I’ve been preparing to bring my newest story, We Fit, into the world (November 1 will be here too soon!)
Trying to distill this story into ad-copy friendly short blurbs, or explain my own drive to write it, and explain where I am in my writing journey (in preparation for reviewer/interview questions) got me writing a statement about who I am, what I write, and why I write it.
A Sunday morning when almost everyone else is still asleep feels like a good time to try.
Who I am, What I write, and Why I write it
At the end of the last century (shh!), I started writing the stories I saw playing out in my head. Now I write the stories I can’t quite find anywhere else. I read a lot, most of it with sapphic (women-loving women) characters. But I am bisexual and the experience of being solely attracted to women is not mine. I also came to realize my identity later in life.
Stories I write now reflect this. Most (arguably all) of the characters who lead my stories have some romantic history with men. It is sometimes good and sometimes bad (and a character gets to “tell” me which it is), but they won’t deny they once had male partners whom they did love at least as much as they understood that emotion at the time.
These characters who make a later life “shift”–at least as viewed by the outside world–are interesting to me: the fantasy or historical war widow, the more contemporary divorced single mom. The woman who doesn’t even realize she’s wearing a mask and is living an expected life only pseudo-happy until someone upends it. I write stories about them falling deeply for a new person in their life who sees them, accepts their history, even maybe does something that honors it.
The experience of strict monogamy, possessing a lover or partner, dominating their life or attention, is also not mine. I understand devotion, love languages, communication (and miscommunication). I’m no longer new to life or love and am not interested in many characters who are just “starting out.” Starting again? That’s a different story, and one I’ll read–and write.
In a sentence or less…
There’s a line Raffi Musiker (Star Trek: Picard) says to Seven of Nine (STP and Star Trek: Voyager) in the audio drama “No Man’s Land” that sums up my perfect love interest character:
“I don’t need to be the first; I just want to be the last.”
(Seven is a very lucky person, IMHO)
PS – What’s your author statement? Who are you, what do you write and why do you write it? Share here
Lara Zielinsky 