I am so excited to welcome one of my favorite authors to the blog for the first day of A-spec April! I discovered Katherine Locke's latest book, The Spy with the Red Balloon, last year and fell immediately in love with the characters, relationships, and heart of the story. I was so happy when this book was voted as our first group book for the readathon and I can't wait to hear what everyone thinks!
You can read more about The Spy with the Red Balloon on Goodreads
You can read more about The Spy with the Red Balloon on Goodreads
Katherine Locke lives and writes in Philadelphia, where she’s ruled by her feline overlords and her addiction to chai lattes. She writes about that which she cannot do: ballet, time travel, and magic. When she’s not writing, she’s probably tweeting. She not-so-secretly believes most stories are fairy tales in disguise. Her Young Adult debut, THE GIRL WITH THE RED BALLOON, won a 2018 Sydney Taylor Honor Award from the Association of Jewish Libraries and a 2018 Carolyn W. Field Honor Award from the Pennsylvania Library Association. You can find her online @bibliogato on Twitter and Instagram.
1. Thank you so much for joining me for A-spec April! Can you tell us a little bit about the demisexual representation in your book, The Spy with the Red Balloon?
Sure! SPY is set during WWII and is narrated by a sister, Ilse, and a brother, Wolf. Wolf is demisexual--he generally doesn't experience sexual attraction though he definitely experiences romantic attraction.
2. At what point in the planning and writing of Spy did you realize you were going to write a demisexual character? What influenced this decision?
Not from the conception of the idea--originally the book was solely told from Ilse's point of view--but as soon as I added Wolf's point of view and went diving into his character, I knew he was demisexual. I think that was influenced mostly from me being demisexual and not seeing a ton of demisexual characters on the page in YA (there are some though, and some in romance too! Check the demisexual tag on LGBTQ Reads). Additionally, I wanted that character to share at least one more identity with me. In this case: Wolf is Jewish. He's cis, I'm not, and so our experiences diverge there, but I felt strongly about writing him as demisexual. (Similarly: his sister, Ilse, was bisexual from the very beginning of the idea.)
Sure! SPY is set during WWII and is narrated by a sister, Ilse, and a brother, Wolf. Wolf is demisexual--he generally doesn't experience sexual attraction though he definitely experiences romantic attraction.
2. At what point in the planning and writing of Spy did you realize you were going to write a demisexual character? What influenced this decision?
Not from the conception of the idea--originally the book was solely told from Ilse's point of view--but as soon as I added Wolf's point of view and went diving into his character, I knew he was demisexual. I think that was influenced mostly from me being demisexual and not seeing a ton of demisexual characters on the page in YA (there are some though, and some in romance too! Check the demisexual tag on LGBTQ Reads). Additionally, I wanted that character to share at least one more identity with me. In this case: Wolf is Jewish. He's cis, I'm not, and so our experiences diverge there, but I felt strongly about writing him as demisexual. (Similarly: his sister, Ilse, was bisexual from the very beginning of the idea.)
3. The relationship in your new adult series, District Ballet Company, also reads as demisexual. How did the experience of writing these different demisexual characters and relationships differ?
I wrote both based on my own experiences and feelings, but when I was writing the DBC books, I didn't KNOW what demisexual was, or that I was demisexual. So it's an authentic experience, but not deliberately so, and there are things I'd change now if I could to be more deliberate (for instance: it's a contemporary series and I would give them the language. I believe that Zed would have found it, if only because I'm sure his students know the term.) With SPY, I knew how I labeled myself and what it meant, and so there's a moment where Wolf describes his feelings, and that's in there deliberately.
I wrote both based on my own experiences and feelings, but when I was writing the DBC books, I didn't KNOW what demisexual was, or that I was demisexual. So it's an authentic experience, but not deliberately so, and there are things I'd change now if I could to be more deliberate (for instance: it's a contemporary series and I would give them the language. I believe that Zed would have found it, if only because I'm sure his students know the term.) With SPY, I knew how I labeled myself and what it meant, and so there's a moment where Wolf describes his feelings, and that's in there deliberately.
4. What do you find most challenging and most rewarding about writing demisexual characters?
Challenging: I think that demisexuality is easy for allocishets to write off--I've had other writers disparage it (in my mentions!) and others say things like "a lot of women feel like that" re: not experiencing sexual attraction without a deep personal connection ahead of time and that's not true/relevant. So being deliberate with it, but without being didactic is challenging sometimes. But I find it incredibly rewarding to write representation that's a mirror for others. I wish I'd had mirrors like this when I was a teen and I want everyone to be able to see themselves on the page.
5. Are there any unique challenges that come from writing a-spec characters in historical fiction?
Yep! I had to decide what terms to use. I found evidence that asexual was in usage, but I don't think it's realistic that Wolf would have known about it. And he isn't asexual, exactly, and he would have questioned himself and his ability to use that. Demisexual isn't a term that existed in 1943 for the queer community. And most of the words I found were slurs then, and slurs now. So I settled on queer which was used as a self-identifier by men at the time, and which I use myself now. I used the book Coming Out Under Fire by Allan Berube as a primary resource here.
6. In The Spy with the Red Balloon, how you identify the orientation of Wolf on the page? Did you use the term “demisexual” in the text and how did you come to that decision?
I explained above why I chose the words I chose. This is the passage from Wolf's point of view:
I hesitated and answered slowly, "That is not...how I experience--I don't feel what other people feel. When I said there was no evidence, I meant it. There's no evidence."
My face was hot, but Lily's expression didn't change from curiosity. "Not at all? You never think, 'Ah now there's a person I'd want to take to bed?' You don't imagine it at all?"
