Robinne Lee - Author of "Crash Into Me" Live at Warwicks Books
The Art of Writing Crash Into Me
In this episode, we sit down with the author of Crash Into Me for an intimate conversation about writing, beauty, identity, aging, relationships, and the creative life.
Crash Into Me follows Cecilia Chen, a Jamaican Chinese photographer who has spent 20 years living in Paris before moving with her French filmmaker husband and their children to Los Angeles. Her new life is upended when a car accident brings her face-to-face with a woman from her past—and forces old memories and unresolved feelings back into the present.
The conversation begins with a reading from the novel and then explores the inspiration behind the story, including the author's own experience in a frightening car accident that ultimately became the foundation for the book's opening.
In This Episode
The real-life accident that inspired the novel
The author explains how a 2016 car accident became the seed for Crash Into Me. She was struck by another driver, her car collided with another vehicle, and three strangers ended up comforting one another after the accident. She later realized the incident was an ideal metaphor for the unexpected intersections between people's lives.
Beauty as a commodity
At the center of Cecilia's artistic work is an installation exploring women's ideas about beauty, aging, and the ways society consumes and evaluates women's bodies. The conversation examines what happens when someone who has been valued for her beauty begins to experience the world responding to her differently.
Aging in the public eye
The discussion takes a particularly personal turn as the author talks about aging as an actor and the strange experience of having strangers feel entitled to comment on a public figure's appearance. The conversation considers the difference between simply growing older and growing older while being watched.
Representation matters
Cecilia's Jamaican Chinese identity was an intentional choice. The author talks about growing up without seeing characters who reflected that specific cultural background in the books she read and wanting to create that representation for other readers.
Paris vs. Los Angeles
The novel's reverse culture shock reflects the author's own experiences moving between cultures. The conversation explores Paris, Los Angeles, diversity, public transportation, isolation, aesthetics, and the different ways cultures approach beauty and presentation.
Creating Anouk
The author discusses Anouk, the mysterious and self-possessed woman at the center of Cecilia's past. Her character was influenced in part by the author's experiences with the modeling world and an early-1990s video of Kate Moss that captured a particular combination of confidence, sensuality, youth, and unpredictability.
Writing across two timelines
The novel moves between 1996 and 2015–2017. The author explains why the present-day narrative is written in first person while the historical sections use third person, creating both separation for the reader and a distinction between Cecilia's potentially unreliable memories and what actually happened.
The writing process
Writing Crash Into Me took approximately five years, followed by about a year and a half of editing. The author describes working in Microsoft Word, writing in cafés, setting deadlines, and deliberately creating an environment where she can focus without the distractions of social media.
Advice for writers
For aspiring writers, the advice is straightforward: keep writing, write about what you love, and don't try to create and judge your work at the same time. Draft first; edit later. She also emphasizes the importance of taking the blank page seriously and raising the stakes of a story so that readers will remember it long after they finish.
Key TakeawaysGreat stories can emerge from unexpected moments in real life.Beauty can be both a source of power and a form of social currency.Aging becomes particularly complicated when your appearance is part of your public identity.Representation can begin with simply creating the character you wish you had seen growing up.A change in setting can fundamentally change how a character understands herself.Multiple timelines can reveal different versions of the truth.Writers need space to create before they begin judging what they've created.The first book an author publishes is rarely the first book they've written.Passion for a subject can make the long process of writing and rewriting sustainable.A memorable novel should give readers reasons to return to it and discover something new.
For Writers
One of the most useful lessons from the conversation is the reminder that you cannot create and judge in the same moment. The author describes how writer's block became worse when she began criticizing every sentence as she wrote it. Her solution was to get the material onto the page first and save the judgment for the editing process.
The larger message is simple: keep writing, write what you care about, and give yourself permission to create before you start editing.
Topics Covered
Crash Into Me · The Idea of You · Fiction writing · Writing process · Writer's block · Character development · Beauty and aging · Representation · Race and identity · Photography · Modeling · Paris · Los Angeles · Culture shock · Writing across timelines · Book adaptations · Writing advice · Creative careers
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