Video Q/A is here!

I’m so excited to share the first video Q/A (where I answer questions posted through Chat)!

Here are the questions I addressed:

1. (From Blake Lefray) Hi! I’m pretty sure you once said that you drew inspiration from noir detective novels in making Selin “unburdened” by all the crazy things happening to her to prevent the novels from going too deep into woe-is-me vibes. I’m so curious about how you came to that idea. Was it an aha moment or something more gradual? And was there a particular noir writer or book that got you there?

2. (From Jo Lindsay Walton) Will Selin ride again?

3. (From HRJ) Hi Elif, as someone also with divorced parents (one of whom immigrated) and four years into my own psychoanalysis, I wonder if you think about filling in early life for Selin in addition to moving forward in time (though I know you’ve written about the unfortunate race conditions that already exist between life continuing to unfold and the creation of art from it, and this would amplify the problem)? Your thoughts on childism and sympathy for the stakes of childhood/adolescence make me so want to read a fifth grade Selin! What would her voice be like, what lost messages of childhood would she transmit (Mrs. Reich’s unusual speech patterns...)? And related Qs: Do we not develop genuine voices until later, after more exposures and/or education? Or maybe Selin’s child self is actually evident in the thoughts of her older self, so we don’t need to be back on the school bus with her and all the terrible boys (whom we love! to survive!)?

Coming up after the paywall… the video, a list of books, and some background reading.

P.S. I’m looking forward to doing more of these and getting better at it, I will look more at the camera next time.