Interview with Jarrod Campbell
By Sebastian Vice and Jarrod Campbell
1. First, you did a stellar job with the intro to Mirrors Reflecting Shadows. Tell the readers a bit about yourself.
I am a writer living in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC with my boyfriend of 12 years. My essays, short stories, poetry, and reviews have appeared online and in print with Northwest Review, Roi Faineant Press, Heavy Feather Review, Boner World (Berlin), a few others, and now, Outcast Press and Anxiety Press, thanks to my being asked to write the forward. Thank you all again for that tremendous opportunity.
2. Who, and what, are your literary influences?
So many influences! Keeping it brief: Gore Vidal, James Baldwin, Joan Didion, John Cheever, Yukio Mishima, John Cheever, Williams S. Burroughs, Tennessee Williams, etc. etc. etc. And I'm still finding writers that blow my mind and inspire me. A great example here is James Reich, an astonishing writer who also runs Stalking Horse Press. I read a shorter novel of his, "The Soft Invasion," and holy wow! So much packed in such a slender book. Needless to say, having the opportunity to work with him and have Stalking Horse Press put out my story collection has all truly been a dream come true. Now for what inspires me to write is not just the desire to tell an engaging story but also to provoke thought on some level, to challenge preconceived ideas or notions, even. And the real, honest answer is I want to make a lasting contribution to the queer literary canon. A lofty but obtainable goal.
3. In your opinion, what cliches or tropes should people rethink when writing LGBTQ+ characters?
I find that a lot of LGBTQIA+ characters are written without much dimension. Sadly the tired tropes and cliches are what a lot of writers fall back on, this includes writers from within the community. An easy trap, in my opinion. In many instances, I feel depth can be added simply by giving the characters actual sexuality. This is not to say gay male characters need to be rampant bed hoppers, but since it's our sexuality that people use as the reason to mark us as "different" or "outsiders," then why not comment on that in some way? Also an easy trap, but an effective one. And never be afraid to write the queer characters you want. Curtailing to meet expectations of editors, publishers, readers, whoever, makes for shallow and unbelievable characterization.
4. Any writing wisdom you wish to lay down?
Piggybacking off the above, write what's true to you. An audience is always ideal, but an audience will know whether what's being written is authentic enough. If people like the words a writer is putting down about a subject of interest to that particular reader, they will find the work. I truly believe this.
5. Tell us what works of yours you wish to plug.
My collection of short stories, The Reason I'm Here, released by Stalking Horse Press.
