INTERVIEW WITH Lee Lynch

January Newsletter 2006

By Connie Ward, BSB Publicist/Author Liaison

What made you decide to become a fiction writer?

I have great reverence for good storytellers from John O’Hara to Isabel Miller. It’s a true gift to be able to lift someone from their reality into another world—a gift to the writer as well as to the reader. Besides, Judy Grahn suggested it after reading my poetry, and I was encouraged by the likes of Sinister Wisdom editors Harriet Ellenberger, Catherine Nicholson, and Adrienne Rich.

What type of stories do you write and why?

My intent is to write stories that portray the lives of real lesbians. I want to mirror ourselves in positive ways. I want to be part of creating a lesbian literature that buoys current and future readers. I want lesbians to be able to find themselves in words because I believe that words have the power to strengthen us while revealing us to ourselves. I want to communicate the wonder of who we are, of life on earth, and of the miracles we are given on a daily basis.

What does/do your family/friends think about your writing?

My birth family doesn’t read my work, although they have dipped into my mystery spoof. Some of my friends have said good things about my fiction, some about my column, “The Amazon Trail.” Some have never read my work. Everyone has different tastes and interests, including my family of birth, my chosen family, and my other friends. I am cool with this.

Where do you get your ideas?

Usually, my stories grow out of the characters I create. Andy Blaine of That Old Studebaker, for example, came to life as I was taking a walk on a lunch hour. I cut through a mechanic’s lot where a Studebaker was parked. What kind of dyke would do anything to have that car, I wondered.  It’s not something I plan. Sometimes it’s a place or a memory that tugs at me and the words spill out. I am constantly grateful for the stories.

How do you write? Do you plan everything out or just write?

Once I have the characters and a vague sense of what their lives are like, I just write about what they’re doing. I never know what the endings will be and generally superimpose some sort of plot afterwards. For example, I needed a crisis in Andy Blaine’s cross-country trek so that old Studebaker had to be stolen, though it was painful to do it.

What makes Sweet Creek special to you?

Sweet Creek is special to me because I went through terrible struggles to write it and while writing it. The devastating Oregon ballot measure wars were being fought. I lost my publisher and was convinced I would never get a book published again. I believed that my work was worthless. Obstacle after obstacle impeded me from writing so I suspected that the universe was giving me a message that my work was done and I should just roll up and die. Lesbian lit seemed to become all about sex and crime. The women’s bookstores were closing; some of the best authors were going to mainstream presses. Men seemed to dominate the gay publishing industry. I went through a crushing breakup. I couldn’t make enough money to support myself and still write. Yet I finished the book, thanks to friends, readers, and editors who helped me regain my faith in myself and my work.

How much of yourself and the people you know are in your writing?

Although none of my characters are drawn from specific people I have known, or from myself, all of them are drawn from people I have known and myself.

Which lesbian authors inspired you most?

Mazo delaRoche, Jane Rule, Isabelle Miller, Radclyffe Hall, Willa Cather. No one is more of a favorite than the others. Equally inspiring to me have been James Baldwin, John Steinbeck, Victor Hugo, Thomas Wolfe, Georges Simenon—all the authors who wrote big gutsy books about characters who are bigger than life.

Do you have any suggestions for new writers?

A. Write from the heart.   B. Write for the love of it.  C. Read, read, read.   D. Don’t let anyone or anything get in your way.

When you’re not writing, what do you do for fun?

Read, hang out with friends, enjoy animals and nature, walk, listen to strangers, garage sale.

Which is your favorite among the books/stories you've written and why?

I don’t have a favorite.