2,235. Sarah Kuhn Doctor Aphra Interview, Part 1

I'm thrilled to welcome Sarah Kuhn to the podcast today for the first of a two-part interview! Here's Sarah's bio...

Sarah Kuhn is the author of the popular Heroine Complex novels—a series starring Asian American superheroines. The first two books were 2016 and 2017 RT Reviewers’ Choice Award nominees for Best Urban Fantasy. Additionally, the first book is a Locus bestseller and one of the Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog’s Best Books of 2016. Other projects include the Japan-set YA romantic comedy I Love You So Mochi and a Batgirl/Cassandra Cain graphic novel for DC Comics. Additionally, Sarah was a finalist for the Astounding Award for Best New Writer and the CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment) New Writers Award. She has also written assorted short fiction, non-fiction, and comics about geeks, aliens, romance, and Barbie. Yes, that Barbie. You can visit her online at heroinecomplex.com or on Twitter: @sarahkuhn.

And these are the questions I had prepped for her:

1. You’ve written novels from a character’s first-person perspective before. Knowing that Doctor Aphra would be specifically produced as an audio drama, did that affect the way you approached Aphra’s narration of the story (and if so, how)?

2. It’s often said that Star Wars stories succeed in part because they doesn’t just reference themselves; they draw inspiration from other genres and sources. What non-Star-Wars sources inspired you for this story?

3. What are some of the perks, and some of the challenges, of writing for an unreliable narrator like Aphra?

4. In your previous works, you invented everything from scratch, but here you were adapting and building on an existing story. How did that change your writing process, or the way you create your characters?

5. It seems like Aphra is breaking the fourth wall in her narration, until we get deeper into the audio drama. What inspired you to take the angle of Aphra recording herself telling this story?

6. In the comics from which this is adapted, readers only get one brief hint at the previous romantic relationship between Aphra and Sana Starros. But your story makes it clear that the relationship was deeply formative for both of them. And as a result, it feels like their story is crucial to the overall story being told, when that wasn’t necessarily the case in the source material. Discuss! :-)

7. Although Aphra is the star of the show, Triple Zero has proven himself to be a scene stealer. What are some of the joys and perils of writing for Triple Zero?

8. Were there any characters who surprised you, as you wrote for them and developed them? If so, who and how?

9. Would you talk to us a bit about your reactions to hearing Emily Woo Zeller’s performance as Aphra?

The conversation didn't go in that order, but we did wind up talking about all of this and more... Punch it!

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