Launch: Mark Atkinson’s MiJa
INTERVIEW BY LESLIE S. LOWE
Mark Atkinson was born and raised in York, England but has spent much of his life living, studying, and working in Southeast Asia, and has spent over a decade in South Korea. It took him four years to research and write his first novel, MiJa. You can find more about the author, join his bookclub, and download a Korean language version by visiting Bookmark Publications. He will soon be giving a book lecture for The Royal Asiatic Society in Seoul, South Korea.
How would you describe this book and its themes in a couple of sentences?
It’s a family saga set in Korea and tells the tale of an ordinary family blighted by the old Chinese curse: ‘May you live in interesting times’. The reader gets a glimpse of everyday Korean life during the Forced Japanese Occupation, World War II, and the Korean War.
What inspired you to start writing and what has been most rewarding about it?
My wife is Korean, and she used to tell these engaging after-dinner stories about her mother’s experience growing up in Korea. People said I should be writing it down, so I did. I entered the opening chapter into a writing competition and was selected to read it publicly at the York Festival of Writing.
I enjoy the creative side of generating something novel and the sense of accomplishment once finished. I vastly underestimated the effort involved but it’s very rewarding when reviewers appreciate the writing. My very first anonymous reviewer said: ‘I found MiJa incredibly engrossing. Some of this, I think, is due to the vividness of the writing as well as attention to historical detail. (I genuinely felt like I was there)’. That made all the effort worthwhile.
What attracted you to writing historical fiction?
You have the freedom to create a really engaging fictional story and set it in a factual place and timeline. That’s a powerful combination because if you get the historical facts correct the reader will believe the story really happened as you said it did.
What are you working on now? Is it connected to this novel in any way?
MiJa is not part of a series although I have some similar stories planned. I would like to set a novel in North Korea based on the personality cult of the ruling family and their rise to power. My work will take me to China in 2023 so something set in Nanjing could also be a possibility. I am also exploring other genres. I don’t read in one genre so I would feel restricted writing in a single genre. I’m sketching out a few plots for new novels and whichever seems the most vivid is the one I will start next. A dystopian novel with an animal rights theme and a historical crime novel set in the Congo are currently neck-and-neck.
How do the characters transform within the story over the series? What did that journey mean to you as you wrote it?
Given the setting you can expect all the characters to undergo dramatic change. There’s a lot happening in this novel, and I initially struggled to keep track of each character arc, age, and timeline, so I created a spreadsheet with a row for each character and a column for each chapter. If you read the spreadsheet columns, you get an overview of each chapter. If you read the spreadsheet rows you get an overview of each character’s arc as the novel progresses. It was a useful planning tool to identify holes in the plot and pace the novel.
What nobody told me about was the author’s character arc and I wasn’t the same person when I finished the novel. Writing does take a toll on the author, especially when writing about what happened to the comfort women and other wartime atrocities. On the plus side, it gave me another idea for a book.
Why the focus on this topic now? Is there a key historical event you found in researching that inspired you to write this story to portray a key message prevalent now?
There is growing interest in Korean culture, demonstrated by award-winning Korean literature, Oscar-winning Korean movies, the global K-pop phenomenon, and Korean food so I believe there is a market for my novel. MiJa also highlights the plight of the Korean comfort women, and it would be a shame to let the last few survivors die without due recognition and an apology issued on their behalf. I never planned to write a book about women’s rights but, as I unearthed more and more research, the story crystalized and it became obvious that the role of women in society was one of the main recurring themes, along with the role of religion in shaping society.
How did you balance the research with writing the story?
I got most of the story by word-of-mouth from my wife. It was interesting to see how she interpreted my written scenes. Sometimes she had a completely different mental image from the one I intended, which resulted in much ham acting on both sides to get the message across and agree what the scene should look like. Perhaps that is why one of the professional editors I worked with described the novel as ‘very cinematic’.
Every author has their own publishing journey. Tell me about yours.
My publishing journey started with winning a best opening chapter competition and a public reading. I only had 500 words down. This is my first novel, so I spent a long time plotting the story and learning how to write and rewrite and rewrite. I also worked with two professional editors and a professional cover designer because I had a very clear idea of how I wanted the book to look and feel.
I approached a few literary agents, but it seems like they don’t have the time to give every book the consideration it deserves. At the Historical Novel Society conference at Durham University, I took advice from successful authors who had been traditionally published and self-published, and for me there was one clear winner. I wanted the freedom to keep control over my book title and cover design. I also want to write in whatever genre I choose. If I want to write short stories, a novella and poetry I can, all of which are non-starters in traditional publishing.
The downside is that traditional publishing still has a monopoly over access to physical bookstores and some of the more prestigious book competitions disqualify self-published books and yet claim to fly the flag for diversity and inclusion.
What advice would you give to other aspiring historical writers?
Like mountain climbing, avoid summit fever. When you finish the book and reach the peak you’re only halfway there. You still have to get down the mountain. Get the first draft down even though you know its garbage. Do not stop and wait for inspiration. It’s important to get over the finish line. Then edit extensively and once you have a book that is as good as you can make it, use a professional editor. You need a thick skin to be told the beautiful child you gave birth to and nurtured for a long time has some ugly faults. You need to consider their view and change the text as you see fit but remain in charge.
What is the last great book you read? Why?
A Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I like his prose, but a novel’s worth can be too rich, so I thought this short story was just right. The premise hooked me straight away.
I try to avoid the hype surrounding the major publishers’ latest releases. They are too often disappointing. I tend to follow respected author recommends and recently enjoyed Malgudi Days, a collection of short stories by R. K. Narayan. His insight into human nature is first class.
