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Mae Tang 董美妍

@maetang.myatproto.social

58 followers 46 following 750 posts

She/her. Writer. Chinese Singaporean immigrant to the UK. This is where I talk about writing. Books: - My first book. Shortlisted for the Hachette Children’s Novel Awards 2025. - Book One and Book Two. The series I'm currently writing.

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Mae Tang 董美妍 @maetang.myatproto.social · Jun 24

I'm happy that my first book made the shortlist for the Hachette Children's Novel Awards 2025, which is part of the #NorthernWritersAwards with @newwritingnorth.bsky.social. Many thanks to the judges for their encouraging feedback, and congrats to the winners!

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Apex Magazine (is funding for 2026!) 🎉 @apexmag.bsky.social · 37m

It's Kickstarter Christmas! 🎁✅

We just added a TON of new tiers, including affirmation critiques with Violet Lichen Managing Editor Nichole Lightner and short story critiques from the most important Apex team members of all: our slush readers! ✨ Don't miss out!

www.kickstarter.com/projects/ape...

"Flash Fiction Critique: 5 left of 10

Affirmation Critique with Rebecca Treasure: 8 left of 10

Affirmation Critique with Nichole Lightner: 5 left of 5

Slush Reader Critique: Three of Apex Magazine's amazing first readers will critique your short story, giving you three different perspectives! Our amazing slush teams read hundreds of stories each and every month and have developed a great eye for what makes a story work. Let their experience elevate your next submission. Stories can be up to 5,000 words!"

A cow is floating through space in a UFO tractor beam. His two little ghost friends float alongside, wearing space helmets. The cow's thought bubble reads, "$6,996!"

Reposted by Mae Tang 董美妍

Gabino Iglesias @gabino.bsky.social · 1h

It’s #FridayReads time! Repost this and let us know what to repost for you. I bring you the perfect read for Latine Heritage Month AND spooky season! Monsters from the deep, dark magic, revenge, friendship, a bloodthirsty spirit, and 45% off! Get some.
www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0316...

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Mae Tang 董美妍 @maetang.myatproto.social · 55m

So now I clock the oldest brother as being horribly adaptive in his sadism, and inclined to suit the measure to the target. He doesn't waste extra steps where those won't do extra damage. But where they will, he goes all out.

It's a good thing he's dead and gone now, isn't it?

... Or is he? 👀

Mae Tang 董美妍 @maetang.myatproto.social · 55m

But the youngest brother is imaginative. An overthinker, and with deep feelings that can verge on the febrile. So bullying him in more elaborate, creative ways is part of inflicting maximum misery. Because he would dwell on all of it. He would try to anticipate it, and he doesn't fight back as much.

Mae Tang 董美妍 @maetang.myatproto.social · 55m

Then I realised it was about personality. The 2nd brother is straightforward. He fought his way through boarding school after his older brother set him up to be bullied there too. It's not that he doesn't suffer, but he can fight, he's physically brave, & he's more direct in his approach & thinking.

Mae Tang 董美妍 @maetang.myatproto.social · 55m

With the 2nd brother, it was fairly basic, direct attacks: kicking, punching, pushing him down the stairs. With the 3rd brother he got creative - like tearing up his beloved books and shoving the crumpled pages down his throat.

But I was puzzled why the bullying got more elaborate for brother no 3

Mae Tang 董美妍 @maetang.myatproto.social · 55m

Speaking of bad memories, I was coming up with examples - in the course of dialogue & description - of how the deceased older brother bullied his 2 younger half-brothers. I waited to see what they would remember. And then when they did, I realised something: he tailored the bullying to his targets.

Mae Tang 董美妍 @maetang.myatproto.social · 55m

Edited more of Book Two.

Wrote more of the new book to bring it to 22K words, and kicking off a dreadful family dinner scene in which bad memories recur, misunderstandings come to light, and one character will soon flee the room in terror. Ah, the joys of going home to where you grew up! 😂

Mae Tang 董美妍 @maetang.myatproto.social · 7h

I was talking to my partner once about how much I dislike coming up with comps, and he asked me which other 2-3 writers I'm like who also hate comps 😂

Mae Tang 董美妍 @maetang.myatproto.social · 8h

I can come up with books that take characters thru different realities (the dreams.) I can point at books that have immigrant characters or a mental health theme. But IDK what else is actually like what I wrote, because I wasn't thinking about it that way when I wrote it. The result is a weird mutt.

Mae Tang 董美妍 @maetang.myatproto.social · 8h

... mental health stigma, esp in Chinese communities, the history of the city of York...

And it's contemporary fantasy, a bit urban given the modern day setting. But they travel into dreams of the city's past along the way.

So yeah. I struggle with comps. I can come up with books set in York.

Mae Tang 董美妍 @maetang.myatproto.social · 8h

I could talk about influences rather than comps. But it's really not going to distill to 2-3 of those either. And for my 1st book, those would be Rosemary Sutcliffe, Susan Cooper, Terry Pratchett, video games (genres, mechanics & game dev), my experiences with racism & xenophobia as an immigrant,...

