Lydia, what did CATALYST teach you about writing or about yourself?
Well, I’ve never written a book series before, and I was really intimidated by writing a sequel and making sure I carried all the plot and character arcs to a satisfying conclusion, without letting go of the rising tension and energy of the story. I’m really proud of what I’ve accomplished, knowing that I was petrified of the process the whole time!
How long or hard was your road to publication? How many books did you write before this one, and how many never got published?
I started seriously writing fiction in 2009. I wrote two and a half novels before I wrote CONTROL and CATALYST. Those early novels needed a lot of work, and I probably rewrote that second book three times before I shelved it. So all in all, it was a relatively quick road to publication, but I’d been dedicating my time to my first (and still current) career–practicing medicine. So I went through college, med school, residency, and a lot of years of doctoring before I took the plunge and started writing fiction. From that perspective–the journey has been really long!
What do you hope readers will take away from CATALYST?
I hope readers will feel that being a woman and a science geek are not mutually exclusive. That women don’t need to dumb themselves down to be beautiful. And that no matter how imperfect you think you are–physically, especially–you still have the strength to fight for what’s most important to you.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Catalyst
by Lydia Kang
Hardcover
Kathy Dawson Books
Released 3/24/2015
For fans of Uglies and The Maze Runner comes a complex, thrill-filled love story that will make you question exactly what it means to be human
In the past year Zel lost her father, the boy she loves, her safety, and any future she might have imagined for herself. Now she, her sister, and the band of genetic outcasts they’ve come to call their family are forced on the run when their safe house is attacked by men with neural guns. But on the way to a rumored haven in Chicago, Zel hears something–a whisper from Cy, the boy who traded himself for her sister’s safety. And when she veers off plan in order to search for him, what she finds is not what she expected. There’s more to their genetic mutations than they ever imagined…aspects that make them wonder if they might be accepted by the outside world after all.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lydia Kang is an author of young adult fiction, poetry, and narrative non-fiction. She graduated from Columbia University and New York University School of Medicine, completing her residency and chief residency at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. She is a practicing physician who has gained a reputation for helping fellow writers achieve medical accuracy in fiction. Her poetry and non-fiction have been published in JAMA, The Annals of Internal Medicine, Canadian Medical Association Journal, Journal of General Internal Medicine, and Great Weather for Media. She believes in science and knocking on wood, and currently lives in Omaha with her husband and three children.
