Kate Gavin’s Lesfic Journey
In this episode of Les Do Books, Tara is joined by author Kate Gavin, who stepped into the lesfic ring this year with her debut novel Full of Promise. She shares how she found lesfic, how she started writing it, and see what she thinks about current representations of bisexuality in media.
Welcome, Kate!
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Transcript for Today’s Show
Please note this transcript has not been edited and is automatically generated meaning certain words will be incorrect.
hi I’m Tara and welcome to les two books today I’m joined by Kate Gavin author of the why a romance full of promise which is out everywhere from Bella books welcome Kate thanks thanks for having me so you’re here to talk about your journey with lesbian fiction how did you discover it where did it all begin so I was a bit of a late bloomer always thought I was straight and then probably in my mid-20s I was realizing that I was definitely not so I think I started off by just reading actual true delight coming-out stories like I read the reappearing act I think it’s called by Kate Fagan she was a college basketball player kind of had Christian teammates and things like that it’s hard for her to come out and then I discovered hey there’s a whole world of fiction out there that deal sees queer women and so I first started off with I think my very first book was waiting in the wings by Melissa Braden and I’m a big kind of like theater nerd sometimes I love musicals things like that wish I would have been a dancer but I don’t like being in front of people so that never would have supported so I think like faded love by Radcliffe and then another one my first favorites was silver wings by HP Munro because I’m also a big world war two history buff sometimes and it dealt with women pilots in World War two so then from then on I just kind of became obsessed realizing that there were stories about me kind of figuring out who I was you know realizing that I was bi and just kind of coming to terms with that and just using Lesnick as a way to accept myself it was a pretty great actually and I you know have been a reader ever since so and that eventually you know came out to my books and family and oh that’s nice mm-hmm that’s amazing so you obviously started writing because you had your debut novel come out this year yes I did was it anything to do with like the read the books that you were reading that made you say hey I could do this like what did anybody inspire you or did you just feel like it it was time kind of a mixture I guess so I never saw what when I realized I was buying you know a lot of the books don’t always have out bisexual characters or and just in medic media in general don’t always have the best representation bisexual characters so I actually started writing because I was going back to school for a different degree I was going back to school for computer science was getting kind of bored with classes and saw that they had an intro in a queer studies class the very final project was to take some sort of aspect of the LGBTQ community and write about it or present about it in several different media platforms so you know you could have written a poem made a website things like that so I asked professors like hey can I read a short story and so I actually don’t like I never liked writing when I was younger because I try and write and like I talk and as few words as possible and so I started writing it and realized wow I really like this and I just wanted to tell more about the characters I said I wrote a short story which it wasn’t necessarily short story because it was almost 30 to 40 thousand words so more of a novella and then after the class was over I was like hey maybe I could do this and maybe I could have this as a way that other you know young teens and even adults would relate to and hopefully maybe help them on their own journey because I always said if it just helps one person that’s it’s good enough for me you know everybody else could hate it but if it just helps one person kind of accept themselves that’s all I want so yeah I finished writing it I actually used the short story the novellas that come out to my couple of my brothers I just sent it to them without like any so yeah so then I started writing and it was surreal kind of journey never thought it would happen never thought I would get published and submitted it to Bela and they wanted it so it’s great experience and yeah I still can’t believe it I just wouldn’t come out like I didn’t write a book like people that come talk to me or like HEC LS asking for my autograph I was like really me that’s not do you really want that that’s it you you’re it you’re the thing your congratulations thank you very much do you have any other books you’re working on right now I do I’ve started sort of started it’s been a slow process of you know one said it’s we’re back for my first one and just kind of getting back into it yeah my next book is tentatively tentatively titled table for two it’s about two women it’s a very busy lunch rush a downtown restaurant no one can’t find a table because there’s a huge convention in town so they get to the rest of one restaurant at the same time ask for a table just for one they only have one table left and so they decide to share it and they actually hate each other the other one just is you know I was like I’ll never see this person again but of course they wind up having to work together Reagan is a co-owner of a restaurant group and Jill is the ice queen more character and she needs someone to cater her father’s set father’s 70th birthday party and her mother hires their company and so they have to work together and it doesn’t always go as planned but you know slow burn anything so it sounds like a lot of fun yeah I’m kind of like and in public variation on the oh no there’s only one bed but there are to me like the CNN article like a couple weeks ago about like people were stranded in an airport and they had to like share share a hotel room and I was like that’s exactly I felt so bad for those people especially when I read about like who they were I was like oh that’s so awkward but on the other hand there was a tweet that went around about like congratulations – exactly so so see I have to actually you know get my butt in the chair mm-hmm start writing I just kind of started plotting and like like