Congratulations on winning the Summer Fest Writing Contest - Short Story!
About the Author
Q: What would you say is your favorite genre or style to write?
I like to consider my favorite genre to write fiction with a twist of the unusual. I love stories that take everyday life or historical topics and explore what it would be like if the rules were bent just a bit differently than the norm. Nonfiction history has also always been one of my favorite topics to write about. The stories are already there and I find it fun to discover their nuances and patterns. If you think history is boring because it's just about facts and dates, you've been reading the wrong history books! History is about storytelling. After all, stories wouldn't exist if writers weren't inspired by real events. In thousands of years of human history, there's plenty to be inspired by!
Q: What is your biggest inspiration?
That's a tough question because so many parts of my life have inspired me to write. However, recently the book that inspired me to keep writing was Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo. Another book by Lo, Ash–a wlw retelling of Cinderella–was my favorite book for years before I read her most recent release. Last Night at the Telegraph Club tells the story of a teenage girl living in Chinatown, San Fransisco in the 1950s who is discovering her sexuality and her place in the world as the daughter of Chinese immigrants. Malinda Lo's style is beautiful and wonderfully detailed and I knew by the end of the first chapter that it would be my new favorite book. When I read it, it inspired me so much that I knew I could never let myself become too busy with life and forget to write. I don't know if I will ever be able to write anything as beautiful as Malinda Lo has, but I do know I will spend my whole life trying.
Q: Do you have plans for more stories or longer stories?
Oh, way, way too many plans. As of right now, I am focusing on shorter stories because I need to work on finishing my projects. I don't feel ready to dive into anything bigger right now; I know those projects would go unfinished and I would have no work to put out into the world. I have many ideas for novels, but I'm sticking with stories of less than 20,000 words at the moment to teach myself how to write effective story arcs and plots. Already writing for short story contests has helped me a lot.
As for my next story plan, I'm currently working on a short mystery. I decided I write too many stories that center around romance and would like to challenge myself to write something else. The main character of the story can read people's thoughts and uses her ability to get ahead in the world. When her boss is murdered, she seeks to solve the case for her own gain. She's somewhat of an anti-hero!
Message From the Author
First of all, thanks so much for the opportunity! It's great to have my work featured like this. I don't have any new stories out since Escaping Zeus but anyone is welcome to take a look at the other work I have on my profile and give me a follow! I also just started writing for my school's chapter of Her Campus, Her Campus at UMKC, so feel free to go check out my work on that website as well! Another fun fact about me is that I am currently applying for grants to do undergraduate research next summer on the ancient Greek poet Sappho's affect on lesbian literature in the 1950s and 60s! I am very excited to start that project.
About the Story
Q: What inspired you to write a story about Zeus?
I'm a big fan of Greek mythology and when I choose the prompt, "One summer night, someone knocks on your door and it's one of the most talked about gods," I immediately thought of how toxic and creepy most of the male gods were in Greek mythology. Zeus was especially bad, most of his stories involve him abducting women (and sometimes even men) and getting away with it because he was "King of the Gods". I think it's important to represent Zeus as he really was in mythology, which is why I made him the antagonist of the story. Women's perspectives in the myths, other than the major goddess', were almost always overlooked and their stories went untold. I wanted to explore how a woman being targeted by Zeus would feel and react.
Q: How did you come up with the plot?
One of the most notable stories about Zeus abducting a woman is Europa's story. Instead of rewriting her story, I decided it would be more effective to come up with my own in order to show how Zeus kidnapped and violated many more women than Europa. I also love to learn about the life of Sappho of Lesbos and her poetry, so I have learned a lot about what life was like for women during this time. Sappho is known to have written songs about her love for women and it is likely that she was able to have relationships with women because men and women were fairly segregated in Ancient Greece before they were married. With it being common for groups of women to spend a lot of time together, it's likely there was room for romantic relationships between women to take place. I decided to acknowledge this with Eirene's relationship with Ianiera.
Q: If you turned this into a full-length story, what would be Eirene's next move?
Since I focused on the mythology of Zeus in my short story, I would love to engage more with Artemis's mythology if I were to turn it into a novel. It would be interesting to explore Eirene and Ianeira's adventures in her hunt. Also, I doubt Zeus would have given up trying to abduct Eirene, so there is more story to be told there as well.
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