First proper mentorship session with Lydia today. Two hours dissecting Eastern Empire structure. She challenged every narrative choice, pushed me to articulate why surveillance themes matter for diaspora identity rather than accepting them as given.
Her Between Two Worlds project taught her how archives shape memory. How documentation creates official versions of history that may not match lived experience. She’s applying that lens to my fiction. Asking what my novels archive, whose stories they preserve, what they erase through selection.
We focused on the Beijing chapters. I’ve been writing them from Marina’s perspective, but Lydia questioned whether Western gaze was too dominant. What does Li Jin see that Marina misses? How does power dynamic shift when Chinese character isn’t filtered through Russian protagonist’s understanding?
Hard questions. No easy solutions. But the novel needs this interrogation.
She also noted pattern across my work. Technology as both connection and surveillance. Beauty standards as cultural assimilation. Luxury consumption as identity performance. Unconscious themes I’ve been exploring without naming them explicitly.
We agreed on monthly meetings. She’ll read manuscripts in progress, I’ll share research materials, we’ll discuss craft and content together. Formal mentorship structure instead of occasional coffee conversations.
Finally found someone who doesn’t just praise the work but helps make it better. Rare to encounter reader who understands both Eastern European cultural context and literary craft at this level.
Already have notes for Eastern Empire revisions. The surveillance subplot needs deeper integration with identity themes. Can’t be separate plot thread.
— Writer Julia Zolotova
