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| Angie Kim, photo by Tim Coburn |
Angie Kim is the author of the new novel Miracle Creek. Her work has appeared in a variety of publications, including Vogue and The New York Times. A former trial lawyer, she lives in Northern Virginia.
Q: How did you come up with
the idea for Miracle Creek?
A: Miracle Creek is centered
on a fatal fire and explosion in a hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) chamber.
HBOT is a real medical treatment used in hospitals as a treatment for carbon
monoxide poisoning and diving accidents, and it’s increasingly being used as an
experimental treatment for a wide variety of conditions, ranging from
infertility to cerebral palsy and autism.
One of my kids, who has
celiac disease and ulcerative colitis, was an HBOT patient years ago in a
privately-run facility with a group chamber. It was an intense experience,
being sealed up in a submarine-like chamber with three other families for an
hour at a time for 40 consecutive “dives.”
We shared our life stories
with each other and were forced to deal with minor emergencies that came up
while we were sealed inside (including some temper tantrums, panic attacks, and
bathroom emergencies).
When I set out to write a
novel years later, I immediately thought of the chamber, a crucible in more
ways than one, and I wondered what we would have done if something truly
horrific had happened during a dive, when we were sealed inside with no way of
getting out.
Once I decided on a fire/explosion as the inciting incident, it
seemed natural to have a murder trial provide the main throughline, given my
experience as a former trial lawyer.
Q: You alternate among
several characters' viewpoints in the novel. Did you write the book in the
order in which it appears, or did you move things around as you wrote?
A: I largely wrote the book
in the order in which it appears. It was an iterative process in which I wrote
a rough and very general outline, wrote 2-3 chapters, then went back and
changed the outline, wrote another 2-3 chapters, changed the outline again, and
so forth.
Once the entire draft was
completed, I was able to look at the outline and make structural decisions,
some of which necessitated moving a few scenes and chapters (as well as adding
or deleting some). But for the most part, the iterative approach I used allowed
me to build from the bottom up without making huge changes in structure.
Q: Can you say more about how
your background as a lawyer affects your fiction writing?
A: I have experience working
as a trial lawyer, and my favorite part of being a litigator was being in the
courtroom, and cross-examining hostile witnesses in particular.
I don’t just love doing it
myself; it’s translated into a love of courtroom dramas in all forms, whether
it be movies, TV shows, books, plays, everything! I love the drama of it, the
psychological insight into the witnesses who squirm and try not to answer the
questions directed their way.
So when I set out to write a
novel with a mystery who-/how-/why-dunnit element, I decided to have the mystery
play out in a courtroom setting rather than, say, through a police
investigation.
As for the writing itself, my
experience as a trial lawyer made it both easier and harder to write the
courtroom scenes.
On one level, it was easier
because I knew what types of questions the lawyers should ask, how the trial
would be structured, and so forth.
But on another level, it was
more difficult because I was tempted to make it as realistic as possible and
follow all the standard rules of evidence and criminal procedure, which would
have made the novel 2,000 pages and made it harder to do things like have all
the characters sitting in the courtroom, listening and responding to each
other’s testimonies.
So I had to take a lot of
liberties in the courtroom, which the lawyer in me fought. In the end, though,
I had to remind myself that this is fiction, and I had to serve the story
first.
Q: How was the novel's title
chosen, and what does it signify for you?
A: Miracle Creek is the name
of the fictional town in which the HBOT chamber (named Miracle Submarine) is
located.
It was important for me to
have “Miracle” in the title, because that’s what so many of the parents in the
novel are chasing, whether it be Pak and Young, the Korean immigrant couple who
moved to the U.S. for a better life for their daughter Mary, or the parents of
the special-needs children who have elected to do HBOT in hopes of a miracle
treatment. They have all been displaced from their normal life and are
isolated, and they are desperate for connection and a sense of community.
Also, Dennis Lehane’s Mystic
River was one of the novels I had by my side as I wrote Miracle Creek. That
novel is one of my favorites of all time, and the voice, multiple-POV
structure, murder mystery plot combined with a literary feel were all things I
loved and tried to learn from, so I meant for Miracle Creek to be an homage of
sorts to Mystic River.
Q: What are you working on
now?
A: I’m busy working on
everything related to the release of Miracle Creek, including writing essays
about both the substance and process of writing Miracle Creek, doing radio and
magazine interviews, reading and signing at festivals and bookstores, and
discussing the novel with reviewers, bloggers, bookstagrammers, podcasters, and
readers. I hope to get back to work on my second novel soon.
A: I love hearing from
readers and discussing Miracle Creek with book clubs, so please feel free to
check out my website,
which has my contact information and special materials for book clubs!
The
website also has reviews, interviews, and my essays about everything from HBOT
and my immigration experience to writing courtroom scenes. Hope you enjoy it!
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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