I hope this Monday is treating you well (or if it’s not, I hope it improves soon). Today’s post is an interview with Adan Jerreat-Poole, a YA fantasy author, who spoke to us about… well, I won’t spoil it! You’ll have to read to find out.
And, don’t forget, you can follow them on twitter.
Let’s start at the beginning. How did you first get into writing?
I can’t remember a time I wasn’t writing. As a kid, my best friend and I planned a series of fantasy books about badass fairy warrior princesses. When she moved away after grade 4, I continued to write stories on my own, mapping out royal genealogies, naming noble steeds and catwing familiars, and fantasizing about love interests that looked like Antonio Banderos or Lucy Liu (my first celebrity crushes). In high school I kept writing, but the characters became based on my friends and had X-Men style supernatural gifts. In university I turned more fully towards poetry and short fiction (which I’d also always been writing—I wrote my first poem about the 1998 ice storm). Then, a few years ago, I rediscovered fantasy and fell in love with the genre all over again. As a 30-year-old, I had tools I didn’t have as an 8-year-old (like a bigger vocabulary and a laptop), so I was finally able to finish my first fantasy novel.
What are your favourite genres to read and write, and are there any genres or tropes you wouldn’t write?
Fantasy, especially young adult fantasy, continues to be my favourite genre. I love the world-building and wonder of magic, and contemporary YA (post-dystopian boom of The Hunger Games) tends towards optimism and happy endings, which I will never apologize for wanting and sometimes needing. I also love to read and write science fiction and speculative fiction more broadly, and I enjoy romance, literary fiction, and poetry. I definitely have a soft spot for gothic lit and vampires, but I don’t read pure horror—to be honest, I still get nightmares when I read or watch anything scary. Having gone through my Sylvia Plath/Virginia Woolf phase already, I don’t think I will ever write real-life/literary fiction novels.
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?
Inspiration comes from so many places—the book I’m reading that makes me feel alive, the hand drawn art of a Miyuzaki film, the window display of a hipster craft store, the video game I’m obsessed with. Stories are also born from feelings—anger, hurt, desire, loneliness. Emotions are what breathes life into a story, what motivates a character, and what connects writers and books to readers. For me, creating a fantasy world means collecting bits and pieces of a thousand other worlds, searching through hundreds of thrift shops and newspaper horoscopes and throwing everything together into a strange collage.
My Mom has always been the person I share my writing with first—she’s also a writer, and we’ve been having parent-kid writing dates since I was little. She’s always been incredibly supportive of my work. Lately, I’ve also started letting my forever-partner read early drafts. Some of my exes weren’t interested in my writing at all, so I was nervous and tense when I first showed Rida one of my scenes—but he loved it. Being able to discuss a character or setting with him has made writing (especially during the pandemic) so much more wonderful.
Which three authors would you say influenced your writing the most?
Kameron Hurley, Anna-Marie McLemore, and Tamora Pierce.
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?
I’m so happy that #OwnVoices was created to amplify the voices of marginalized writers, especially since the publishing industry has overwhelming overrepresented the voices of those in power (i.e white cis men). I also know how important thoughtful and meaningful representation is. Representation in books can be affirming and even life-changing for readers (or, when done badly and in bad faith, incredibly violent and harmful). The quality of representation matters, and those of us with personal experience have so much valuable knowledge to bring to the table when we craft our characters.
That said, I’m sometimes uncomfortable using the #OwnVoices label for my own writing. On the one hand, I’m a queer and trans author writing queer and trans characters. But on the other hand, some of the characters I’ve written—like Cam, a gay Vietnamese-Canadian man, or Tav, a Black nonbinary character–obviously aren’t coming from my personal experiences as a white nonbinary person. Sometimes I want a #ReadTrans label instead!
What’s one piece of advice you would like to give your younger self?
You look amazing in that dapper cranberry vest. Don’t ever stop wearing it because you feel pressured to look more ‘feminine.’
Summarise your most recent/next book in up to 5 words and a meme.
The Boi of Feather and Steel: masquerades, machines, romance, sacrifice, and succulents.
If (when!) your books were to be made into movies, who would you like to direct them?
The Wachowski sisters.
If you could have dinner with one member of the LGBT community, dead or alive, who would it be?
There are so many LGBT2SQIA+ activists and writers that I admire and would fan over wildly if I got to meet in person. I’m also not above wanting to meet celebs like Demi Lovato, Samira Wiley, or Elliot Page. But I’m also an introvert with anxiety and I’m mostly okay with appreciating from afar. One of my best friends—who’s queer, and really helped me come out as bi/pan— lives in Winnipeg and I haven’t seen her IRL in years (we Skype). So that’s who I’d pick.
Which of your characters would you most want to fight a zombie apocalypse with?
Cam. He’d already have a themed playlist ready to go and he’d get us an escape vehicle no problem. Plus, he wouldn’t let me lose my sense of morality and become a character on The Walking Dead. He’s a sweetheart.
Is there a famous franchise or simply a movie/TV show you’d like to be able to write for?
I’d go back in time and write for Star Trek: The Next Generation. Deanna Troi is obviously pansexual, and there needs to be a story arc where Jean Luc comes out as being on the ace spectrum. (Confession time: I have written Captain Picard/Data fan fic. Not sorry).
Do you have any secret non canon ships in your books you wish people would write fics for?
Cam and Kite. I think they’d be weird and adorable together.
Rec us some great LGBT books you’ve read recently!
Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas. Late to the Party by Kelly Quindlen. Bruised by Tanya Boteju.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Adan Jerreat-Poole is a reader and writer who loves all things fantasy and feminist. They study disability and queerness in popular culture. Adan lives in Kingston, Ontario.
Follow on Goodreads | Buy The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass | Buy The Boi of Feather and Steel
