The Veil of Make-Believe: An Interview with Sunwoo Jeong by Evangeline Lim
For this interview I had a delightful chat with Sunwoo Jeong, Split Lip Magazine’s very own Assistant Flash Editor! I always see Sunwoo’s name popping up in our team’s message channels—whether it’s offering thoughtful feedback on submissions or just sharing a good literary recommendation—so I was super excited to get to know the person behind the screen.
Sunwoo is a fiction writer, linguist, and enthusiast for dogs with short legs. She splits her time between NYC and Seoul, and longs to cultivate her own vegetable patch. She is currently working on a collection of linked short stories and a novel.
I want to especially acknowledge her generosity and patience throughout this interview process. With our clashing time zones and busy lives, scheduling was tricky! But nonetheless, Sunwoo still made time to answer all my questions with earnestness, and I’m so grateful for the chance to learn from her insight!
She and I exchanged emails about her travels (which I must admit, I’m quite envious of), her journey into writing fiction, and even hole punches.
Evangeline Lim: Where are you at the moment? What’s the view like?
Sunwoo Jeong: I am in Seoul at the moment, visiting my mom. No outside view, just a clothes hanger full of old clothes facing my makeshift desk. I wish I’d taken up the interview a couple of weeks ago, when I’d been in Scotland for a residency! I did have a stunning view from the window then, with outlines of a derelict castle wall. :)
EL: That sounds so beautiful—what a dream! Can you tell me more about your travels? Any places you still want to see?
SJ: I was staying at the Hawthornden Castle where the poet William Drummond lived and got to see a bit of Edinburgh as well. I still want to go visit the Isle of Skye and the Hebrides (the backdrop for one of my favorite books, To the Lighthouse!) but wasn’t able to make it this time around. Maybe some other time!
EL: That sounds amazing! Speaking of—I absolutely love your flash fiction, “David Lewis Says.” From striking lines like “a void caterpillar, limned by the non-void world,” to your exploration of control and emptiness, as well as the integration of tradition and culture. It is incredibly well crafted, and it is so impressive that such a thought-provoking piece marks your first literary publication! How’d you come up with the concept for this piece? And how did you know it was finished?
SJ: Thank you for the love! I was walking along Green Lake in Seattle, looking at some bright green leaves when a memory came back. My partner wondered if I might be addicted to piercing my ears (I have quite a few holes on both sides), and I’d joked that I might have to begin venting my desire elsewhere by carrying a hole punch, punching out booklets, flyers, petals, and leaves. The memory morphed and congealed into a character, Yumi, and the story sort of unfurled from there. I don’t know if I was ever sure I was finished with the piece. The editing process after getting accepted at Split Lip taught me a lot in getting a better feel of when it is done (“for now”—I always have to add, though).
EL: I love that—how a passing moment can transform into a whole story. Would you say most of your writing draws from your real life?
SJ: Hmm, come to think about it—not really—maybe this one was a bit of an exception. I guess one always draws from one’s own life to some extent, but usually, I think those influences tend to be more masked or transformed. I do find a lot of comfort from the veil of make-believe provided by fiction.
EL: What other pieces of yours do you recommend to SLM readers who want to see more of your work?
SJ: I am quite partial to my story “The Midnight Spa,” up on Uncanny. If readers like speculative fiction with dreamy ambience, I think they will like this piece. Another story that takes place in roughly the same Universe is “The Lexicon of Lethe,” which has just come out in Lightspeed. Foodies might love it, because the piece is centered around a restaurant. It’s about a word-eating monster and again features some uncanny holes! It has a podcast version too, for those who prefer listening over reading.
EL: That sounds so interesting, I will definitely check those pieces out. Especially since I am a big foodie! What is your go-to food? Do you usually snack white writing?
SJ: My go-to food is anything spicy—e.g., tteokbokki. They really help me destress, though probably at the cost of my intestines! I do also love to nibble while writing. Crackers, pretzels, dried seaweed, M&Ms. Anything, really.
EL: I love tteokbokki too—although I never get it spicy—I cannot handle the heat. Pivoting now, congratulations on recently becoming an Assistant Flash Editor at Split Lip! From contributor to reader—take me through your writing journey up to this point.
SJ: I was so lucky to have my first publication be at Split Lip! I feel like it opened up a host of new doors that brought me closer to amazing writers and readers. My day job is in academia, so I’m used to a lot of dry-writing, so to speak, but I came to fiction writing fairly late, in my mid-thirties. I feel like the first few years of fiction writing, I was all over the place. I had this hunger to create beautiful prose and captivating new worlds but wasn’t sure if anything I was writing had any value. The readers and editors at Split Lip gave me a first indication of if and how my words might be resonating with others, and that in and of itself was a huge learning experience. After being a contributor, I was later invited to be a reader, which provided me with yet another amazing opportunity to learn. Oftentimes, I feel that each and every story has its own spark, though not all of them may end up finding a home with us. I’m thrilled to be an assistant flash editor now, to be more involved with amazing readers, editors, and contributors!
EL: Your journey is so inspiring to anyone wanting to break into fiction! I especially resonate with what you said about every story having a spark. Interning at Split Lip has taught me so much about that, and I know it will continue to shape the way I engage with writing and storytelling.
For my final question I want to know, would you rather have to meet exactly 600 words in a piece or 6,000 words for the rest of your life?
This may be a surprising answer as a flash contributor/editor, but I would choose 6,000 words! I always think it’s much harder to write something short and sweet. My utmost respect for people who can craft and distill exquisite, jeweled pieces within a compact space—all things considered, I think I am too much of a meanderer to achieve this feat on a regular basis!
—
Evangeline Lim (@ev.angline) is currently pursuing English and Media Studies at the University of California Berkeley. She is an intern at Split Lip Magazine and a weekender staff-writer at The Daily Californian. Outside of reading and writing, she loves trying new restaurants, watching romcoms, and her pet turtle, Murdtle.