Cit Callahan (aka C.T. Callahan and E.J. Lee) is an artist in every sense of the word. E writes, illustrates, edits, and perhaps even has some hidden talents that e hasn’t shared with the world, but you know what, sometimes folks want to keep secrets to themselves. Here I talk to em about eir writing, being in the process of submission with editors, self-publishing, and Simon Versus the Homo Sapiens Agenda.
Your books are about to go on submission with editors! How has that process been for you, compared to the process of self-publishing?
It's actually been a breath of fresh air? And I know how weird that sounds, but with self-pub, you have to oversee everything and that means waking up in the middle of the night in a panic because maybe you chose the wrong font for your cover or should've set the release date a week later or whatever. Is page 10 okay? I won't know until it releases and people start giving me feedback. But preparing for submission has basically just been a lot of sitting back and trusting that my agent [Beth Phelan] knows what she's doing, and I really do trust her.
She'll send me edits and I'll just go through changing things exactly how she says to because she's the boss and I trust her. It's so much easier than working with an editor on one single project and wondering if their vision really aligns with yours or not really knowing their track record and hoping things work out. At the end of the day, it's still my project, and I still have to make sure it fits my vision, but if she says cut a comma or center this paragraph, I can trust her experience that that's a good idea instead of constantly second-guessing myself.
What are the common misconceptions people have with self-publishing?
Wow, there are so many. People think books are self-published because they've already been rejected from all forms of traditional publishing, that self-pubbed books don't have editors or proofreaders, that self-pubbed authors don't work as hard or look down at traditional publishing and think that they're better because they don't "sell out". All of this is kind of ridiculous, in my opinion. I've seen all of these things in self-pub, but I've seen just as many of them with traditional publishing, and I think people really underestimate how similar the two are. I'm thoroughly invested in both, and I'm definitely not the only one. Plus, the idea that self-pubbed books aren't edited is laughable to me because that's always where the biggest portion of my publishing budget goes!
Do you believe there are more liberties in terms of what you can write when you self-publish?
I want to say yes and no.
Yes, because there aren't gatekeepers, so there's no one leaning over your shoulder saying "vampires are dead" or "triracial characters are unrealistic" or anything like that. But at the same time, when you're self-published, you're still publishing, you're still trying to find an audience and hopefully make some money.
While you can technically publish anything you want, some things just won't sell, and if you want to be successful as an author, you have to be able to find your audience. So, yeah, there are definitely some great ideas that might get shelved in traditional publishing that could flourish in self-pub, but at the same time, it's not like self-pub is a free-for-all where we all write whatever comes to mind. We still have to curate a brand, and because we're so limited in our marketing outlets, we're sometimes even more restricted because there's so much pressure to avoid any and all negative reviews or anything that might get us barred from one promotional outlet or another.
A publisher gives you free reins to collab with another Latinx author and the author is free and on board as well, who are you picking and what are you writing?
This is SO HARD because most of my fave authors are Latinx and so are so many of my friends!
In the case of "author I would die to work with even though it's a pipe dream", I'd say Adam Silvera, because I have never read a book of his that didn't hit me like a freight train, and I don't know, maybe something a little dark but still fun like a dystopian or dark urban fantasy?
And as far as "author I really vibe with and would love to actually work with one day", maybe Nina Moreno who's got that Florida aesthetic I write from a lot so we could tackle some magical realism; or my [Critique Partner], Peter Lopez, who doesn't have a book out yet, but I expect great things from. He's the one who got me sold on middle grade, so I'd love to work on some middle grade project with him.
How does your identity affect the stories you write?
Too much, probably. All of my MCs are me, but in different ways, and more often than not, my world building and conflicts come from things I've experienced personally. I'm not as good at "creating" characters as I am good at exploring parts of myself, so I rarely write anything that doesn't reflect major parts of my identity.
Who do you write for?
I have two ideal readers. The first is my roommate who loves everything I write (no matter how ridiculously different) and who has what I like to call "commercial taste." If something's going to be popular, she'll like it, so I always run my ideas by her because if she likes it, I can probably sell it.
The other reader is teen me. I try to focus on the things I needed to read as a kid, even if I didn't know that's what I needed at the time. There really weren't any books when I was growing up that gave me what I needed, so I'm trying to make up for that deficit now so the kids who are a lot like me will finally have something for them.
What movie(s) would you pair your books with?
This is so hard because I write across the map. The book I'm about to go on sub with was pitched as the trans To All The Boys I Loved Before and Love, Simon so those are probably good fits.
My current WIPs are basically High School Musical, The Little Mermaid, and Supernatural (I know it's not a movie but it's the best I've got!) respectively.
Shoutout a Latinx writer or creator whom you admire!
Claribel Ortega! Buy Ghost Squad!
Anything else you can share about your upcoming projects?
I'm editing an anthology called Common Bonds that explores aromantic characters in platonic relationships. That comes out February 2020. I have a few other projects waiting to be released, none of which have release dates yet. There's the long-awaited Plastic Wings 2, which should be out in 2020, the print version of my webcomic James Wolfson, The Little Queer Werewolf That Could, and fingers crossed I'll have some good news about my trans romcom in the near future!
Follow Cit on Twitter @EmeryLeeWho and on Instagram @authorctcallahan!
Eir latest is a piece on the Keep Faith anthology edited by Gabriela Martins.
C.T. Callahan
C.T. Callahan is the author of young adult fantasy, sci-fi, and a weird assortment of short stories. Hailing from a mixed-racial background, they’ve pledged their writing to contribute to the spread of diversity in fiction and the fight for equality. When away from reading and writing, you’ll most likely find them engaged in art or snuggling cute dogs.