Author Q & A with Georgia White

In order to keep the buzz about our spring issue going, we asked each one of our contributing authors some questions about their writing. This week we reveal the answers that Georgia White provided. Georgia is a queer writer based in Berkeley, CA, who is inspired by maligned women. Her previous work has been published in The Nasiona, the Santa Ana River Review, and the Nassau Review. Her piece appearing in this issue of TGLR is a flash fiction story titled “Iphigenia Recounts the Sacrifice.” 

We asked Georgia to tell us some unique or surprising detail about the origin, drafting, and/or final version of her story and what she learned through writing it. 

Her Response: “This piece originally started as a monologue in a play in which Iphigenia was a side character at best. It was just her, in the underworld, speaking to the audience, and it was the first real moment where the fourth wall was broken and a character was allowed to ask questions. How many people watching remembered her name? What was she sacrificed for? Was it worth it?

“More than anything, I learned again what it felt like to be a teenage girl—the feeling that everyone already thinks you’re crazy and worthless, and all the world wants to do is take from you, and the only thing you can do is go for its eyes.”

We then asked what the most difficult part of the writing process is for her; and also the most rewarding. 

Her response: “I’ll sit for hours, even days, with just a first line or the seed of an idea or a handful of scenes. The difficult part for me isn’t coming up with what to write; it’s writing the parts in between the parts I most want to get on the page.

“I think the best part of the process for me is when I write something down and think, I need to send that to someone. I live for the moment when you feel something so strongly that it can to longer be contained to the page.”

We asked her what fuels her desire to write. 

Her response: “I am a person who needs to create more than anything. If I look down at the end of the day and all I’ve done is send emails, I’ve wasted the day. When I write, I’m creating people and worlds who wouldn’t breathe if I didn’t sit down and make it happen. The characters I write are real to me. It’s just a matter of letting them.”

We also asked Georgia what author(s) (or other persons) have been the biggest influence on her writing? Or what do you enjoy reading and why?

Her response: “If I had to pick my top three, they’d be Daniel Handler, Sofia Samatar (specifically her story Walkdog, which is one of the most brilliant things I’ve ever read), and Junot Díaz. Those are the people who I read and think, I need to write.”

And lastly, since we originally selected a name for our little lit mag, we have come to recognize that the phrase has been used in many ways and by many different people and industries over the years, but her response to the question of what she thinks of when she hears the phrase “The Good Life” is one we had not heard yet…

“The Good Life EP, by Sammy Rae and the Friends (@SammyRaeMusic). That album’s gotten me through a lot.”

Thank you, Georgia, for participating in our Q&A and being open to sharing more about yourself and your writing. We are grateful that you gave us the opportunity to publish your words!!   

Cheers,
~The Good Life Review Team