Budding Singapore author, 24, wins book deal with top US publisher and Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn

SINGAPORE — Budding author Lee Wen-yi, 24, is about to burst onto the global publishing scene thanks in part to Covid-19 lockdowns when she spent long hours writing about her emotions of grief and loss.

The Singaporean's young adult novel The Dark We Know is to be published on Aug 13 after being picked up by famous American mystery author Gillian Flynn, best known for books such as Gone Girl, which became a hit Hollywood movie in 2014 starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike.

Ms Lee, who works as a full-time project manager in the publishing industry here, told TODAY that she has landed a book deal with Gillian Flynn Books for her debut young adult novel. She declined to give more details.

She said that she is now focused on an adult fantasy-historical novel, slated to be published next year, set in 1970s Singapore about an all-girl gang.

Ms Lee's debut young adult novel is about a teenage art student who has to return to her haunted small town. The student reunites with her estranged childhood best friend to fight a supernatural evil force that killed two of their friends two years earlier.

Speaking to TODAY, Ms Lee described the novel as one that encompassed themes of grief and loss inspired by the song Those You've Known from the musical Spring Awakening.

The coming-of-age musical that delves into dark themes involving teenage sexuality, pregnancy and mental health first debuted on Broadway in America in 2006.

Ms Lee said: "It was something that I needed at the time and was thinking about at the time — the sense of the people that you've lost sort of continuing with you and giving you strength, and how to move on despite everything that you've faced."

She felt an affinity to Spring Awakening because she was supposed to have produced the musical during her final year at University College London where she studied liberal arts, when Covid-19 struck.

Left saddened as she played songs from the musical on repeat, she tweeted on how she craved for more content that would make her feel the way Spring Awakening did.

That was when she realised that she could create that for herself.

"I started thinking about it and, like, 24 hours later, I more or less had an idea for the book, which was a horror speculative retelling of Spring Awakening," she added.

Speculative fiction is an umbrella term covering genres such as fantasy and science fiction.

ROAD TO GETTING PUBLISHED

As she yearned for a career in speculative fiction, Ms Lee decided to try out where the young adult book markets were the biggest.

To get her book published, she needed to first get representation from a book agent who would then help her to send her manuscript to publishing houses.

Ms Lee said that she had sent pitches and sample pages of her novel to a total of 47 agents.

Of those, 16 book agents asked to see her full manuscript, and four offered her representation.

Having been associated with the online American publishing space for over a year, Ms Lee had picked up tips on how to pitch a book, what kinds of books were being published and where her book would sit within the young adult fiction market.

After getting representation, Ms Lee's book agent sent her manuscript to both adult and young adult publishing houses. This was because Ms Lee felt that her book had been written in a mature voice that would appeal to both adults and young adults.

She ultimately decided to market The Dark We Know as a young adult novel.

"I was really very much writing it as a coming-of-age story for who I was as a teenager and other teenagers whom I hoped the story spoke to," she said.

Her book was sold to Gillian Flynn Books in October 2022, one year after she completed writing.

This offer came as a shock to Ms Lee because she did not know her book agent had sent her manuscript to Gillian Flynn.

"I was actually on a work trip at the time and had to sneak away from meetings to find a random corner in the expo hall where I could take a call with my agent," she recalled.

Receiving that call was a pivotal moment in her writing journey. The agent said that Gillian Flynn had not only read and loved the story, but also wanted to publish it.

"It was a complete surprise and I love Gillian's books, but just hearing that she wanted to publish my book also made me panic for a while as I started to overthink... wondering if my book was good and if there was anything I could fix," Ms Lee said with a laugh.

An early version of her debut novel was shared with authors Ms Lee admired, who lavished praise on the book. This is to be included as blurbs on the back of her published book.

Recalling the moment she learnt of her book deal, Ms Lee said: "I was thrilled and very, very grateful. It was so amazing that so many cool writers all came through and it was a relief that they didn't hate it." 

When she told her parents about her six-figure deal for her upcoming second book, her mother congratulated her before asking her how much of it would be lost to American taxes.

"I think they've seen me writing since I was a kid so this didn't come as the biggest surprise.

"My parents are happy for me but they will still do the practical nagging about not quitting my job or to manage my money wisely."

Even though her penchant for writing made it easy for her to churn out the first draft of her novel in a month, the overall process was not without its challenges, especially when she had to make revisions to her draft.

"Because it is quite a heavy book that deals with depression and grief, I would notice that whenever I went back to the book, I would get into this sort of headspace that wasn't the most healthy for me," she said.

So, whenever revisions had to be made, Ms Lee always had to make sure that she would be able to put the book down and go do something that was not quite as heavy.

Another challenge that she had to grapple with was learning to let go of sole control of her book because once it gets into a publishing house, it becomes a team effort.

"Everyone will have an opinion so the book is not really just yours anymore," she said.

"As a debut novelist, a big part of the process was learning how to navigate this and learn how to sort of let go of the book and find a way to sort of reconcile that."

Even as she counts down the days till her book release, Ms Lee is aware of uncertainty over whether her book will do well in an already crowded young adult fiction market.

However, she believes that there will be readers who will find her book and read it.

"The book touches on a lot of hurt and ultimately, I wrote the book towards healing so I think that if the hope and healing reaches someone, then I've done what I set out to." 

As she gears up for the release of her novel and the impending publication of the adult novel in 2025, Ms Lee shared a few words of advice for budding authors who are looking to get published like her.

"Don't be afraid to write what you want and finish that book. Make sure you are writing something that you love and want to see through because you cannot go anywhere without having that."

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article stated that Ms Lee landed a six-figure book deal for her debut young adult novel. This is incorrect. Her six-figure book deal is for her upcoming second novel. We are sorry for the error.