Ask the Author with Liv Frazer
TT: How long have you been writing? What interested you about it?
LF: I started writing very young. I used to craft these intricate Degrassi-esque plot lines for my Barbie dolls that involved bastard children, teenage pregnancy, and the like. There was this innate interest in me from a young age to tell stories. I was, and still am, utterly fascinated by them. At a certain point, I just began to write them down.
TT: What inspired you to write this piece(s)?
LF: As a lesbian, I find myself constantly looking back on obvious Sapphic writers that are denied that label in the academic sphere. There is so much hesitation to use the word “lesbian” as it has such a great deal of negative connotation and essentially decentralizes the male gaze. I wanted to write a work that spoke to bridging the gap between the likes of Emily Dickinson or Virginia Woolf and the young queer women that found aspects of themselves in their works. If you’ve never read the love letters between Woolf and Vita Sackville West–you’re truly missing out. I would like to see an academic space in which the sexualities of writers, specifically women, are not purposefully erased for digestibility sake.
TT: Is this similar or different to other things you’ve written? How so?
LF: I think every piece that I’ve written differs in some way or else I wouldn’t have written it in the first place! I’d say the first draft of this story was after a really integral sexual awakening, so it was almost a full body immersion into all those repressed feelings. Writing it was a release. This is not the most personal piece I’ve ever written, but it is definitely quite timely–at least for right now.
TT: Who is your favorite author or writer? What do you like about their work?
LF: I don’t think I can answer this question! There’s simply too many to choose and I’m constantly finding new writers to admire. I’ll say at the moment, Shirley Jackson has been a huge inspiration to me. There is just something about her prose. She has such a distinctive voice that informs all of her work. One can tell it’s Jackson from the very first line.
TT: How long have you been writing? What interested you about it?
LF: I started writing very young. I used to craft these intricate Degrassi-esque plot lines for my Barbie dolls that involved bastard children, teenage pregnancy, and the like. There was this innate interest in me from a young age to tell stories. I was, and still am, utterly fascinated by them. At a certain point, I just began to write them down.
TT: What inspired you to write this piece(s)?
LF: As a lesbian, I find myself constantly looking back on obvious Sapphic writers that are denied that label in the academic sphere. There is so much hesitation to use the word “lesbian” as it has such a great deal of negative connotation and essentially decentralizes the male gaze. I wanted to write a work that spoke to bridging the gap between the likes of Emily Dickinson or Virginia Woolf and the young queer women that found aspects of themselves in their works. If you’ve never read the love letters between Woolf and Vita Sackville West–you’re truly missing out. I would like to see an academic space in which the sexualities of writers, specifically women, are not purposefully erased for digestibility sake.
TT: Is this similar or different to other things you’ve written? How so?
LF: I think every piece that I’ve written differs in some way or else I wouldn’t have written it in the first place! I’d say the first draft of this story was after a really integral sexual awakening, so it was almost a full body immersion into all those repressed feelings. Writing it was a release. This is not the most personal piece I’ve ever written, but it is definitely quite timely–at least for right now.
TT: Who is your favorite author or writer? What do you like about their work?
LF: I don’t think I can answer this question! There’s simply too many to choose and I’m constantly finding new writers to admire. I’ll say at the moment, Shirley Jackson has been a huge inspiration to me. There is just something about her prose. She has such a distinctive voice that informs all of her work. One can tell it’s Jackson from the very first line.