Sage Tyrtle
ORP: What inspired you to begin writing or creating? Has that source of inspiration changed throughout your life?
Sage Tyrtle: When I was five, I told my dad I wanted to be a princess when I grew up, that by the time I was big they'd have invented time machines so I'd be a princess with a pointy hat and a big dress. Cleverly, my dad was like, "Princesses have no rights. They just have babies until they die of having babies because there's no hospitals." And I thought about it and said, okay, I'll be a writer instead. I've never wavered from that moment.
ORP: What does success as a writer or artist mean to you?
ST: My version of writing success is pretty small. I'd like an agent, I'd like to publish books that more than 10,000 people read. I'd like my stories to change minds.
ORP: Who do you consider to be your creative ancestors and contemporaries for your art and/or writing? How does your creative work converse with theirs?
ST: I read Harriet the Spy when I was a kid in the early 80s. It was the first time I'd read about a character who was a girl who I could identify with. Harriet cared about being smart. She was curious. She was funny. (So! Funny!) Her books passed the Bechdel test before the Bechdel test existed. Then I found out that Louise Fitzhugh had been dead for years, and I cried, because I was already envisioning being a famous writer someday and being her writer-friend. Whenever I write, Harriet and Beth Ellen and Janey are somewhere in my head, reading along too.
ORP: What is the most valuable piece of advice you’ve been given about writing or creating? What advice would you give to another writer or artist?
ST: I ate up the whole "how to write an essay" in grade 7. Write a draft, then revise it, then write the final version and turn it in. It took me SO LONG to realize that I get to do as many drafts as I want. And once that finally sunk in, I was able to create first drafts that included ALL my ideas. Not just the ones that I thought might make it to the final version. Now I have over 100 drafts for every story. And once THAT happened, my writing got 100% better. So that's my advice. You get to do as many drafts as you want. Write down every idea, even if only one makes it to the final version. The only version anyone else will ever see is the last one, so PLAY!
