From ‘Star Wars’ Fan Fiction to the Best Sellers List

TT: What inspired you to write a Southeast Asian, specifically Filipino-based, enemies-to-lovers fantasy book?
TG: I think that at its core, the whole enemies-to-lovers trope is very much Southeast Asia, it's very much Filipino because we love our melodramatic dramas. We love our teleseries. We love all our forbidden romance tropes and all the swoony soap operatic passion. Basically this is my own interpretation of an Asian drama because it makes use of a lot of Asian drama tropes. I guess it's also because enemies-to-lovers is my favorite trope ever, and I really wanted to share my own spin on it, but this time set it in a world that features a lot of the heritage and cultural touches that I have always longed to see in the fantasy genre.

TT: As you mentioned, you’re an author who’s based in the Philippines, specifically Manila, and you got a major book deal with a traditional Big 5 U.S. publisher. What have been some of the positive things that have happened as a result of this as well as some of the challenges that you faced on your journey to get published?
TG: I think in terms of challenges, it starts with the little things. For example, coordinating interviews and media stuff, because I think the Philippines is a whole 12 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. So sometimes my sleeping schedule and my body clock are totally upside down because of stuff like that. And then there's even the simple logistical stuff. For example, when my publisher has to send me my packages and anything else that I need to sign, they have to send it to me by a private courier because if they send it to me by regular mail, I either don't get it at all, or I get it four months later. There are also issues like visa stuff, because I have to apply for a visa. To give a recent example, I was recently invited to an event in the U.S. They invited me three weeks before the event. Of course, I really appreciate the invitation, but at the same time, I can't drop everything and go to an event in the U.S. with only three weeks' notice. It's not something that a lot of people who live in the U.S. think about because, for them, they can just fly to the Philippines whenever. 

As for the good stuff, it's been great to have the backing of a major publisher because it means that the book gets into more hands, and there's a lot more access to it. That's how a lot of people knew about it because my publisher was very hands-on in getting it out there and promoting it to booksellers and libraries. It’s my first time being published, and I think that Harper Voyager has taken pretty good care of me in that regard.

TT: I have to admit this: I have read pretty much all of your fanfiction back in the day. I was there in the Tumblr trenches. [laughs] What is your advice for writers who struggle with first drafts? Because as a fanfiction writer, I’m sure you were able to gain a lot of practice writing a lot on a schedule and training to write. Now that you’re a professional writer, I wonder if you had any issues with first drafts and being disciplined.
TG: I think writing works differently for everyone, but in my case, I set a monthly word count goal for myself. It can be anywhere from 30,000 to like 60 or 70,000. Then I make the project on a word progress tracker. This is not sponsored by the way, but there's WriteTrack, there’s wordkeeperalpha.com. These sites allow you to log the number of words that you want to write for the month and they calculate for you how many more words you need to hit your goal. Doing this gives me the feeling of sort of working towards a goal, so I'm motivated to write every day because every little bit helps toward hitting that monthly word count target. It's a matter of staying focused. Of course, I also cannot stress how important it is to be kind to yourself as well. During especially busy months or months where I am just too emotionally drained, I kind of cheat in the sense that I change the word count target. [laughs] And there's nothing wrong with that. It's nothing to be ashamed of. If you continue pushing yourself past your breaking point, you will get burned out and you will fall out of love with writing. And it's hard to get back into the groove once that happens.

Thea Guanzon.

Courtesy of Thea Guanzon

TT: What’s your opinion on the romantasy genre label that’s risen because of BookTok, aka the book corner of TikTok?
TG: I think it's great, because for me, romantasy is like a marriage of my two favorite genres. That was what I grew up reading. Whenever I was reading fantasy, I was always wishing that there was more of a focus on the love story; for romance, I wished it could be a bit more escapist, that something really outlandish would happen, like some magic. I think romantasy is one of the most immersive forms of escapism because it allows us as readers to sort of disappear into a whole new world, while at the same time swooning over a love story. As a writer, it's nice because it serves as an outlet for my hyperactive imagination while at the same time, also letting me capture all of the chaos inside the human heart.

TT: I wanted to talk about your book dedication because when I got the book in the mail, when I opened the book, I let out the biggest chuckle because your book dedication says, “I did it for the rats,” with rats being a tongue-in-cheek name for the Star Wars Reylo fandom that fans have reclaimed from opposers of the ship. So as somebody who was in the Star Wars Reylo fandom for many years, why did you write for the rats? What about the rats and the rat fandom do you love so much?
TG: The (Reylo fandom) was probably my first major fandom where I had an active part. I had dabbled in a lot of smaller fandoms before, but I never really made long-lasting friendships in those fandoms. By the time the Star Wars trilogy came out, I wasn't in college anymore, so I had no more papers to write, I had no more thesis to defend, I was already a working girl, so I had more time to be online. Getting into the Star Wars fandom was a way for me to de-stress and let off some steam from working at the office. And I just managed to connect to so many people there. I love that as a fandom we have our own memes, our own inside jokes. Everyone is just so kind and supportive and that's why when I was thinking about the dedication for my first book, I knew that there was nothing else I could have dedicated it to because it's the culmination of my seven years in the fandom and all of those highs and lows. I’m definitely a rat forever for the rest of my life.

That's worth looking at—how non-traditional paths to publishing can be viable options for authors of color, authors who don't live in so-called first-world countries...We should consider the circumstances of people who are not in the U.S. or the U.K.

TT: Sort of on the flip side of that, for the past several years in the Reylo fandom, as you said, we’ve seen the highs and the lows, and we've definitely seen the lows. Do you have anything to say to the people who think Reylo-inspired original fiction, which was once fanfiction, is not “valid” or even good fiction? Do you have anything to say to the people who discredit that kind of literature?
TG: Everyone is free to have their own opinions about it. But personally speaking, as someone from the Global South, the opportunities in publishing that I have gotten would never have been possible without my background in fanfiction. We don't have much of a leg into the international publishing industry here. I don't even think that we have literary agencies. And there is not that much support and infrastructure for the arts. So if you want a career as a writer, it's not impossible, but it'd be very hard to achieve. That's worth looking at—how non-traditional paths to publishing can be viable options for authors of color, authors who don't live in so-called first-world countries. We should be intersectional in our opinions of publishing. We should consider different situations. We should consider the circumstances of people who are not in the U.S. or the U.K.

TT: After a few years of writing Star Wars fanfiction, you received an amazing opportunity to write a canon short story for Star Wars called Dune Sea Songs of Salt and Moonlight for the 2023 anthology called From a Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi. What was the experience like getting that offer and writing that story?
TG: Oh my god. When (my literary agent) Thao emailed me about it, she emailed me and (author) Ali (Hazelwood) at the same time because she's both our agent and it was me and Ali screaming and sending gifs. I really could not believe it was happening. It was so cool to be able to contribute to a universe that has meant so much to me ever since I was a little girl and be able to contribute to the canon of this universe. I was geeking out for a solid couple of months. And then I realized, "Okay, wait, I have to stop geeking out and I actually have to start writing." [laughs] It was great working with Lucasfilm and the Random House editors. I’d like to think I did a decent job of not letting my fangirl emotions show. After I sent them the draft, they would sometimes have notes for me in the margins and I would go, "Thank you for your input!" But deep down, I’d be like, "Oh my gosh. they actually commented."