Ask the Author: Leslie Lytle
Answered Questions (3)
Leslie Lytle
What are you working on now?
I have two projects underway. The one closest to completion is a novella. The story centers around a woman name Persephone who survives ovarian cancer and a full hysterectomy only to learn her high risk of developing breast cancer makes a double mastectomy the recommended treatment. She has been a lesbian for much of her adult life, but she wants to experience sexual gratification with a man before her body is “mutilated.” The husband of a couple who cared for her when she was undergoing chemotherapy volunteers to be her partner, leading Persephone to believe his wife consented to their intimacy, when in truth he told his wife nothing. The story explores boundaries and love and friendship, and how the fantasy world sustained by an affair exists as a blissful haven only so long as no one but the lovers themselves know about their love.
When a third party enters, the magic spell is broken.
My other work in progress explores the drive and desires that sustain two American immigrant families over the course of four generations. Marriage brings these two families together, one hailing from Ireland and the other from Transylvania. When the family patriarch falls into a coma, his estranged wife and children left without an adversary are forced them to confront their own demons. Titled The Evolution of Wanting, the novel examines how often in trying to be someone the self can love we commit cruel and heartless acts bringing hatred on ourselves, when being despised is not something anyone ever wants.
I have two projects underway. The one closest to completion is a novella. The story centers around a woman name Persephone who survives ovarian cancer and a full hysterectomy only to learn her high risk of developing breast cancer makes a double mastectomy the recommended treatment. She has been a lesbian for much of her adult life, but she wants to experience sexual gratification with a man before her body is “mutilated.” The husband of a couple who cared for her when she was undergoing chemotherapy volunteers to be her partner, leading Persephone to believe his wife consented to their intimacy, when in truth he told his wife nothing. The story explores boundaries and love and friendship, and how the fantasy world sustained by an affair exists as a blissful haven only so long as no one but the lovers themselves know about their love.
When a third party enters, the magic spell is broken.
My other work in progress explores the drive and desires that sustain two American immigrant families over the course of four generations. Marriage brings these two families together, one hailing from Ireland and the other from Transylvania. When the family patriarch falls into a coma, his estranged wife and children left without an adversary are forced them to confront their own demons. Titled The Evolution of Wanting, the novel examines how often in trying to be someone the self can love we commit cruel and heartless acts bringing hatred on ourselves, when being despised is not something anyone ever wants.
Leslie Lytle
There is always a question lurking somewhere in the background something I want to know more about and learn more about through the process of writing the story. At the outset, what that question is may not be readily apparent to me. Often it begins with a sense of uneasiness about a situation or person.
Leslie Lytle
I've lived in the rural South for most of my adult life. I was married to a farmer for 20 years and made friends with many farmers. I learned from the inside the virtual servitude imposed on farmers raising chickens for a national corporation. Telling the story from the point of view of a woman unfamiliar with the experiences of contract poultry farmers had two advantages. One, the reader could learn with her about the workings of a poultry farm. And, two, farming is traditionally a male dominated profession, so having a woman protagonist opened the door for exploration of gender differences and similarities.
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