One person. There's one person. Still I shook my head. "No, not like that. I recognize when people are attractive, but I don't feel desire that way."
Except for him. The one exception to the way I was made. I used to think I was broken, but then the rebbe told me that I was made in God's image and God was both perfect and imperfect, and I'd held on to that. It'd replaced a seed of resentment and self-hatred that'd begun to blossom in my chest. By the time I'd sorted out that the feeling I felt toward someone else was desire, something more charged in my veins than mere love and curiosity, he was gone.
7. In writing a demisexual character, did you do research and consult sensitivity readers or did you rely on your own knowledge or experience?
I interviewed a cis man who identifies as demisexual but he didn't read the text. In terms of the text, I relied on my own knowledge and experience.
8. What was your first experience with seeing asexual or aromantic characters in fiction and media?
Oh gosh. I'm not even sure, to be honest? There are characters that I'll headcanon as ace spec, but I think I saw ace characters deliberately in text as an adult and only in the last few years (and I think first in adult romance books?)
Challenging: I think that demisexuality is easy for allocishets to write off--I've had other writers disparage it (in my mentions!) and others say things like "a lot of women feel like that" re: not experiencing sexual attraction without a deep personal connection ahead of time and that's not true/relevant. So being deliberate with it, but without being didactic is challenging sometimes. But I find it incredibly rewarding to write representation that's a mirror for others. I wish I'd had mirrors like this when I was a teen and I want everyone to be able to see themselves on the page.
5. Are there any unique challenges that come from writing a-spec characters in historical fiction?
Yep! I had to decide what terms to use. I found evidence that asexual was in usage, but I don't think it's realistic that Wolf would have known about it. And he isn't asexual, exactly, and he would have questioned himself and his ability to use that. Demisexual isn't a term that existed in 1943 for the queer community. And most of the words I found were slurs then, and slurs now. So I settled on queer which was used as a self-identifier by men at the time, and which I use myself now. I used the book Coming Out Under Fire by Allan Berube as a primary resource here.
6. In The Spy with the Red Balloon, how you identify the orientation of Wolf on the page? Did you use the term “demisexual” in the text and how did you come to that decision?
I explained above why I chose the words I chose. This is the passage from Wolf's point of view:
I hesitated and answered slowly, "That is not...how I experience--I don't feel what other people feel. When I said there was no evidence, I meant it. There's no evidence."
My face was hot, but Lily's expression didn't change from curiosity. "Not at all? You never think, 'Ah now there's a person I'd want to take to bed?' You don't imagine it at all?"
One person. There's one person. Still I shook my head. "No, not like that. I recognize when people are attractive, but I don't feel desire that way."
Except for him. The one exception to the way I was made. I used to think I was broken, but then the rebbe told me that I was made in God's image and God was both perfect and imperfect, and I'd held on to that. It'd replaced a seed of resentment and self-hatred that'd begun to blossom in my chest. By the time I'd sorted out that the feeling I felt toward someone else was desire, something more charged in my veins than mere love and curiosity, he was gone.
7. In writing a demisexual character, did you do research and consult sensitivity readers or did you rely on your own knowledge or experience?
I interviewed a cis man who identifies as demisexual but he didn't read the text. In terms of the text, I relied on my own knowledge and experience.
8. What was your first experience with seeing asexual or aromantic characters in fiction and media?
Oh gosh. I'm not even sure, to be honest? There are characters that I'll headcanon as ace spec, but I think I saw ace characters deliberately in text as an adult and only in the last few years (and I think first in adult romance books?)
9. What is your favorite book (or books) with asexual or aromantic characters?
I loved LET'S TALK ABOUT LOVE by Claire Kann, TASH HEARTS TOLSTOY by Kathryn Ormsbee, BEFORE I LET GO by Marieke Nijkamp and FINDING YOUR FEET by Cass Lennox (really liked all the books in this series, actually!)
I loved LET'S TALK ABOUT LOVE by Claire Kann, TASH HEARTS TOLSTOY by Kathryn Ormsbee, BEFORE I LET GO by Marieke Nijkamp and FINDING YOUR FEET by Cass Lennox (really liked all the books in this series, actually!)
10. Do you know what you are going to be working on next and do you think we see more a-spec characters in your future stories?
My next work is a short story in IT'S A WHOLE SPIEL, an anthology of Jewish YA short stories by Jewish YA authors that I co-edited with Laura Silverman. My MC in there is queer but not aspec. BUT I wrote a character into my short story for ALL OUT NOW, a queer anthology edited by Saundra Mitchell that comes out next spring, who is not-cis and exploring their identities, both sexual identity and gender identity. I'm working on two different books now, a YA/adult crossover and a MG, and while neither have an a-spec main character, I definitely want to write more in the future!
My next work is a short story in IT'S A WHOLE SPIEL, an anthology of Jewish YA short stories by Jewish YA authors that I co-edited with Laura Silverman. My MC in there is queer but not aspec. BUT I wrote a character into my short story for ALL OUT NOW, a queer anthology edited by Saundra Mitchell that comes out next spring, who is not-cis and exploring their identities, both sexual identity and gender identity. I'm working on two different books now, a YA/adult crossover and a MG, and while neither have an a-spec main character, I definitely want to write more in the future!
Thank you so much to Katherine Locke for joining me for an interview! I hope all of you get a chance to check out these amazing books and to pick up The Spy with the Red Balloon if you want to join in on the readathon group read. We will have a Twitter chat at the end of the week to discuss all of our thoughts on this story.
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