The Minimalist

CHANG'S NEW AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOVEL FOCUSES ON HIS fractured family and his boyhood realization that his life is changing. While 11-year-old Chang retreats from the turmoil at home into martial arts, the library and a friendship with Sal, a local marijuana grower, he discovers a world beyond his own. The title comes from the wires Chang strung around Sal's marijuana crops as a kid. "Triplines as a form of protection but also as traps and obstacles I felt like I needed to be wary of," he explains.

The author says it wasn't difficult to reveal himself. "I think that's what writers should do: explore the self honestly and rigorously—what was difficult was exposing my family," he says. "Even though this is a novel, it's one rooted in a lot of truth, and I needed to be sure I wasn't revealing what they didn't want revealed. Thankfully, they trusted me to do the best I could." Chang's minimalist, unflinching style—he cites classic modernists Hemingway, Faulkner and Fitzgerald as inspi- ration—and his focus on relationships was honed in his three previous literary novels and a crime noir trilogy about Korean-American private eye Allen Choice. "I love crime fiction because I was always interested in the notions of transgression, what the norms are and why people often move very quickly and naturally into violating those norms," says Chang, a philosophy major at Dartmouth. "One half of my lineage—on my father's side—are criminals of various types. But I also am really intrigued and devoted to understanding the intricacies of how people interact."

The L.A.-based author also writes for the TV crime drama, Justified, a series that explores the blurred lines between the law and lawbreakers. "We all use our own experiences, and some research, to help inform the characters and stories of the show," he says. "When we write our scripts we can't help but to bring ourselves to the page. So, for example, Raylan's relationship to his father, Arlo, was something I felt I understood on many levels, and often I'd chime in on this very complicated dynamic."

Chang is now working on the final season of Justified. He then hopes to create his own show, perhaps even developing the first of his crime novels for television. "The possibilities of long-form, serialized TV shows are incredible right now," he says. "I'll always be writing, and I'm not entirely sure what will land."

Triplines BLACK HERON PRESS 260 PP. $l2