Author Interview: Kelly Quindlen

If you’re not excited about Kelly Quindlen’s next book — an f/f rivals to lovers sports romance — then I can only assume you’ve just not yet heard about it. But no matter! Consider this to be your notice of it. It’s out 20th April, so there’s still plenty of time to preorder.

But to tide you over in the meantime, here’s the interview we did with Kelly a few months back for you to enjoy!

You can, of course, also follow her on twitter.

Thank you again for agreeing to talk with us! It’s super exciting. And I suppose we should start at the beginning. How did you first get into writing?

sure thing! I’ve loved writing since I was a kid. I wrote my first story when I was six years old. I always wanted to be an author.

That’s so cool, that it was your life long dream, and here you are, with published books under your belt.

Yeah! I never knew if it would actually happen, but I got so scared that it wouldn’t happen that I kind of used that anxiety to fuel my process.

Using anxiety for good, that’s a lesson most of us could learn probably. And what are your favourite genres to read and write? Are there any genres or tropes you wouldn’t write?

I love contemporary YA above all else, but I like some fantasy, too. I also enjoy historical fiction. I wouldn’t write historical fiction, though, because I don’t have the patience or passion for research.

That’s valid. I enjoy reading historical fiction as well, but god, the amount of research required to write a truly great one… I have nothing but respect for authors who pull that off.

same! I’m like holy shit, how do you do that?!

How do you get inspiration for your books and what’s your writing process? At what point do you let other people read your drafts and who are they?

Ideas will often show up and I’ll let them marinate for a while – and then if I can’t stop thinking about an idea, I’ll start writing it. My writing process isn’t very structured. I usually feel my way as I go. I have days where I don’t write at all and then days where I go on an absolute writing binge. The important part is sustaining that devotion to the story even through the ups and downs of the writing process. To me, grit and persistence are the most important ingredients for writing a book.

When I start getting excited to show other people my drafts, that’s when i’ll send them out to a few trusted friends. Adrienne Tooley and Jen Cox, who also write queer YA, are my go-to beta readers. We have a very fun, very generous, incredibly symbiotic relationship among the three of us. I trust their artistic instincts implicitly.

Honestly I love the concept of just giving yourself a few days off, when you’re simply not feeling like writing. Not treating the whole thing like some painful ordeal. Sounds ideal, frankly. Just a group of LGBT writers helping each other out to write the best LGBT stories they can. Wow.

I used to treat it like a painful ordeal. now I’ve loosened up. I’ve learned to trust myself and trust that I’ll always get back to the material. yes, it’s a dream come true!

And speaking of other authors: which three would you say influenced your writing the most?

oh man. I mean, I don’t want to say JK Rowling anymore because she has turned out to be such a cruel disappointment. I love Brit Bennett‘s writing. She hasn’t influenced me per se, but she inspires me – she makes me want to be that good. Randi Pink‘s writing also inspires me. When I first read Girls Like Us, I felt like I was reading a young Toni Morrison. Her prose is that good. And I’d have to add Stephen Chbosky as well. The Perks of Being a Wallflower was huge for me. I didn’t read it until I was 23, but that was the first time I read a book and thought, “I could do this.”

Writers accidentally inspiring other people to write too is magical.

Totally.

And for something that is also very important to us & what we put a lot of emphasis on when blogging. What does ownvoices LGBT representation mean to you?

It’s a really big, complex question, but to me it means safety and freedom. Writers have a safe space to explore any aspect of their queerness or potential queerness when telling a story. What I love about our identity as queer people is this notion that “the limit does not exist” (as they say in Mean Girls :)) – we can always unearth more and more ways we are queer. And I like that readers can see the ownvoices tag and it signals to them, “Hey, this writer identifies like me, or they’re exploring how they want to identify,” and I think there’s a freedom and a relief in that.

Oh, I really like the aspect you’re highlighting here. That exploration and freedom, and the overwhelming feeling of not being the only one who identifies in a specific way.

Yeah!

And sometimes books are the only places we can find it.

Exactly.

What’s one piece of advice you would like to give your younger self?

I would say, “Honey…relax.” LOL

Hahaha.

but for real, I would tell my younger self to take a chill pill because there’s no deadline on publishing a book or defining your sexuality

Okay, with that really great advice we got the end of the more serious questions. Now it’s time for some fun! Summarise your most recent book (or the upcoming one?) in up to 5 words and a meme.

alright cool, I’ll summarize the upcoming one, She Drives Me Crazy: cheesy sapphic teen romcom. as for a meme…uhh….idk. can I use a gif?

yes!

If (when!) your books were to be made into movies, who would you like to direct them?

Jenna Laurenzo, Alice Wu, Jenee LaMarque. Mindy Kaling would be great, too, based on her work on the show Never Have I Ever.

If you could have dinner with one member of the LGBT community, dead or alive, who would it be?

oooh that’s a good one. Let me think on that for a second. I would choose my most recent LGBT ancestor. I don’t know who that is, but in my family (on both sides), I am the only queer-identifying person. So I would love to talk to someone I’m related to who was queer.

Which of your characters would you most want to fight a zombie apocalypse with?

Irene, from the upcoming SDMC. She would bring all the badass attitude and skills.

Is there a famous franchise or simply a movie/TV show you’d like to be able to write for?

they’re starting up a TV show based on A League of Their Own and I would totally love to write for that

Do you have any secret non canon ships in your books you wish people would write fics for?

hahaa omg that’s an amazing question. but actually, no, I don’t.

And now finally, rec us some great LGBT books you’ve read recently!

I loved Something to Talk About by Meryl Wilsner. In the Role of Brie Hutchens… was a fantastic middle grade that I loved this summer. I’m getting really into The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott cause the gay part just started happening…

and I’m currently reading Adrienne Tooley’s 2022 release, which is amazing. Her 2021 book, Sweet and Bitter Magic, is gonna have the people VERY excited.

I’m SO jealous about that!

omg you’ll love it. Adrienne is such a precise, exquisite writer

Can’t wait!!

and one of the best books I read this year was Jen’s If Tomorrow Doesn’t Come, which is about a queer girl grappling with depression during the apocalypse. There’s an asteroid coming to hit the earth and she has to fight her way home to see the girl she loves. It’s amazing and it made me cry. She’s going out on submission with it soon

That sounds absolutely incredible oh my god.

It really is. I’m so impatient for the whole world to read it. She was born to write this book. it’s the best mental health rep I’ve ever read and the love story is so sweet and tense and full of yearning

Fingers crossed it’s gonna get published as soon as possible!

from your lips to god’s ears!

Anyway, this was actually all from us! Thank you so, so much for your time! I hope you had fun. :>

It was great fun! Thank you for having me <3

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kelly is the author of YA novels She Drives Me Crazy and Late to the Party. She is also the author of the self-published novel Her Name in the Sky, which has sold over 25,000 copies through word-of-mouth in the queer community.

Kelly graduated from Vanderbilt University with a degree in English Literature and American Studies. She spent two years teaching middle school math with Teach for America in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She currently lives in Atlanta, where she is on the leadership team of a non-profit for Catholic parents with LGBT children.

Follow on Goodreads | Preorder She Drives Me Crazy | Buy Late to the Party | Buy Her Name in the Sky