ANN LIANG is the author of beloved YA contemporary romances such as I Hope This Doesn’t Find You, If You Could See The Sun, and Never Thought I’d End Up Here. Her latest book I Could Give You The Moon is a C-drama style romance between a rich influencer and a tattooed boxer, who must team up to find their missing family members.

Read on for a Q&A with the author.

MEET ANN LIANG

What inspired you to write I Could Give You the Moon?

When I first wrote my debut, If You Could See the Sun, I wasn’t originally planning on returning to these characters. But I couldn’t stop thinking about Chanel’s story – I felt like there was so much more to her than what we saw from Alice’s perspective, and I really wanted to delve into the aftermath of her father’s scandal, and also explore the more raw, less glamorous side of her life. From the moment I knew I would be writing about her, I had a very clear vision: I wanted this book to be the older, bolder sister of If You Could See the Sun; I wanted to go back to the world of Beijing’s elite, but for it to feel darker and grittier. I wanted to write about a love that was both intense and tender; for it to feel less like a wide-eyed first-time romance, but a romance for two jaded, guarded people who still find themselves reaching for love anyways.

Why is Chanel so desperate to create a perfect social media presence?

While Chanel’s high-profile background and environment – as the ‘it girl’ of a Beijing international school – might make it so that she’s very fixated on her social media presence, I honestly don’t think you have to be a glamorous Beijing heiress to want a perfect social media presence these days. Because in the current age, our social media platforms can feel so deeply tied to our identity; it’s where all your friends are getting updates on your lives, it’s how strangers might form their first impression of you. There is this desire to be seen as having fun, to be seen as being happy, as being pretty, as being popular; the desire to perform, to play a part, to build a brand. Having social media means having an audience, and having an audience means feeling like your life is a performance, so you want to perform it well. This is what Chanel is, in a sense, trained to do. Her social media is like a theatre mask, but it’s also a shield; it’s her way of taking control of her image at a time where everything else in her life is spiralling out of control.

Teens and young adult readers can’t imagine a life without social media, so how did you approach writing about influencer culture in this book? Do you have any thoughts about how to be genuine in a digital world?

I think about this all the time, and I really wanted to be careful with how I treated the ‘influencer’ part of Chanel’s identity; because on one hand, there are all these elements of consumerism and unrealistic beauty standards to contend with, but then I didn’t want to simply punish Chanel for contributing to this culture, since she herself feels deeply pressured by it. I wish I had an answer for how to be genuine in the digital world. Because part of being genuine means being vulnerable, right? Yet at the same time, we’re taught to be careful about what we say and how we act online, because you could expose yourself to criticism and hate, to strangers who aren’t necessarily acting in good faith. It’s such a fine line to walk, and it’s something that Chanel struggles with, but I think ultimately, being genuine in a digital world is not so different from being genuine in the real world: you just try your best to stand for what you believe in.

Where did the idea for Chanel to see a vision of the future come from?

You know, it’s interesting, because I feel like I had a vision of Chanel’s vision; when I first came up with the plot for this book, I was chopping potatoes in the kitchen, and suddenly the idea came almost fully formed. I knew right away that Chanel would have a vision of the future, and it would be something terrible, something to do with a fire that would burn down her life, literally and metaphorically, and she would have to do everything in her power to stop it. I suppose that in recent years, as a writer, I’ve been very drawn to the idea of a doomed love story; of knowing something will end badly, of knowing you’re hurtling toward heartbreak, but still doing everything in your power to alter the course of fate. There’s just something very bleak and beautiful about struggling to change the inevitable; it says a lot about how much hope we can hold, even when it seems like there’s nothing to hope for.

Could you tell us a little more about Chanel and Ares’ developing relationship? What draws them together?

Chanel and Ares’ relationship is honestly one of my favourite romantic storylines that I’ve ever written. They’re both such guarded people; terrified of being hurt; convinced that nobody will love them as they truly are, only to be proven wrong. They’re both trying so very hard to crush their own feelings, to deny this blooming attraction between them. Their relationship is about power: what are you willing to do for me? Do I affect you like you affect me? Are you in control, or am I? And it’s about trust: can I trust you not to hurt me? Can I trust you to keep your word? Can I trust you enough to love you?

After writing so many beloved romance books – Never Thought I’d End Up Here, I Hope This Doesn’t Find You, and This Time It’s Real to name a few – what is the most important life lesson about love that you always try to convey to your readers?

There’s so much I could say on this, but I feel like it really comes down to the fact that love isn’t always ‘perfect’; sometimes it’s going to be messy and scary and difficult, sometimes it means being vulnerable, sometimes it means putting yourself at risk of getting hurt, sometimes it means embarrassing yourself. But it’s also going to be tender and exhilarating and breath-taking and real. I think it’s one of the most beautiful things in the world, honestly, and I think that everyone deserves to have love in their lives.

What was your favourite thing about writing I Could Give You the Moon?

One of my favourite things was definitely getting to write about Alice and Henry again. It just felt so nostalgic, and during the drafting process, I found myself remembering what it was like drafting If You Could See the Sun for the first time, and just how much has changed since then.

Do you have any projects on the horizon?

There’s so much I’m working on that I can’t wait to share! My next project to come out is To Dream in Darkness – it’s a pretty dramatic tonal shift from I Could Give You the Moon, because it’s an epic romantic fantasy set in Ancient China about a Death God and Healer God. But like I Could Give You the Moon, it is, at its core, a doomed love story.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ann Liang is the New York Times, USA Today, and Indie bestselling author of critically acclaimed young adult and adult fiction. Her books have been sold in over twenty foreign territories. Her work has been featured on Good Morning America as a GMA Book Club pick, and on the Today show, Cosmopolitan, PEOPLE, Harper’s Bazaar, and more. Born in Beijing, she grew up traveling back and forth between China and Australia, but somehow ended up with an American accent. She now lives in Melbourne.

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