Yejin Suh ’25 is an English major at Princeton. She’s currently working on her senior thesis, figuring out her career plans, and frequenting Small World Coffee when she needs some light background noise while she writes.
Oh, and she wrote a novel that’s being released by HarperCollins, one of the five biggest American publishing houses, in June — just 23 days after graduation.
The book, “The Last Soldier of Nava,” is a young adult (YA) fantasy inspired by Korean mythology. It deals with everything from assassins to environmental destruction, with political intrigue and even an enemies-to-lovers storyline. Suh wrote the first draft during the summer between her first and second year at Princeton after her hometown friends had gone back to school. It took her about two weeks.
“I’ve attempted to write novel-length manuscripts before, in like middle school and high school,” Suh said. “But, you know, they were not that great. Then in college, I tried again and actually finished it this time.”
Although she was already familiar with Korean culture and mythology through her heritage, Suh said the writing process involved some research into the history of the Joseon Dynasty, which ruled Korea from 1392 to 1910. Since the novel is set in the past, she wanted even small details like descriptions of palaces or foods to accurately reflect the period.
As a student at Princeton, Suh had to balance the lengthy revision process with the obligations of her sophomore-year course load.
“I would just dedicate a little bit of time every single day to work on it. And I just kind of really tried hard to be consistent,” Suh recalled. “Even if I only had like 45 minutes to write, I would just work on it, and then little by little, I made progress.”
After writing a second draft on her own, Suh sent a query to the person who would become her agent, Princeton alum Allegra Martschenko ’20.
“I was like, ‘I have a YA fantasy that I think you would really like — also go Tigers,’” Suh quipped. After a few months of editing with Martschenko, they sent the manuscript out to editors and it was picked up by a U.K. imprint of HarperCollins that focuses on YA fantasy and science fiction.
“I feel like I grew up reading so much YA, especially YA fantasy, that it was kind of inevitable that the first book that I write would be a YA,” Suh said, naming fantasy authors like Cassandra Clare and Leigh Bardugo as influences.
“I don’t have a specific inspiration for the book, but I guess just everything that I read growing up,” Suh admitted.
Still, she said writing her book for a younger audience was a change of pace, since “for creative writing workshops and stuff here, you would usually write for adults.”
Indeed, YA and genre fiction like fantasy are often written off in academic settings. Yet, Suh has made a concerted effort to seek out classes, like “A Global History of Monsters” or her first-year writing seminar, “The Posthuman,” that treat the fantastical and the speculative as literary modes worthy of academic analysis.
For her senior independent work in the Department of English, Suh is crafting what she described as a “hybrid thesis,” exploring Asian American Studies and the cyberpunk genre. The thesis will include both a critical portion and a short story in the genre.
Suh doesn’t feel there’s as much of a difference between her creative writing and her academic writing as you might expect. “I definitely try to use my voice in academic papers,” she said, “which sometimes backfires, because professors will be like, ‘Why are you so wordy?’ and like, ‘You’re doing too much.’ But I can’t help it.”
Looking towards the future, Suh said she’s already started working on her second novel: a dark academia fantasy, this time geared more toward an adult audience. She said this project was inspired by the vibe of Donna Tartt’s “The Secret History,” a novel that explores morality and murder against the backdrop of an elite liberal arts college.
“The Last Soldier of Nava” releases in the United Kingdom on June 19, with a U.S. release date forthcoming.
Annie Rupertus is a contributing writer for The Prospect and a head News editor emerita for the ‘Prince’ from Philadelphia, Pa. who has covered activism and campus governance.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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