Lyla Lee: On Inspiring Young Readers to Follow Their Dreams

Lyla Lee is the bestselling author of young adult novels like I’ll Be the One and Flip the Script. She also writes the Mindy Kim series for younger readers and the Gigi Shin books for the middle-school crowd. Her books have been translated into multiple languages around the world.

Born in South Korea, she’s since then lived in various cities throughout the United States. Inspired by her English teacher, she started writing her own stories in fourth grade and finished her first novel at the age of 14. After working various jobs in Hollywood and studying Psychology and Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California, she now lives in Dallas, Texas. Visit Lyla at LylaLeeBooks.com, or follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Lyla Lee

In this post, Lyla discusses the inspiration behind her new middle-grade novel, Gigi Shin is Not a Nerd, her hope for readers, and more!

Name (byline): Lyla Lee
Literary agent (if one): Penny Moore of Aevitas Creative Management
Previous titles (if any) by the author: Mindy Kim series (Simon & Schuster); I’ll Be Book title: Gigi Shin is Not a Nerd
Publisher: Aladdin/Simon & Schuster
Expected release date: March 5, 2024
Genre/category: Middle-grade
Previous titles (if any) by the author: Mindy Kim series (Simon & Schuster); I’ll Be the One and Flip the Script (HarperCollins)
Elevator pitch:
Front Desk meets the Baby-Sitters’ Club, Gigi Shin is Not a Nerd is about a Korean American girl who has big dreams of becoming an artist. When she and her other aspiring artist friends (Carolina Garcia, Zeina Hassan, and Emma Chen) learn that their families can’t send them to a prestigious art summer camp, Gigi gets a brilliant idea for them to form the Ace Squad, a tutoring club, in order to make enough money to go.

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What prompted you to write this book?

I had many reasons for writing Gigi Shin is Not a Nerd. The first has to do with the fact that, growing up, I didn’t see many books with friend groups that were as diverse as the ones I saw every day at school. Gigi’s town is based on my actual hometown in northeast Texas, which has a large Asian and/or Latinx population.

Secondly, I wanted to write a book combating the stereotypes I saw in the media about Asian Americans being good at math, science, etc. I was never good at those subjects myself (those were actually my worst subjects!), and as a kid and later on as an adult who taught kids, I definitely saw the harmful effects of that “all Asians are good at math and/or science” stereotype.

Finally, I finished my first book when I was in middle school and worked on my novels like how, in the book, Gigi works on her comics and art. I hope this book speaks to other young aspiring artists and writers out there and inspires them to also follow their dreams.

How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?

I first pitched the idea to my editor in fall 2021, and I worked on it from 2022-2023. The idea didn’t really change much throughout the process. If anything, we just added on more character development and plot structure since I tend to be an under-writer.

Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?

Not specifically for this title but just in general, I think a lot of debuts think that once you’re in, you’re in. Like they think that once you have that dream agent or dream book deal, you’re set for life, when in reality, even established authors have to go on submission and get rejected, sometimes again and again.

I got my first couple of book deals in 2018 and thought I was done. Ha ha. Little did I know that three years later in 2021, especially after COVID hit in 2020 and drastically affected my sales, I’d have to jump through the hoops again. I got lucky, and thanks to my awesome agent, Penny Moore, I was able to accumulate more book deals from 2021-2023. But they came with a lot of heartbreaking lessons and rejections.

Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?

I was surprised by how much of my own life and specific memories from my own childhood seeped into my writing. For example, the opening scene of Gigi Shin is Not a Nerd features Gigi getting in trouble with her choir teacher since she’s drawing in her seat instead of singing/actively participating in class. My intention for that scene was simple: set the humorous tone, give the reader a sense of who Gigi is, and grab the reader’s attention with a funny exchange between Gigi and her teacher.

Well, more than a year after I wrote that scene, I was going through my seventh-grade journal (which I’d rediscovered while doing some New Year’s cleaning) and found an entry where I’d written about how my then-best friend (who is still one of my closest friends today) had gotten in trouble with the choir teacher because she was drawing! I immediately told her about it, and we laughed together, reminiscing about our middle-school days. Funnily enough, that friend is a teacher now herself. She teaches art, though, not choir.

What do you hope readers will get out of your book?

I touched on it a little bit in a previous answer but basically, I hope this book will inspire young readers by helping them 1.) feel seen and/or 2.) feel like they can follow their dreams. With all my books, I honestly only have one thing in mind, and that’s to help create a greater sense of empathy and connection since I truly believe that reading books by/about people from different perspectives can create greater empathy in the world. That’s one of the main reasons why I write diverse fiction for kids.

If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?

Really lean into the importance of self-care. Growing up, I heard lots of advice on “not giving up” and not enough reminders to take it easy and/or take better care of yourself. As a result, I was often dejected, burned out, and/or really hard on myself as I set impossible goals like “be published by 20!” or “become a NYT bestselling author!” It’s a tough industry! You really need to take care of yourself so you can be in it for the long-haul.

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