I sat down for a telephone interview with David Yoo, the author of Girls for Breakfast, on a Monday evening. The first time, I ended up dialing the wrong number and called what sounded like a fax machine. After a flurried consultation with the managing editor, who IM’ed me the correct phone number, I tried again. Success! David picked up the phone promptly, somewhat discombobulating me. After introducing myself, we got down to the nitty gritty.

AK: How did you get started or interested in writing?

DY: I started writing stories about midway through college. One Saturday, I felt like writing a story on my computer and I liked it, and that was it for me. When I wrote stories, I was trying to figure out my major and I wasn’t interested in my classes.
Growing up, I always told stories. I wasn’t one of those writers who kept diaries or journals, though. I also lied a lot when I was younger, which, in retrospect, is pretty useful as a writer.

AK: What did you end up majoring in?

DY: Government. I also majored in English with a concentration creative writing.

AK: And where did you go to school?

DY: For undergrad, I went to Skidmore in upstate New York and I went to the University of Colorado in Boulder for graduate school.

AK: When you wrote Girls for Breakfast, did you have a specific purpose or audience in mind?

DY: In terms of purpose, I don’t write with any kind of mission in mind. That one (Girls for Breakfast), especially, is emotionally very autobiographical. It’s loosely, or tightly, based on the area I grew up in. In terms of mission, if there is one, I would say, that as fiction, I’m trying to give voice to a sorely underrepresented demographic, the below average teenager. For example, in the movies, there’s a lack of below average characters and the same goes for literature and I thought it would be interesting to write about a kid who isn’t excelling. I don’t know, I guess I wanted a lot of different people to relate. I don’t know if I do this, but I was hoping to show some sides of an Asian American teen boy that aren’t shown very often. I try to be as honest as possible. Even though it’s fiction, I want to tray and show everything, warts and all.

AK: You already mentioned that this novel is emotionally autobiographical, but other than that, are you writing from your own experiences?

DY: Not much of it has actually happened. I tried to fill it in with little touches and references to places I’ve grown up in. I guess that makes it autobiographical. I wasn’t this kid growing up. But in his worst and best elements, I guess I show some flashes of myself. I mean, I never taught anybody martial arts.

AK: But I bet you were asked if you knew any.

DY: Yeah.

AK: Are you working on anything new right now?

DY: I’m actually working on the next one. This one deals more with family, which horrifies my mom. This one is more about two siblings. I guess the main character can be described as a choke artist; a kid who is failing to live up to his expectations. I guess what I wanted to do was, my first book was called Girls for Breakfast, and my second book, I would write about anything but girls.

AK: When is this novel’s projected release date?

DY: I think it’ll come out sometime in the spring of 2007. I’ll be finishing a rough draft sometime next week and I’ll be finding out how bad it is from my editor. Most of the main work comes after I turn in the rough draft.

AK: Is there a core audience that you write for? For example, on the book jacket of Girls for Breakfast, it says that this is a young adult/teen novel. Even after I read it, I couldn’t help but think that maybe, teen boys could relate to this novel more than teen girls or even older adults.

DY: Core audience, I don’t consider it just for teen boys. I feel there’s a universal theme for anyone who’s grown up feeling like an outsider. This character just happens to project his feelings of wanting to fit in onto girls.
That’s what drives some people to excel in sports or musically: They want to fit in.

AK: Since this is your first book and you’re a new author, not too many people are familiar with you. So, how would you describe yourself?

DY: Myself. As a writer or generally?

AK: Either, it doesn’t matter.

DY: This is really hard. I don’t know, it’s kind of a kiss of death to label yourself as a comic writer. Some of my favorite writers make me laugh. I want to write something funny but substantive. I don’t know, I like humor.
As a person, formerly but increasingly dedicated to work.

AK: As of now, what do you consider your greatest achievement? And you can’t say your book.

DY: My greatest achievement? Hmm…I know this answer…can I give two?

AK: I guess…

DY: My greatest is, I quit smoking. My second one is that I was a great cat owner. I think I may have achieved something better than that, though. There has to be something else…greatest achievement…I don’t have a real great achievement.

AK: How about for the future? What would you like to achieve, or what goals do you have?

DY: Is there some other goal? Well, in terms of goals I set for myself, I guess they’re related to writing. I want to keep writing, I want to write what I want to write and keep improving. And also, I want to learn how to play drums. Oh yeah, I have one other goal in life, to become a professional pool player. I’m painting a portrait of a bum who wrote a book.

AK: Who are your favorite authors?

DY: I should probably say my favorite books, because I could say, Laughter in the Dark by Nabokov instead of just Nabokov when I’ve only read the one book and not any of the others. So, books I read every year: Laughter in the Dark by Nabokov; Mildred Pierce by James M. Cain; The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurty; and a teacher of mine, Lucia Berlin, she was the best short story writer I ever read.
I just realized, I think every summer, I read Rosemary’s Baby. I don’t know why.

AK: How about humor writers?

DY: Salinger is funny because I like Catcher in the Rye. I like Dave Sedaris and all those famous guys. Hmm….I need to be looking at my bookshelf.
You know what I found funny recently? There’s this one show that was on for one season, Freaks and Geeks. That’s really funny.

AK: Have you heard of Arrested Development?

DY: Yeah! That show’s really funny. Election was also very funny.

AK: It was slyly funny.

DY: Yeah, slyly funny, that’s a good way to put it. Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth is also pretty good.

AK: Would you ever release a collection of short stories, or do you see yourself primarily as a novelist?

DY: I started out writing short stories. When I was in college, I wrote stories. IN graduate school, I started writing a novel, but I kept working on short stories. Even now, I have a hard drive full of short stories. I also write screenplays and I’ve written a lot of non-fiction essays. And by a lot, I mean three.

AK: At the end of your life, how would you like to be remembered?

DY: At the end of my life, how would I like to be remembered? Well, I guess I would like to be remembered as a writer, preferably a good one. I’d also like to be remembered as someone who didn’t waste his life.

A. Kim is the Halfway Senior Editor

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