that I want to do so looking forward to that a lot because thanks promise just sounds so good so you alluded to the fact that there have been traditionally some challenges within our community with how bisexual women are portrayed and this is something that you know I’ve also mentioned in spots whether it’s in book reviews or podcasts or whatever because also it’s a bisexual woman it’s something that I’m looking out for where do we get that positive rap how do you feel like we’re doing now compared to where we were safe five or ten years ago um I think it’s a little better I think there’s always room for improvement you know we need to stop being looked at as like the greenie the greenie folks and LGBTQ community and things like that and that were promiscuous or you know or that we need to pick a side or that we all you know tend to wind up with men or things like that and the other queer women shouldn’t date us or that is just always gonna be a risk or something like that so I think it’s improving you know there are more bisexual characters on TV and things like that actually sometimes will now use the word bisexual instead of just kind of alluding to the fact that oh yeah they’ve dated both men and women before you know things like that but I definitely see a room for improvement there will always be room for improvement you know in media in general it’s never going to be perfect and how they portray our community but I think we’re taking steps in the right direction and hopefully I plan on having out-and-proud by characters in my in my future books because I think it’s important and I just yeah I just want more positivity and just spur more acceptance for bi pan queer however people identify I just want them to people to know that they are valid and you know that they should accept themselves and hopefully other people as well and just overall now that you’ve kind of crossed from one side of the ecosystem that is the reader/writer community although you are still a reader and now that you’re on the other side like what do you think about where we’re at as a genre right now is there anything that has you kind of encouraged or excited or is there anything that you would want to kind of share about it I just think that you know with like GCLs and things like that with I just think people are becoming more aware of our community and the genre in general which i think is a great step you know ballot books has like their Beacon Hill web series and things like that and I think web series in general are also going to be a big bigger thing you know you got Carmela and all that stuff it’s easier to get into the hands of a younger audience which I think will then broaden their horizons especially if they’re like oh I see this but maybe they you know what what about this kind of story in book form you know they’ll go out and search for it so I think we are taking steps like that in a in a good direction and I think that just people are becoming more accepting as a whole as community hopefully that our stories will just become more well-known or just oh that characters by or that characters gay it’s not a big deal anymore you know I mean it’ll take some time but I think that’s where we’re headed thank you for being an awesome listen and supporting to the channel that brings you all the podcasts you want to hear you’re listening to talked find more podcasts on the lesbian talk show com so is there anything that you’ve been reading recently that you just loved and think other people absolutely have to check out or are there any books coming soon that you cannot wait for but I’ve been reading bring it down by Kate and that’s been great and I’ve been really enjoying that I’ve also been just about to finish not the marrying kind by Jay which I loved perfect rhythm because I loved that it had a nice character so I was excited to see the sequel with with Ashley so those are my two that I’m currently reading and just been trying to find time to finish yeah you know work in real life kind of things and then writing books on all these days I think those are my two two ones right now that I’ve been really excited about and are there any last words that you would want to share about your journey as a reader of queer ladies fiction just that I’m very excited that I found it it’s been a great community meeting people on Twitter especially has been wonderful you get you actually do get a really good sense of community and I’ve met one of my closest friends now I’m on Twitter but I think that if you know you think that you have a story in your mind and you think that you can’t write it do it try it you know short story just little poems or whatever you want to do if you think that you have a story that’s worth telling as a you know if you don’t don’t just say that you’re just a reader either they’re what you know give us the ability to write we need someone to write for so I just think that if you are that kind of quiet shy person like I am go out on social media go and find some folks that just start chatting about what you love and what you want to see in you know future books or future webseries things like that it’s just it’s been really helpful in helping me understand myself and accept myself so where can people find you online if they want to connect with you best part it best places for Twitter Kate Gavin books I’m on there pretty often I also have a Facebook page is just under Kate Gavin but yeah you can reach ask me both places I will I’m always happy to chat with new readers or just just talking about either my books or any other women love and women fiction out there that’s all for this episode thank you so much for joining me alright thanks for having me and a great time I’m Tara and you’ve been listening to Les Deux books you can email me at Tara at the lesbian review.com with your questions or comments if you’re an author who’s interested in joining me on the show to talk about the less fake you love or trends that have you interested please let me know if you’ve enjoyed this episode please check out the show notes we all find a patreon link to the lesbian talk show or visit patreon.com slash the lesbian talk show patrons get exclusive content like bonus podcast and author until you said no one else gets access to to find this and many other great shows all you need to do is search for the lesbian talk show on itunes stitcher or Spotify
