Writer Sung Kim

Sung Kim is a South Korean immigrant who came to the United States in 1984 at the tender age of ten with his parents and older brother. Sung’s practice in writing short stories has led him to the current challenge of working on two novels simultaneously. He has a degree in art and shares his thoughts on what it’s like to be a self-taught writer.

You are a graphic designer by trade, what attracted you to putting words on the page?

As anyone who enjoys reading, I too, since a young age, always wondered if I could write a book. When I first came across Cormac McCarthy I thought if only I could write just one paragraph or even a sentence like him, I would die a happy man. So, one day, after a long period of procrastination, I sat on my dining room table, pictured a scene in my head, and just wrote. To my surprise it was quite good. To this day, I think what I wrote on that kitchen table might be my best paragraph yet.

Why and how are you working on two novels at once?

It comes from my short story writing habits. I always write multiple, that way if I get stuck on one, I can continue on with another. I was hoping that it will carry over to novels, but so far it doesn’t seem to want to work as I am stuck on both novels. I am finding novels are a completely different animal from short stories. Continue reading →