Triple A Interviews

Meet Birthe

1. You've been writing on Wattpad for almost 8 years. How has your writing changed in that time? What aspects of it have stayed the same?

My first writings on Wattpad were in Dutch and mostly short stories and poems. I only started writing in English in 2019 because my English had improved enough that I had the skill (I'm Belgian), and I had started reading in English on Wattpad and noticed there was more of an audience for queer stories than in Dutch. At first, I kept to my familiar terrain of short stories, but the 2020 Open Novella Contest prompted me to write something longer, which became Prometheus. I think that's the biggest change in my writing, that I write longer stories now, so I have to think differently about lots of aspects of stories. But my stories are still in essence about exploring the emotions of characters, and I still like to write prose that's sometimes a little on the purple side. Prometheus is a prime example of my love for metaphors and layers of meaning and pretty language, but you can already see that in (Dutch) stories I wrote in 2016.

2. What is your favorite part of Prometheus?

It's hard to pick anything. I have plans to rewrite it as a novel in the future, so I've been very focused on its flaws, but I'm proud of how I've managed to capture my main character's loneliness, how I've incorporated the symbolism and references to literature and history (I have a degree in Ancient Greek and Latin, so I was very self-indulgent), and how unplanned metaphors fit together. Especially the Prometheus metaphor that gave the novella its title turned out better than I could have expected.

3. Prometheus grounds its portrayal of its vampire main character in science from the real world. Which aspect of Dante's life as a vampire was the biggest challenge for you to create a realistic explanation for?

There's one aspect of vampirism that I never managed to find a truly plausible explanation for, and that is the act of drinking blood. A lot of my world-building is meant to keep Dante as close to human as possible, with vampirism as a sort of cancer that affects his aging and his blood cells. That'd imply Dante has normal human teeth, but human teeth can't draw blood so easily, and certainly not without mauling someone. So everything around how he can drink the blood of his victims is more far-fetched: how easily his victims trust him ("pheromones"), that he can bite them without his victims feeling any pain, that he can drink a substantial amount of blood in a short timespan but not so much they're truly hurt or wounded, the fact there's no traces left after drinking (saliva does have healing properties, but of course not that much), the fact his victims forget what he's done. If he actually killed his victims or seriously hurt them, Dante likely wouldn't be able to live with himself and his existence wouldn't stay secret for long, and I couldn't find another way to achieve that. It's something I hope to improve in the novel rewrite.

4. If you had to pick another fantasy creature to blend with real science, which one would you choose?

In general, I like "plausible", pseudo-scientific takes on fantasy and science-fiction. I've always liked dragons (I'm pretty sure there's a stereotype about ace people loving dragons), and I have this vague desire to write a story in a prehistoric setting one day, with megafauna and supercontinents. Which is the closest we ever were to dragons actually existing because you have such huge reptiles then. The slightly more mythical option would be werewolves. I've already written two romance short stories with a different, pseudo-scientific approach to the soulmate trope (emphasis on pseudo), but I've read a Tumblr post that the concept of werewolves is about shame and anger and trauma and not belonging, and I find that a fascinating idea to explore. If I ever wrote that, I would probably take a very similar approach as I did with Prometheus and write a character that's closer to human than a fantasy creature, with a lot of symbolism.

5. Tell us about the story you're working on right now. What has you especially excited to write it?

I'm currently writing a novel called Swift as a Coursing River, which I started for the Open Novella Contest, like Prometheus, but it ... grew. It's the story of a man in his 50s who comes out as gay to his wife and daughters and it starts an exploration of identity and community. There's a romance plot, and I'm very excited about all the ways to make my MC panic, which is very easy because the love interest is a flamboyant and flirty trans man who challenges him to try things outside his comfort zone and to learn more about queer history. I also look forward to seeing him more confident in his identity, expression, and community because that's really what this story is about. I want to see him celebrate who he is and stand up for himself unapologetically.

Huge thanks to BirtheV for the amazingly insightful interview. It was wonderful to learn more about Prometheus and the novella's creative, thought-provoking take on vampires. We hope more readers will sink their teeth into this awesome story!