Lou is out to help

Heyyy!

Thanks for checking out this week’s interview. If you haven’t read our last interview already, you can check it out here.

Today we’ve been joined by the charitable geographer, Louise Willingham, an author whose creative skills aren’t limited to writing. Hope you have fun reading! 🤩

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1 – Hi Louise! Thank you for letting us interview you today. Would you mind introducing yourself and your book to our readers?

I’m Louise, probably best-known for being very loud about bisexuality on Twitter! My novel, NOT QUITE OUT, is a super-slow-burn new adult romance about Will, a closeted bisexual over-thinker, and how he falls helplessly in love with Dan, a fellow student and absolute heart-throb.

2 – Not Quite Out was published at the beginning of this year. How long have you been writing stories for?

I’ve enjoyed writing stories since my primary school days, where we were given prompts and tasked to do “creative writing”. The first I remember writing was my own version of Rumpelstiltskin, but the first story I wrote outside of school was about two lovers separated by a city wall. My family read a lot, so I was raised surrounded by books and being told bedtime stories by my parents and grandparents.

3 – Judging by your helpful and considerate content warnings, it seems like Not Quite Out deals with some pretty heavy topics such as drug addiction and abuse. Did you have any difficulties whilst writing about such topics?

Many of the things the characters in NQO experience are things I’m familiar with. The content warnings for NQO are: abortion, PTSD, drug addiction, abusive relationships, and self-harm. This book is built of layers of pain and love, which I think is a good reflection of how life generally works. I always saw NQO as honest because it’s not that I’m trying to raise awareness for any of these issues: I’m simply not hiding them.

The most important part was research: I know my experiences, but what about everyone else’s? You’re never going to capture everyone’s experiences, because there are countless variables (and I always say there are as many queer stories as there are queer people), but it’s important to make sure you’re considering your audience.

Most of my reading between 2017-2019 was blogs, websites, and interviews for this story. Researching and writing about these things was totally cathartic and gave me the opportunity to feel like I was showing people that it’s not the end if you find yourself in any of these situations. So I wouldn’t say there were difficulties. It was more reassuring than anything!

4 – Some writers like listening to music, ambient sound effects etc. when they write and some get distracted by it. Which kind of writer are you?

I absolutely need to be listening to music! Ideally something I’m familiar with, so the same album on repeat or things I know off-by-heart.

5 – Do you have any favourite songs that you’d like to share with us? (Bonus points if you could use them as soundtracks for Not Quite Out)

I have a playlist on Spotify for NQO, but the absolute best songs for it are:

Come out and Play – Billie Eilish

Peace – Taylor Swift

6 – A lot of authors we know seem to have pets. Do you have any?

I do have pets! I have two cats, Dot and Bella, and a guineapig called Guinevere. Dot and Bella are the only names in my thanks at the end of NQO!

7 – You seem to be very active on Twitter. Is there anyone that you think we should follow or that you’d like to shout out?

Twitter is full of wonderful people. Here are some I’d love to give a shout-out to!

@QueerLitUK – the best indie bookshop EVER.

@Dewiwrites – map-maker, fantasy writer, and my partner.

@laylahersch – my original #querybuddy who has a stunning MG novel coming out in 2023 called YOUNG BLOOD.

@stormrosewriter – one of the first people I made friends with on my Writing Twitter and they have a STUNNING online shop!

8 – It appears you also sell other things for charity. Do you mind talking about the charities you’ve chosen to support and what made you choose them?

Thank you for mentioning this! The things I sell all directly raise money for one of four charities: The Abortion Support Network, MindOut, Beat, or Galop. Bookmarks and stickers from the NQO promotion are sold to raise money for the Abortion Support Network, because of the inclusion of abortion in the book.

The Heartstopper bracelets each raise £3 for Beat, a UK eating disorder support charity (because eating disorders are a huge part of the HEARTSTOPPER books – and, spoilers, something secret I’m working on now!). MindOut is the part of Mind (a mental health charity) which is especially dedicated to LGBT+ people. I make custom pride bracelets for MindOut! And, finally, I have some bonus NQO content called TENACITY available for free download, or for a voluntary donation which goes to Galop, the UK LGBT+ domestic abuse helpline.

All of these topics are important to me for different personal reasons and I couldn’t miss the opportunity to raise some money for these brilliant charities.

9 – Most writers also love to read. What are your favourite books and do you have any that you’d like to recommend?

My absolute favourite book is AUTOBOYOGRAPHY! Recently, the best thing I’ve read has been SURRENDER YOUR SONS by Adam Sass. It’s not out yet, but Layla Hersch’s YOUNG BLOOD is fantastic and I was honoured to beta read – so add it on Goodreads and keep an eye out for preorder!

10 – And finally, if you could offer one writing tip to a new writer, what would it be?

The only writing tip I ever give is: have fun. At the base of everything, you should be having fun.

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Thanks again for generously agreeing to have this interview with us, Sam! It was a pleasure speak to you. 💜

As mentioned above, Louise is the author of Not Quite Out which is available on various platforms that can be found here. Feel free to check out her shop and the stories she writes for charity.

You can find Louise on Twitter and Instagram as well. 

Like this interview with Louise? Here’s our very first author interview. If you’re an author who’d like to be interviewed by us too, get in touch here!

Thanks for reading our interviews and we hope you enjoy them. Subscribe to Seriality for an email update when we post out the next one. Hope to see you next week!

~ The Seriality Team 

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