care.
• A screenshot of a text from GARRETT to JULIANA: “Hey, are you coming to breakfast?” JULIANA rushing into the cafeteria, looking for him. Close up of JULIANA, smiling when she spots him. He grins.
• Mini montage of texting screens, endless questions and answers. JULIANA and GARRETT hiking through the woods. Getting splashed on during a water balloon fight. JULIANA pushing a piece of mango cake into GARRETT’S mouth, the frosting smearing. Reading comic books on a beanbag, their sides smushed together. GARRETT picking up JULIANA’s hand and drawing a small dragon on the back. The two of them sneaking out of their respective cabins in the middle of the night and quietly walking to the river. They sit on the bank as the sun rises, their hands next to each other, but not touching.
• The last day. Parents arrive. JULIANA runs back to her cabin to get her duffle bag. GARRETT is on the side waiting for her as JULIANA’S MOTHER and some TAIWANESE AUNTIES talk. GARRETT overhears something and goes very still. Something shatters in his expression. He says three words, too quiet to hear: “of course. Right.” He nods, resignedly. Then leaves.
• One week later. JULIANA and GARRETT are scheduled to be in Chinese class together. JULIANA runs up to him, smiling. He doesn’t respond. He walks into the classroom and does not speak to her for the rest of class. Close up of JULIANA’S face, devastated.

(Black screen as the montage ends. JULIANA and GARRETT are silent as the song continues to play. They do not look at each other.)

KARA

Uh, right. So that happened! But the book, the book takes place after all that. Over a year later!

(KARA glances at JULIANA and GARRETT for some help, any help at all, but they don’t notice her).

Juliana and Garrett are seniors now and they have to pair with each other to write this advice column for the Asian Americans in Business Competition. They bicker, but they can be civil long enough to get it done, right? Let bygones be bygones!

(winces.)

Water under the bridge! 

(mutters “oh my God” at the cliches)

Well, you know what I mean. 

(KARA’S alarm on her cell phone rings.) 

So we’re almost out of time. Juliana? Garrett? Your thoughts?

(GARRETT finally looks up and makes eye contact with JULIANA. They lock eyes with each other, unaware of the rest of the café.)

Uh, I’m sure that they would agree. Right? 

(Café workers in the background start to put away front counter and remove the backdrop. KARA starts to speak quickly). 

So the rest of the book! We have Juliana’s sunshine energy and Garrett’s grumpy vibes while they answer these relationship questions, but we also have an exploration of the Asian American experience, being trapped in two cultures. 

(Another pencil falls out of her hair. She tries to catch it and misses). 

Challenges to internalized biases and worldviews. A coming of age story! And boba! 

(She accidentally bumps her notes and the papers fall to the floor.)

GARRETT

(quietly to JULIANA)

It was nice wasn’t it? New Hampshire.

JULIANA

(still looking at him)

I thought so.

KARA

(mutters)

And this is why we can’t outline. Work with me, people! 

(calls loudly to JULIANA and GARRETT)

Hello! Do you two have anything to add? 

(Alarms goes off for the final time and café lights start to dim. KARA says the following, rather panicked as the lights go dark) 

July 23! ASKING FOR A FRIEND! From Quill Tree/HarperCollins! Available at Amazon, B & N, Target, Walmart and your local indies!!

(KARA gets dragged off stage, pencils falling from her hair. Single spotlight on JULIANA and GARRETT, who are still seated at the table, oblivious. GARRETT smiles at JULIANA, like they are sharing a secret or a shared memory. After a second, she… smiles back.)

CURTAIN.

BUY HERE

—

Kara H.L. Chen grew up near Cleveland, Ohio, where she once had to shovel snow off her car with a plastic trashcan. She now lives on the West Coast with her husband and daughters, and is learning how to use an Instapot. She has undergraduate degrees in English and economics, a J.D., and a MFA in fiction. She has used her economics degree exactly once, when she tried to make a joke about marginal costs and marginal returns. It did not go well.

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: Contemporary Women Writers, Interviews, On Writing