BONUS CONTENT: A.E. Osworth Doesn't Want You to Worry About Voice

On the fallacy of a writer's "voice," why head-hopping is okay, and their recommendations of things to read, watch, listen to, and do.

A.E. Osworth, photo by A.J. Lowik

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Last week’s interview was my second with A.E. Osworth. I first spoke to them four years ago when we chatted about their debut novel, We Are Watching Eliza Bright, for Shondaland. (Fun fact: A good chunk of that book is narrated by incel Redditors, and immediately after our interview was published, it appeared on a thread created by…angry Redditors. It was very meta.)

This time around, Austen and I discussed their wild sophomore novel Awakened, which includes trans witches, magic, seances, drag shows, hot sex, video games, and an AI antagonist. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever read and I was thrilled to get lessons from Austen—who is also a writing professor—about character development, head-hopping, and developing a writing “voice.”

You can find outtakes from our interview below, along with their recommendations of things to watch, read, listen to, and visit.

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Interview Extras

Something that came to mind when I was reading your book was voice. I think it's hard for a lot of writers to find their voice and to figure out how they want to present their work. I don't know if this is going to be taken as a compliment, but I kept thinking of Tom Robbins when I was reading Awakened. Because whether you like his work or not, there was nothing else out there like it. It’s similar to Awakened. I have never read a book like this.

I take that very much as a compliment.

Good! Was it difficult for you to find your voice as a writer?