Changing my memoir's story (and testing different book covers to help with inspiration)

Here’s why I've decided to change it. Also, I dabbled in some online digital art and used AI to help me come up with some book cover ideas. Some are totally bizarre.

Photo by Veroniki Thetis Chelioti on Unsplash

The other day I was talking to my sister about the guilt we both faced as kids of immigrant parents. This guilt is something that haunted both of us well into our adulthood. It all started when we were expected to help my parents at the businesses they owned while we were growing up—a market and a bakery.

As soon as I had a license to drive, I went to the bakery after school, on weekends, and throughout college. I also worked at the market on Sundays so my dad could play golf.

My guilt started from not wanting to work.

On the one hand, I wanted to help my folks because I saw how hard they worked. On the other, I was just a teenager who wanted to do fun shit with my friends, like go to the mall and have bonfires at the beach. It wasn’t that I never got to do those things, I had plenty of fun in my youth. But I definitely felt different—like I didn’t have the same freedom as my friends and I hated it.

If I wasn’t working at the store or bakery, I was watching my younger brother. I was always feeling guilty for not wanting to be a babysitter and for not wanting to help my parents.

This struggle would put me into this spiral of shame. Letting go of this family guilt took years of reflection and processing. I worked out my feelings through journaling, writing, and some therapy in my 30s. I also talked to my mom about it, letting her know how it felt to have such responsibility at that age. Hearing her side of it and just talking through it has also been incredibly healing.

Why these stories?

Whenever I talk about working for my parents in my youth, people seem fascinated. They always say stuff like, “Wow that’s so interesting.” Or they’ll ask, “Was your dad’s store like that TV show, ‘Kim’s Convenience?” They go on to tell me they love that show.

Their eyes widen when I tell them that my dad’s store was nothing like “Kim’s Convenience.” If “Kim’s Convenience” had a darker, less funny version, set against an apocalyptic-looking ghetto neighborhood, it might be.

In my mind, I never thought this time in my life was one bit interesting. I was just helping my parents like an obedient daughter. I had plenty of other Korean-American friends who also worked occasionally at their parent’s dry cleaners, liquor store, or swap meet clothing store. But unlike me, they did it because they wanted to. 

Changing my memoir

Meanwhile, my memoir's first vomit draft was sort of done. I had written more than 150,000 words and was in the process of cutting and editing and rewriting. But I kept wondering:

• Am I being too whiny and complaining too much? 

• What’s the point of each scene?  

• Would I want to read this book? 

That last question really stuck with me. Would I want to buy my own book? At first, I was like, hmmm… probably not?

Then I was like, okay fine, I wouldn’t buy it. Admitting that was tough. But I know what a good story is and although mine definitely had engaging parts, overall, it felt lackluster. 

Because I’ve read so many memoirs, I know a good story doesn’t have to be filled with drama and fights and chaos to be a page-turner, but it has to connect and engage the reader.  

But I didn’t feel like the first draft was a waste of time because it helped the actual story to finally shine. From my writing groups and classes and podcasts, I hear this is quite normal. Sometimes, you don’t see what the true story is until several iterations later. 

The most important thing is that I’m enjoying the process, and that counts too, right?

So after letting these thoughts marinate for the last month, I decided to pivot the story to be about this guilt that I faced as a child of immigrant parents.

Brainstorming inspiration: Crafting future book covers

Now, I need to reorganize the entire structure of my book. It’ll be a nightmare, but I think my first draft (and Wendy’s class) really helped me understand this better. I expect to get stuck but at least I feel better about my story. 

In thinking through all of the changes I need to make, I could tell I was losing the motivation to write. But in last week’s writing class, my writing teacher said this is totally normal and suggested a few ways to get inspired.

She pulled up a slide during class about “How to brainstorm inspiration.” These stood out to me most: 

• Vision boards (I love doing these in general)

• Creating your book cover 🤔

• Creating rewards

I decided to go with the second bullet because I wanted to see how I’d feel in looking at a pretend cover of my book, especially because I had no clue what the title would be.

I wondered if it would actually help with motivation. Plus, with all the news of AI image generators and ChatGPT in the news lately, I thought it would be a great time to test them out. 

What ChatGPT thinks I should do for my book cover

I asked for advice on my book cover based on this prompt: 

“I need a book cover for a memoir about working for my Korean immigrant parents in America.” Maybe not the best prompt, but this is what it said to do. It even gave me a title.

The book cover features a young Korean American girl or boy standing in front of a background that depicts the United States in some way, such as a cityscape or a landscape. The girl or boy is dressed in modern clothing that reflects their Korean heritage, such as a hanbok or a traditional Korean dress paired with sneakers or jeans.

The title of the book, "In Between Two Worlds," is written in bold letters in the center of the cover, with smaller text below that reads, "Growing Up Korean American." The subtitle could be in smaller font size and can be centered or aligned to the right or left of the title.

Alternatively, the book cover could feature a close-up image of a Korean American child's face, with a background of the American flag or a collage of images representing their cultural duality. The title of the book and the author's name could be displayed in large letters above or below the image.

The cover could use colors that reflect the Korean flag, such as red, blue, and white, or it could feature more neutral colors that represent the American flag, such as red, white, and blue.

I thought it was generic—ick, a Korean flag? I’m rolling my eyes. But then I thought, maybe I need something that appeals to the masses. On to the next… 

Starry.ai

I found this by Googling which image generators are free and good. Starry.ai seemed to be on the “best of” lists.

When I got to Starry.ai, I typed in something like, “Korean-American part-time job in high school,” and this is what it spit out. 

These photos kind of creep me out. The bottom two were from my "working in a bakery" prompts.

Nightcafe

I also tried Nightcafe and typed in “working for my parents in high school Korean-American immigrants” and this is what I got. 

Oddly, these are the same but with a different image option I chose from Nightcafe. One was more "anime" while the other was more "pop art." They look almost identical except for the eyes. Weird.

Canva

Canva is awesome and I’ve used it for years in my career in marketing. I love Canva’s templates. They’re a godsend for anyone who wants to make a digital birthday card or business document like a one-sheet for product pricing. 

I did a quick search for memoir book covers and was impressed with the results. 

I tweaked these two templates with potential titles. I thought of this title in less than a few seconds so it’ll likely change (or maybe it won’t?). But for now, it helps paint a better picture of what the story will be about. 

I took ChatGPT’s advice about the han-bok thing and made this one on Canva.

This brainstorming for book covers was kind of fun and didn’t take up a ton of time, which I liked. Not only do I have a potential title, but I have a better idea of what I want to focus on.

There’s something powerful about simply seeing an image with words on it.

This was the closest template I could find in less than 10 minutes that seemed okay. Seriously, I could scroll in Canva for hours. Maybe if the background image was of a store or bakery it would make more sense.

After this exercise, I was able to power through a new scene list that was nearly a page long. So, I guess it did help with inspiring motivation. 🙂

I’m curious to learn how you brainstorm inspiration. Leave me a comment.