Mae Tang 董美妍 @maetang.myatproto.social · 8h

With my 1st book, feedback I got was the story keeps the reader guessing. I thought: "Yeah, it would. I was also guessing when I wrote it." 😂 Because I had a scene (that is 2 books beyond that book, & IDK if I'll ever get to write those!) Then I made characters. Their world. & plot serves character.

Mae Tang 董美妍 @maetang.myatproto.social · 8h

And now somehow I have to make it fit with corgis I have known, & great danes I have known, but it sure isn't either a corgi or a great dane, with its loooooong wedge face and silky fur. & if I say: it will remind you of a corgi crossed with a great dane, that doesn't make sense, esp when you see it

Mae Tang 董美妍 @maetang.myatproto.social · 8h

Trying to come up with comps feels like I found a weird dog in the street and then I tried to figure out what other breeds of dog might be in there, but it's a really weird mutt. 😂 Like a corgi crossed with a borzoi that was crossed with an airdale terrier that was crossed with a great dane.

Mae Tang 董美妍 @maetang.myatproto.social · 8h

Comps are always a belated thing, because I don't start out thinking abt what other books the final book will be like. I start out thinking abt the scene. Then character. Everything serves character. The world serves character. The plot is how the characters get to that scene & others along the way.

Mae Tang 董美妍 @maetang.myatproto.social · 8h

For them I build a fantasy world with magic, religion & empire

Then I have to discover plot. And the whole thing becomes a fantasy gay romance, set in a secondary world with a regency flavour, whose magic draws on folk horror, and the plot tilts towards gothic horror, and also everyone has trauma.

Mae Tang 董美妍 @maetang.myatproto.social · 8h

Eg: a small boy sits on the floor of a wardrobe, looking wide-eyed & pale. A large man is also crammed into the space, sitting side-by-side with him, in the same way I'd sit with an anxious dog during a thunderstorm.

That becomes 5 characters: 2 brothers & their love interests, + 1 little nephew.

Mae Tang 董美妍 @maetang.myatproto.social · 8h

I think I struggle with comps because they are very belated for me, process-wise. I start with a scene that arrives in a flash, then hangs around until I feel compelled to write it. Then I flesh it out with characters. Then I build a world for those characters. Then I write books to get to the scene

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Cindy Creature Feature Phan 💀 @cindyphanauthor.com · 15h

Eva is incredible!! Please boost or donate if you are able 🖤

♿️ Eva V Roslin (They/She) 🟨⬜️🟪⬛️ 🍁 @evavroslin.bsky.social · 1d

Hi everyone! I've been accepted to the once-in-a-lifetime writing workshop Under the Volcano, in January, in Mexico! I'm raising funds to help cover tuition, lodging, and airfare. If you are able to donate or boost the signal, thank you! www.gofundme.com/f/53fw2-help...

Donate to Help Eva get to a life-changing writing workshop!, organized by Eva Roslin

Hey everyone! I'm Eva Roslin (she/they), a queer, disabled horror and da… Eva Roslin needs your support for Help Eva get to a life-changing writing workshop!

www.gofundme.com

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Mae Tang 董美妍 @maetang.myatproto.social · 15h

Congratulations!

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Z.K.A. @pegasusunder.bsky.social · 1d

📚 🧡 MY BIGGEST DREAM COME TRUE 📚 🧡

My debut novel, MY DARLING CLEMENTINE, will be out in 2027!

Publishers Marketplace, Z. K. Abraham's My Darling Clementine, in which a Black queer woman, who, feeling lost in teh depths of an unhappy marriage, leaves it all behind, only to lose herself completely-and beyond human recognition-to a new love, to Makayla Tabron at Amistad, in a good deal, in a pre-empt, for publication in 2027, by Carleen Geisler at P.S. Literary Agency (world English). Translation: Taryn Fagerness Agency

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Lindz McLeod - THE UNLIKELY PURSUIT OF MARY BENNET is out now! @lindzmcleod.bsky.social · 23h

I'm so proud of my sweetheart Z, and the creepy-but-incredible book she wrote! So gross in one part that she made ME say "jesus christ why" (and I once wrote someone masturbating with an unattached thigh bone)

Z.K.A. @pegasusunder.bsky.social · 1d

📚 🧡 MY BIGGEST DREAM COME TRUE 📚 🧡

My debut novel, MY DARLING CLEMENTINE, will be out in 2027!

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Reposted by Mae Tang 董美妍

Lindz McLeod - THE UNLIKELY PURSUIT OF MARY BENNET is out now! @lindzmcleod.bsky.social · 22h

🎉🎉 COVER REVEAL TIME 🎉🎉

I am so, so hyped to bring you THE MISEDUCATION OF CAROLINE BINGLEY 🥳 coming May 2026!

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Mae Tang 董美妍 @maetang.myatproto.social · 22h

Edited more of Book Two. Submitted a story somewhere. Wrote a little more of the new book.