The Writes of Passage

8 Contemporary YA Standalone Novels I Grew Up Reading That Still Bring All the Feels

Contemporary young adult fiction has come a long way since I was a, well, young adult—but these books have stayed with me.

May 8 • 

Joyce Chua

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April 2025

How to Create Characters That Readers Will Love, Root For, and Remember

Crafting characters that will make your readers cry and cheer for them requires you to understand them deeply—inside and out. Here are my tips on…

Apr 26 • 

Joyce Chua

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Children of the Desert Q&A—Part I: Inspiration, Influences, and Inception

Answering your burning questions about my Chinese fantasy trilogy, starting with world-building and initial concepts!

Apr 20 • 

Joyce Chua

Women in Creative Fields—Why We Should Be Both Jo March and Amy March

The two March sisters from Little Women pursued different creative paths and their fates are representative of the dilemma of many women in creative…

Apr 13 • 

Joyce Chua

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Creatives Need to Talk More About Money — We Don’t Need to All Be Starving Artists!

Let's normalise the notion of not struggling financially to make art.

Apr 9 • 

Joyce Chua

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Studio Ghibli is the Latest Victim of the Ever-Encroaching AI Machine

Please stop sharing your cutesy photos with that Studio Ghibli filter all over social media.

Apr 3 • 

Joyce Chua

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March 2025

Meta’s AI Theft Screwed Millions of Authors Over. Where Do We Go From Here?

Maybe it’s time for a technocultural shift.

Mar 27 • 

Joyce Chua

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8 Things I Learned From Being Published Again After 8 Years

It took me 8 years to get another publishing deal, and a lot has changed in that time.

Mar 24 • 

Joyce Chua

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Creative Life Lessons: Do we have hope or do we have expectations?

(Yes, there's a difference.)

Mar 21 • 

Joyce Chua

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January 2025

RedNote is the New Playground for TikTok Refugees, and The Tides Are Changing

I am so invested in this enemies-to-lovers plot twist—the recent mass migration of Americatok to RedNote due to the impending TikTok ban.

Jan 17 • 

Joyce Chua

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December 2024

Building a social media presence as an author

—or how I got over my fear of failing loudly and being seen.

Dec 20, 2024 • 

Joyce Chua

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November 2024

Rest and Reset: Finding Purpose in the In-Between

What I've learned from slow periods and my approach to staying creative, positive, and motivated in career and creative lulls.

Nov 10, 2024 • 

Joyce Chua

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