Interview with Paige Johnson

By Sebastian Vice & Paige Johnson

1. Tell us a bit about yourself.

I'm editor in chief/co-owner at Outcast since Seb and I are best friends, always swapping fat animal pix and comedian meme nonsense. I'm in my late 20s, from FL/GA. A lot of my writing is about drug (dealing)s, sex(work), fashion, slummy or political crime. Always lots of slang and dark humor. I have two illustrated poetry books, Percocet Summer and Citrus Springs, and I write short stories monthly to weekly, depending on my mood/schedule/lit mag calls. Most of my stories involve my Miami cam girl character Cherry and her dorky drug dealing crush Olive Eyes, because I'm slooowly piecing together my third novel, Cherry(,) Coke & Cam Shows.

Seasonal Dissociation: Poetry for Distancing Dates and Doses

2. When did you start writing?

My middle school friend had an epic fantasy dream about being a femme fatale w/ Elvin ears so vivid, she had to email it to me. Every day for a year, one of us would add a chapter to it. Ironically, now I really don't like the genre because there's so much to explore in the real world, especially since fantasy is a better fit for visual mediums or more advanced writers. Anyway, my friend and I quickly branched out into ridiculous stories about female assassins, punky vampires, slutty leopard girls (pre-furries?), or pedo politicians we made on The Sims--or we collaged inspiration from MySpace anime drawings before I even knew what any of that meant.

In the same vein, I am surprised writers don't frequently credit their start w/ FanFiction.net before WattPad hit the scene. There was still astounding talent and variety even in stories about Invader Zim or Code Lyoko--none of mine, which were too garishly influenced by Green Day and Queen Adreena lyrics, but they were fun "junk food." Keeping w/ the embarrassment, I used to spend so much time as a teen making my character on IMVU (an online chatroom with a virtual avatar and world like VR Chats/the Metaverse) and talking to people as if I really were them, to see how my MC would respond on the fly, if they were believable, or get new plotlines or banter out of it.

3. Who, or what, are your main influences?

Really more music/lyrics these days than writers, though Bret Easton Ellis is my go-to because I love rich, beautiful people juxtaposed grit and violence. Lana Del Rey is sort of like the female version of him and she can get that across in two minutes instead of a 24-hour audiobook. I just love how there are less rules in music. Nobody cares if you switch tense or use fragments to make things sound better. Flow is everything. Alliteration, rhymes, all about imagery and personality. In my book, Citrus Springs, I straight up say when certain songs are playing, but songs w/ vibes I can make a lot of stories out of are:

"Make Me Fade" by K. Flay -- Maybe my favorite song ever and I'm still not exactly sure what it means. Did she turn in/frame a guy for drugs? Is she just sobering up from a bad relationship? Is she turning to opiates/heroin like her dad did, predestined? In general, it just feels good to rock-rap along to an angry girl on the edge, to vent about somebody for not answering your call in whatever way that means, acknowledging you're stupid for playing a part too.

"Brainrot" by iviri -- This song is acid in the sweetest of ways. Innocent, whispery lyrics about implied suicide, breakups of sorts, the bodily rush of euphoria and dissociation over big, glitchy guitars that sound like they could build sunflower fields and clover hills, a bit like Garbage, Paramore meets Poppy, or just something pretty '90s. It's like when you're riding the crest down on mushrooms and, even though you're crying, you're so glad you figured out what to do next from the hard lesson you just learned.

"Do I Make You Nervous?" by Lilyisthatyou -- I want this to be the theme of my winter/fall poetry books. Partying late night until you're slinking out of rooms at 7AM into the snow or an alleyway. Seductive, coke-fueled, haunting, modernly crass in a way that makes you smirk.

Shootout (8D version) by Izzamuzzic -- It's reverby, mostly instrumental trap I heard on a Dare Me TikTok video. I love that show and book about bloodthirsty-fierce cheerleaders (I just did a Substack review here.) The piano and loop of a wistful girl going, "And you're still there right by my side" is hypnotic, dreamy. In context, it comes off sarcastic or longing so could fit many up & downs of noiry romance.

4. How do you approach editing?

If I'm reading it for the first time and I stumble anywhere, that's something to fix. Like Stephen King said, every second is vying for your readers' attention--especially in a TikTok generation--so pick up the pace. Even just a bunch of "just"s and "even"s can clog pages.

5. What advice do you have for people who want to get into editing and book design?

There's nothing in the world of writing/editing you can't learn for free. It may be tedious, but Reddit and YouTube have all your answers. Really study the books in your house. That's how you learn to punctuate dialogue, format paragraphs (line breaks, justification), and realize how your headers/margins/page #s should look. Even the big five publishers clearly use the free tools you have: Canva and stock images at places like Pexels and filtering apps.

6. What are some major pitfalls you’ve seen authors fall into?

Stop bad-mouthing social media. There's a sea of people out there who could fall in love w/ your wor(ld)s, so be proud of talking about your work. Make it fun for you. Tweet what you were listening to while writing, who characters are based off. I see so many people bitch about others not engaging with their work, but do they engage w/ others or just take, take, take? Write reviews, comment questions, follow other peoples' SubStacks. You can make friends who are worth more than selling another dozen copies.

7. What overall advice and wisdom do you care to impart?

Voice is what makes you memorable. I read about 200 books a year (mostly novellas, manga/comics, audiobooks), so why does it seem like I only come across 20 voices at most? Don't write like your teacher told you; talk to me like you're texting your best friend or riffing inside your band-stickered journal. Put your made-up/insider/slangy phrases, your jokes, unique ponderings, weird comparisons, taboo concepts, give people wacky clothes and names and jobs and hobbies. I don't care about their politics and other cliches, their relatives' full names nor the specific streets they grew up on. Start in the middle, like you've walked around in this character a while. Make me want to stroll w/ them as someone unique, not slog to the end of a story anyone could write.