Julie C. Dao and Wendy Xu, hosts for our Working Retreat: Novels and Graphic Novels, joined Highlights Foundation Social Media Manager Cat Galeano on Instagram Live to talk about writing novels, making art, new projects and retreating in community with other creatives.

Watch the conversation below. (Please note: closed captions are being added to the video below. When they are finished, you can see them by hovering over the bottom of the video and choosing the “CC” icon.)

Full Transcript:

Cat:
Awesome! A big hello to our Highlights Foundation family. We’re so happy to have you here with us. For those that may not know me, I’m Cat Galeano, my pronouns are she/her. I’m the social media manager at the Highlights Foundation, joining you from Westchester, New York on the traditional lands of the Seewanoy people. Apart from all the fun things I get to do at the Highlights Foundation, I am also a writer and a reader myself, who’s very excited to welcome our friends and faculty Julie Dao and Wendy Xu, who will be hosting the Working Retreat for Novelists and Graphic Novelists on our beautiful Highlights Foundation campus next month, May 19th and through May 22nd, with special guest Sara Gómez Woolley.

But before we dive in, I, I want to remind our viewers that joining in on any Highlights Foundation sessions, to do so with no hate, no harm and no harassment of any kind.

And now let’s get started. So my first question, I’m going to start with Julie and then to Wendy. Julie, you’ll be talking about character arcs in your presentation. And for those that may not know, Julie, Wendy and Sarah will be giving a, a presentation each day. So just so everyone knows; and you’re going to be talking about character arcs in yours. I know so many of your stories are character-driven. What makes you want to bring this message to the people who are coming to the retreat now? And then I’m going to ask Wendy, of course, the same.

Julie:
Sure, I love character in books and movies and TV. Anything that I’m watching, anything that I’m consuming, I’m always thinking about the trajectory of the character and how they progress throughout the story because I’ve read a lot of books where the character just jumps out at me and I feel like I enjoy the story more when I trust the person who’s kind of holding my hand. Even if I don’t like them, those are the interesting characters, right? The ones that interest you, but you don’t necessarily agree or like them. So writing a character that feels real, that feels tangible, that feels like someone you can follow through a story. I think that’s really, really important for a writer to finesse. And it’s something I’m always working on myself. You know, I’ve, I’ve got nine books out or under contracts now, and it’s still a work in progress every time. It’s something so fun to put together like a puzzle. So that’s what I’m hoping to encourage our attendees to do as well.

Cat:
That’s so wonderful. Wendy, I’m not sure if your presentation title has been revealed. But if there’s anything you’d like to add about what you’ll be sharing on campus…

Wendy:
Yeah. So as a comics artist, and like a really, like, a connoisseur of all kinds of animated media, the best kind of comics and media in my opinion are the kind that treat the background as a character in and of itself. Whether that’s in the visual…it’s a lot of it’s in, to do with the visual storytelling. But also color and, you know, the writing of the story can also have an effect. But I, in my presentation, I’m going to talk about how we have to respect the background as not just a set of our stories, but as a, as like, a character in and of itself. And to encourage people to really think about the settings of their stories. There’s so much energy in places. And I think that’s like very often under-utilized. I’m definitely encouraging people to explore that as well.

Um, and also as an artist, it’s really important to do a lot of live studies. So during my time, I’m hoping to lead a lot of like live study drawings and you can do some fun exercises in ways that maybe people didn’t, haven’t thought about. We do a lot of traditional figure drawing right? But there’s some, lots of different ways to start the world. And some of my background is: I’m an amateur historian, not a historian, but I’m a fan of traditional East Asian painting and the philosophy behind that. And so I know when people think of live studies, a lot of times they think of Renaissance-era art. You know, da Vinci and like hyper-realism. But I think there’s lots of ways to study the environment and to study other people in our art. And so I want to bring a little bit more of like the philosophy that I’m interested in, into that.

Cat:
Thank you for sharing because you know what? If you think about it, like some of the best stories we read, you really think of the, the the setting as such an important element of the story. You think of the characters and and like of course the plot, but then you’re like: oh my God. That story took place in New York City, and like, oh my God. Like just the city, just like came through so vibrant in that story. And so I love that you’ll be talking about that and Julie like character. I mean, I was just having a conversation with a friend the other day because we went to go see a Broadway show. And it was like a very “va, va. voom” one. And then we had a conversation with…

Julie:
Which one?

