I would usually only write one chapter per day so that I wouldn’t overwhelm myself.

In order to make myself as comfortable as possible with the process, I tried to approach each chapter as if it were a short story. I was quite nervous to approach writing my very first novel and I distinctly recall putting it off for many years despite encouragement from friends. I’m most comfortable when I’m writing short fiction or novella-length fiction. I suppose it was different in some ways and then in other ways it was very similar.

– You’ve previously published short fiction – how did crafting a novel-length work differ from writing stories? I suspect we’ll see more openly queer creators writing horror fiction in the coming years. Of course, I believe horror has always been a decidedly queer genre however, it’s so exciting to see visibly queer characters in these stories as opposed to merely coded figures. I’m in awe of authors like Gretchen Felker-Martin ( Manhunt) and Hailey Piper ( Queen of Teeth)-these are two bold, audacious women who are crafting essential modern queer fiction. Not only is it rewarding to see so much dynamic queer representation in genre fiction, but it’s heartening to see our work so well received by critics and peers. It’s so gratifying to see openly queer authors operating in the horror sphere with such fearlessness and conviction. – It seems like there’s not only a horror renaissance, but a queer horror renaissance – would you agree?

It's gotten worse since we last spoke