Brittany Newell

Brittany Newell is a writer and performer whose work has been published in Granta, n+1, The New York Times, Joyland, Dazed, and Playgirl. She published her debut novel, Oola, at the age of twenty-one. She lives in San Francisco.

Newell's new novel is Soft Core.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

I think the title, Soft Core, sets the tone and creates a slinky pink atmosphere for the reader to sink into. It is of course a double entendre, calling to mind the Vaseline-smeared lenses of softcore pornography and long smooth limbs, but also the notion of a literally soft core, a tummy fully relaxed and vulnerable, sloping over one's waistband. I think the title tells you everything you need to know about our main character, Ruth, someone who tries to be tough and brave but is actually, deep down, quite soft and sweet.

What's in a name?

The name Ruth just came to me; I take names very seriously and feel that they have to be summoned. Ruth is a woman of many names: Baby Blue is her stripper name, Miss Sunday is her dominatrix name. All of these names had to be conjured, I had to wait for them to come to me...I keep an ongoing list of names on a note in my phone, names I found beautiful or poetic or charged with meaning, many of which just so happen to be stripper names...off the top of my head: Omaha, Jezebel, Hunter, Bernice.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

I think my teenage self would eat up Soft Core and not be shocked by it at all! Perhaps she would be shocked that it took me so long to write a second book; I wrote Oola at 20 and wrote Soft Core at 27. My cocky teenage self was a prolific scribbler and knew nothing of the trickiness of the publishing world/whims of the market; I thought I was unstoppable. But in terms of the book itself, I think my teenage self would stay up all night reading this book under the covers with a feeling of illicit glee. At 14, I remember proudly telling my class that my favorite books were Nabokov's Lolita and Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper. Make of that what you will....

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

Endings are hard because I don't really think in terms of conventional plot arcs; I write in a more fractal, zigzaggy, meandering style where there are no tidy endings and loose ends don't get tied up. I've had to learn to be better with endings, so that my readers don't feel cheated or edged! Beginnings, meanwhile, are intoxicating and full of potential. Once I find a beginning image that inspires me, I don't tend to change it: everything else flows from that first potent image.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

It is important for me to state that Soft Core is not a memoir. I am not Ruth and my ex is not Dino...that being said, my own life always trickles into the lives of my fictional characters, in unpredictable, seemingly minor ways, all those rich sensory details that make up a life. So I definitely see myself and my loved ones sprinkled throughout the book in ways that only me and them could recognize, like a favorite brand of coffee or type of perfume, a bar where we kissed.... Also, I will say that all of Ruth's dungeon stories are thinly-veiled nonfiction; I had been dying to write about all my funny/tragic/moving dominatrix experiences and Ruth's journey proved to be the perfect vehicle!

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

Music, for sure. "Goodbye Horses" by Q Lazzarus. "Dirty Work" by Steely Dan and the Pointer Sisters. Tom of Finland drawings. The paintings of Noelia Towers. The color purple. Crushed velvet. Tacky paperback drugstore romance novels with names like Surrender the Night. Sleazy 90's erotic thrillers with unhinged female leads.

Visit Brittany Newell's website.

--Marshal Zeringue