Cat:
It was Back to the Future, which is very fun. But he asked me, like what my personal favorite show was and it was Once, which is a very character-driven show and it was not “va, va, voom” in the least, it was a very simple set and I’m like it’s because the characters spoke to me and I connected with them and I felt the reality of them and they were just there. So, like, uh, these topics sound so awesome. I’m so jelly of the people that will get to hear it and be on campus with you both. So, very, very excited to hear that. So my second question is, we know that one of the cool aspects of a working retreat is actually time to work on those projects while sharing community with other creative people. What types of projects are you bringing to work on? Or what stage of the processes that you’re on. Of course, only if you can say. Or tease, because you know some things you can’t say. And of course, what are you most looking forward to? Like, what kind of moments are you most looking forward to, while being there?

Julie:
Should I start?

Wendy:
Yeah, Julie, go ahead.

Julie:
OK. I have a book that I’m really excited about that’s coming up this fall. It’s my adult debut, so I’ve, I’ve up until now, I’ve only written for young adults and for middle grade readers. And this is going to be my first foray into the world of adult publishing. And it’s going to be a sexy dark adult retelling of Dracula, but with a BIPOC cast. So it’s from the perspective of one of Bram Stoker’s original characters, Lucy Westenra. She has Vietnamese heritage. Quincey Morris is a black American cowboy. Doctor Van Helsing is a Chinese Dutch physician who is a leading blood specialist. So I’m bringing a lot of BIPOC energy into this Victorian English story. And I’m so excited about it. So it’s coming out October 1st. So what I’m bringing to work on at the retreat is going to be the sequel. Because that’s going to come out a year after the first one. So I’m trying to put that down as quickly as possible. It’s in the drafting stage, so it’s very much a hot mess right now. I’m just, you know, typing everything that I can think of and I’ll like, I’ll fix it later. So that’s what I’m going to be working on at Highlights.

And something else that I’m interested in and really, really excited and looking forward to is just connecting with other writers because it’s–Wendy, as you know, and you too, Cat, because you’re both writers as well–it’s just very isolating to create in solitude most of the time. So getting to talk to other people and share experiences and just share, share some vibes. You know, I think, I think it’s going to be really, really fun and inspiring.

Cat:
Oh wow, that sounds–we have some comments saying, wow, huge Dracula fan!–so I’m just like that sounds so cool.

Julie:
Good. Thanks so much.

Wendy:
I’m really excited and I love Van Helsing. He is so crazy. Like in that he is bananas.

Julie:
He’s not as nuts in my book. Because I want him to be like, you know, I want him to be the voice of reason instead of just like off the walls like he is in the original story.

Wendy:
But I remember in, in Dracula the part where he was like: “oh no, she died” and then he turns to these men who are like, very obviously mourning her. He’s like: we have to cut off her head now.

Julie:
We got to do this like, we have no time to waste.

Wendy:
He’s like: we have to do it right now and they’re like, oh my God.

Julie:
And he makes her fiance do it. The man who was going to marry her the next day. Or was supposed to.

Wendy:
And then there’s the part where they’re breaking into, into one of the estates and he just pulls like a crowbar out of his backpack. And I’m like, why did you have that?

Cat:
The story is: we can’t wait till October 1st because this story is going to be the story of the spooky season. So I can’t wait for it. Wendy, what will you be working on?

Wendy:
I haven’t announced it publicly yet because I’ve been hoarding it to myself, but I am working on my third graphic novel with HarperCollins. It’s a YA fantasy based on Chinese mythology, it’s tentatively titled Year of the Fox. And it’s about fox spirits, who run a cafe with their very hapless human friend who is cursed. And it’s, it’s got all the things that I love, it’s got like it’s got hot boys. And it’s, it’s like, it’s cozy, but it’s also, I, it’s also about death and grieving because the fox spirits run a cafe in the interspace between here and the underworld.

Cat:
Oh, wow.

Julie:
That sounds like it’s gonna tear my heart into a thousand pieces. And I also need it to be a game on Nintendo Switch immediately.

Wendy:
I would love it to be a game, but there’s but there’s, yeah, there’s, so it’s about, there’s three main characters and two of them are fox spirits. One of them’s a human and the baddy, I’m really excited to be sketching because he’s just like, I don’t know if anyone here watches C-dramas, but he’s kind of like the sexy bad boy type and so he’s a butterfly demon.

Cat:
Wow.

Julie:
We like that.

Cat:
I love this.

Wendy:
But my, so I should have notes back by the end of the month for developmental edits and for like the green light to keep going. I’ve already drawn the first three chapters in pencil, so I’m gonna be busting my, my butt on the rest of those pencils and hopefully you’ll see it. I don’t know; graphic novel schedules are a bit wonky. Hopefully you’ll see it.

