Bookish Brews Snapshot

Live Demo

Bingsu for Two by Sujin Witherspoon

River's new coworker, Sarang, is determined to make his life hell. But when a video of them unexpectedly goes viral, the cafes newfound success quickly becomes dependent on River and Sarang pretending that the tension between them in the video is actually romantic. And when the success catches the attention of River's ex and his parents cafe, River has to choose between continuing to let people control his life or standing up for the place that's become home.

🍃 Easy Reading ✒️ Debut Author 💗 Heart Warming 💘 Enemies to Lovers

See More

• Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult

Interview with Sujin Witherspoon

Amanda: Hi Sujin! Thank you so much for joining us to talk about marginalized communities reclaiming cliche tropes. Before we start, can you introduce yourself and tell us about your debut? 

Sujin Witherspoon: Thank you for having me! I’m a mixed Korean-American writer based in Seattle, Washington. My debut novel, Bingsu for Two, is a young-adult romcom about two teens who begrudgingly fake a relationship online to save their failing Korean cafe after they accidentally go viral. It’s an indulgent love letter to readers who grew up on fanfiction and multicultural kids. It’ll be out January 14, 2025 from Union Square & Co.

Amanda: I’m so excited for Bingsu for Two! Since we’re talking about tropes today, let’s start easy. What is a literary trope and how are they used in writing? Most importantly, can you tease us with some tropes in your debut? 

Sujin: Book tropes refer to narrative conventions and recurring themes found in genre fiction. Think ‘the third-act breakup’ in a romance novel or ‘the group is split up’ in a horror movie. If tropes are used in a story, it’s usually to fulfill the conventions of the genre and the reader’s expectations of the book they picked up; whether the author is doing this consciously or not.

If the premise of my book hasn’t made it clear, I’m a big fan of tropes. Some that readers can expect to find in Bingsu for Two are fake dating, a slow-burn romance, found family, coffee shop setting/AU, he falls in love first, and enemies to lovers–although it’s more haters to lovers to be honest.

Amanda: I hear a lot of people talk about how tropes make stories repetitive or cliche. Some people even go so far as to say that tropes take creativity out of storytelling. Do you think this is true? Can you speak on these thoughts? 

Sujin: I’ve heard that rhetoric a lot too. I think it’s important to first lay down the only objective rule of storytelling: there are no objective rules. Some will find tropes an abomination, others will relish in them (I’m the latter). An argument I do find funny is when people think ‘good’ stories don’t have tropes, or that using them is a crutch. Genres are inherently defined by their conventions, ones that are used time and time again until they can be easily identified as a trope by readers. Just because it’s been done before doesn’t make it boring.

I think some readers find tropes to mean a story is unoriginal, which is just impossible. The same trope written by a thousand different people are all going to be portrayed in different ways, especially BIPOC authors who are only recently getting to use these tropes in mainstream publishing. 

I’d go as far as saying that tropes inspire creativity! Take a look at ArchiveofOurOwn. There has to be a million fanfictions that use the ‘There’s Only One Bed’ trope, but no two utilize it the same way. Speaking from my own experience, I wanted to find a way to use my favorite trope of fake dating, and brainstorming all the ways that characters could find themselves in that situation inspired a whole 80,000-word novel. Where would I or Bingsu for Two be if it weren’t for the foundational work of beloved tropes?

Amanda: What makes a trope cliche? Is there a difference between a trope and a cliche? Are all tropes cliche? And of course, are cliches bad?

Sujin: I don’t like calling tropes cliche because there’s such a negative connotation around cliches in writing. Definitionally, tropes are devices or themes that are repeated, and cliches are ideas that are overused, or lack originality. Tropes inspire writers to flex their creative thinking. How do I get these characters that hate each other to fall in love? What needs to happen to fix the tension after the third-act breakup? While a trope may be common and expected, how we as storytellers utilize them is original every time. This is especially true for authors of color, who bring unique voices that haven’t historically been heard before.

My first instinct is never to label a story or piece of art as good or bad. The more important question to me is, did I enjoy this? Does it make me feel something? I’ve definitely enjoyed cliches!

Amanda: I feel like I may be able to guess your answer based on what you’ve said so far, but what got you into reading and writing? When did this love to write start?

Sujin: I have my parents to thank for that! They both instilled a love for reading in me from a very young age. I still have memories of my mom reading stories in silly voices to me as a kid. Even though English isn’t her native tongue, she read with me for hours making sure I never had to struggle with the language.

It was a natural progression from reading to writing. I loved stories so much I wanted to start making my own. 

Amanda: We talked about this before the interview, but sometimes I feel like calling tropes and retellings cliche or unoriginal harms global majority writers & other systematically marginalized writers the most. Why do you think that is and how does that manifest?

Sujin: It absolutely harms marginalized writers. Global majority authors and their stories have long been suppressed in mainstream publishing. Even now, as BIPOC writers still struggle to get their voices heard and their books acquired, their novels are more heavily scrutinized for having “cliche” tropes compared to white counterparts with similar themes. But how can our stories be “overdone” and “unoriginal” when we’ve just begun telling them?

Amanda: Can you talk about reclaiming tropes and stories through retellings that people may call cliche? How are we doing it and why is it important? 

Sujin: I love seeing BIPOC authors do retellings. From Chloe Gong to Kalynn Bayron, I’m noticing more and more global majority writers take these old fairy tales and stories and tell them through their lived experiences and perspectives; putting a unique spin on these narratives that have never been accomplished by white voices before.

There are so many reasons why retellings are important. First and foremost, because BIPOC stories deserve to be heard as they’re told. Simple. Another major reason is to rewrite the often racist, harmful, and exclusive narratives.

Take for example my favorite novella, The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle. It’s a reimagining of “The Horror at Red Hook” by H.P. Lovecraft, except told from the viewpoint of a black man. Lovecraft was notoriously a racist, xenophobic, and overall terrible person, and it showed in his work. LaVelle and other BIPOC authors writing retellings are responding to harmful ideas in literature and rewriting the narrative by including global majority voices in these conversations for the first time. 

Amanda: In what ways can we continue to push for more of this reclaiming of tropes and stories through retellings?

Sujin: By reading and buying books by BIPOC authors! It can be hard for readers and writers to push the needle of a white-dominated industry like traditional publishing, but we get to decolonize our bookshelves and let publishing know through our voices and buying habits that we will support these voices and their stories.

Some global majority books I love, from debuts to classic pieces of literature, are Better Catch Up, Krishna Kumar by Anahita Karthik; On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong; Jazz by Toni Morrison; and my current read, Something More by Jackie Khalilieh. 

Amanda: Thank you so much for joining us today, Sujin! Is there any last thing you’d like to share with us?

Sujin: Thank you for having me! BIPOC authors reclaiming tropes is one of my most favorite topics to talk about. Read diversely, enjoy stepping out of your comfort zone, and listen to global majority voices and stories.