Someone asked me in an email; “Where is Jae-Min from? Was he born in America? Or Korea?”
Good question.
Jae is the only one of his family born in the United States. I’ll go into that more in the second book because it is relevant to how he views things. His mother is from the countryside and his father was from Seoul. He and his family have spent a lot of time in South Korea. I will probably have to have his brother Jae-Su go to the army or have already gone to the army when he was younger. It is a requirement for South Korean men to enlist for 18-24 months. They keep changing the time requirements. I’ll leave it vague.
I do not think I’ll have Jae do that two year stint for several reasons. I don’t want to deal with that separation. I’m sacrificing that “reality”.
Another question: Jae-Min and his family seem more old-school than modern. Why?
I chose to have Jae come from a more traditionally Korea-Korean family than say some of my friends whose families have been here for a generation or two. I wanted to depict that family rather than one that’s more Western. Jae is the most “Western” one in his family. I have a friend whose family is extremely traditional but she doesn’t identify herself in that way. That conflict is what I intend to portray with Jae’s internal struggles.
If Jae is Korean, why is his cat’s name Japanese?
Neko came with that name. He just never changed it. She doesn’t pay attention to him anyway. She, like most cats, come when she wants to.
As I get more questions, I’ll post them if they don’t spoil the next book. Haato!
Here are the Recommended Reads for August 2011. If there are incorrect links, please leave a comment in the post. Enjoy!
This excerpt starts Chapter 9. Since this book is in Cole’s POV, sex between Jae and Cole is sometimes explosive and complicated. He’s drawn to Jae but oh, the young man in question is definitely Trouble with a capital T. Still, once Cole’s taken a bite of his temptation, he doesn’t want to stop.
