Milo Todd

Milo Todd (he/him) is co-EIC at Foglifter Journal, runs The Queer Writer newsletter, and teaches creative writing and history primarily to queer and trans adults. He’s received awards, accolades, and fellowships from such places as Lambda Literary, Tin House, Pitch Wars, GrubStreet, Monson Arts, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Todd's debut is The Lilac People.

My Q&A with the author:

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

The title for this one just wasn’t coming together for me. I ended up asking my beta readers and they all independently gave the same answer: The Lilac People. It made sense since the book is ultimately about a given community and its resilience in the face of hardship. However, a reader may not know what The Lilac People specifically means as a title before they read the book since it’s specific to a time, place, and identity currently unknown by most modern people.

What's in a name?

My three main male characters—Bertie, Karl, and Gert—were named after three of the only known documented trans masculine/intersex individuals to have survived Nazi Germany. Their lives/storylines otherwise don’t cross over much with my characters, but I wanted to honor them in this way.

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

My teenage self would be ecstatic to learn we one day publish a novel. However, he’d be surprised that it’s historical fiction since history used to be one of my least favorite subjects.

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

Beginnings are harder for me to write. I plan my work out scene by scene before I start writing, but I never know when or how my characters are going to defy me. I also don’t get a steady feel for their voices until I’m already working with them. My rough drafts are often stronger the further in I get, but I always need to go back to the earlier chapters and fix them.

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

Every character and story, no matter who or what they’re about, are ultimately about the writer. We can only write through our own lenses, which are dependent on how we grew up, how we educate ourselves, who we’ve interacted with, etc. Everything we experience or learn is filtered through us before we put it on the page.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

History influences my writing. It feels like cheating sometimes since I let facts drive my stories. I research until I have too much information, then stitch together storylines that best complement as many pieces of that information as possible. When given the choice, I lean toward emphasizing the pieces that will best resonate with modern readers, whether timely or not.

Visit Milo Todd's website.

--Marshal Zeringue