Cat:
Wow. I, again, I wish I was on campus so I could like peer over your shoulder to see what this looks like. My brain right now is just kind of like envisioning what it could be. So wow, that sounds so awesome. Thank you for sharing that with us. I think everyone in our comments is hyped. So, so, oh man, that sounds so exciting. Thank you both for sharing those projects. Wow, we have lots of good stuff to look forward to then. My third and final question is: what do you hope that people leave the retreat with, in their journey to inspire kids through story?

Julie:
Well, I’m hoping that people remember how amazing it is to be artists and to be able to create art. I think that being in publishing, for me especially, I’ve been struggling kind of mentally lately, with the business aspect. I mean, I’ve struggled all these years, this whole decade, of being a professional author, of dealing with the side of the business that I don’t like as much. Which is the sales, the reviews, you know the, the optics on social media. All the things that we can’t control. What I care about most is the art. That’s what brought me into this. My passion for writing. It’s something that keeps me going, so I hope that the attendees will come and just remember how amazing it is to write stories and to tell stories. And one of my exercises that I’m going to do is a writing prompt card game where I’ll just pull out a card and we’ll just write whatever the character, or the setting, the idea for 15 minutes and just see what comes out organically. So it’s just getting back to the fundamentals of being passionate about writing for me.

Wendy:
I agree with you. I agree with Julie. I think social media tends to make people insane. And also the sales, the schedules, all of these things and publishing… I don’t want…the business aspect of it, definitely. I feel you.

Cat:
It’s the least fun.

Wendy:
But I hope that, I hope that people come and they’re just really excited to make art. I’m always excited to make art. I teach art to teenagers. And they’re like, the the energy that they bring to my classes just always is so inspiring to me and so I hope to channel a little bit of that like teen passion. And it’s also, you know, making art has always been part of my core memories as a teenager. And whenever I’m struggling with the business aspects of it, I always think about those memories. So, yeah, I hope people come excited to make art and also like I’ve heard great things about the food at Highlights.

Julie:
The food is so good. Chef Amanda. I will eat anything that woman makes.

Cat:
Chef Amanda, and we have another, Chef Megan, too. So both of them are A plus, A plus.

Wendy:
Yeah. And this is my first retreat. So like, thank you, Julie, for inviting me. And thank you, Cat for setting this up.

Cat:
Yay, that is so wonderful to hear because I truthfully have been to campus many, many times and you know what? Even though I’ve been there, I think upwards more than 20 times at this point over the last couple of years, the magic for me is still real every time, so I’m so excited for you to experience your first, your first time and for Julie to come back and thank you so much with both of you for for hanging out with us for those couple of days and for inviting our fellow novelists and graphic novelists to, to spend time with you in-community and of course, if you’d like to spend time on our beautiful campus with Julie and Wendy, please make sure to sign up for our Working Retreat for Novelists and Graphic Novelists on May 19th to the 22nd with our special guest Sara Gómez Woolley. You can register on our website highlightsfoundation.org and lastly you can purchase Julie and Wendy’s books on our virtual book shop powered by bookshop.org. Just before we go, I want to ask you if you want to add anything else before I like fully wrap it up?

Julie:
I don’t think so. I’m just really excited to do this. I’m excited to return to Highlights. This is going to be my 4th time back and I, I knew that Wendy would be an amazing person to teach this with and to just lead the retreat together because we’re both, you know, very creative and very hard-working people and I love supporting other BIPOC creators. So I’m hoping that people come for a nurturing, relaxing, inspiring 3 days.

Cat:
Wonderful. Wendy, anything else?

Wendy:
No, that’s pretty much it. Julie, you summed it up. I will say, if you ask me for critique, I will be pushing. I am, like I will push you artistically.

Cat:
That’s great to share, actually. Thank you.

Wendy:
But yeah, I love talking about craft and I love to do this with other artists so I’m very excited.

Cat:
Yes, optional critiques. By the way, if you want to sign up with both faculty, I think. But yes, thank you so much to you both. Thank you, Julie. Thank you, Wendy. Thank you for hanging out with me here on Instagram and for those of you that are thinking about going, I think you should definitely sign up. We have payment plans. Trust us, we want you there. So call us, e-mail us. We wanna work with you to make sure that you can come and if not this year, then hopefully next year.

Wendy:
It’s a tax write-off, if you decide to come by the way.

Julie:
It’s true.

Cat:
That’s the biggest incentive, people. I’m going to remember that. Thank you, Wendy. Thank you, Julie. Have a great rest of your day.

Julie:
Thanks so much thanks, Wendy. Bye everyone, thanks for coming.