Bryce Oakley Geeks Out

Proving Her Wife Right, Staying Warm, and Her Inability to Pick Just One

Welcome back to the next installment of my series, “Authors Geek Out”. In this series, I ask sapphic authors questions that get them to geek out about being an author as well as the sapphic media they love.

In this article, I asked the supremely awesome Bryce Oakley to geek out. Bryce is a multiple Goldie winning author of sapphic romantic comedy and just an all-around sweet and fun person. I am so thankful that she decided to geek out with me for this.

So, without any further ado, it’s time for Bryce Oakley to geek out!

Thank you, Bryce, very much for joining me.

Thank you for having me!

Why don’t you introduce yourself to the readers?

Yeah, my name is Bryce Oakley. I write sapphic romantic comedy with a lot of fun and silliness and hijinks and chaos.

That pretty much describes the last two of your books very well. Perfect chaos.

So, what was that initial spark for you to start writing and publishing sapphic lit? What got you in the game?

My wife actually dared me. She knows me better than I know myself. I’ve always wanted to be a writer. I have my MFA, I went to a very serious MFA program, but I always had this mental block about writing sapphic romance even though I really enjoy it. I really enjoy romance in general.

When I started writing romance, I started writing hetero romance, especially fantasy romances. My wife was like, “Hey, this is great, but where are all the queer people?” At first, I was thinking that sapphic literature doesn’t really sell. She was like, “Just prove me wrong. Write a sapphic romance, publish it, and prove me wrong.”

So, I wrote a sapphic romance, published it, and proved her right! The sapphics were out there and they were hungry for representation, which is when I realized that I am too. That was August 2019. Six years ago!

How does it feel six years in?

Every time I start writing a new book, I’m still like, “I have no idea what I’m doing.” So, good, still exciting. I’m still in love with this community and I’m grateful that I get to call this my career.

The Goldies and how many people rave about your book would speak to how good you are. So you do know what you’re doing.

Thank you. It’s just the imposter syndrome that women have.

What draws you to a new idea? What is that spark that takes it from an interesting idea to one that sustains an entire book writing journey?

I usually start with a question that I want to investigate the answer to. Typically, it’s about a character or a specific type of experience. I’m a very naturally curious person and an incredibly empathetic person. So, I want to figure out what makes people tick specifically.

I also write a ton of my real life experiences into books, usually in pretty minor ways. I was just on vacation and I thought, “Oh, I’ve never written this situation into a book. I have an idea for where I can put that in my latest book.” So, it’s kind of about me wanting to explore things and process things.

As far as sustaining the idea, that’s the hard part of writing a book or any kind of longform anything. I tend to think of my own stories in terms of temperature. When a story is warm or hot, I feel really drawn to it and I draft really quickly. I try to keep the story warm for myself because the moment it goes cold and I start losing interest and other things start looking shiny, that’s when drafts tend to go into the “to be written” pile, which very rarely happens for me. I very rarely can revisit a draft. I can’t get back into the voice and the story. So, I try to draft as quickly as I can honestly.

Could you give me an example of a question you wanted to explore from one of your more recent works?

The question that led to One Last Run was a question about Peter Pan Syndrome. That sounds very far off from what it turned into, but it was still basically, “what happens when someone who is emotionally immature grows up and they don’t emotionally mature at the same rate as other people? What does that look like for them? Can they still be successful in life? What happens to the people that outpaced them?” So, I wanted to explore the timeline from when we first meet this character and how we are seeing them current day.

What book or piece of sapphic media has had the biggest impact on you as a writer? As a person? Or both?

As a person, I narrowed it down to three. If you cracked my personality open and looked inside, you’d see these three things stuffed in there. Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, Andrea Gibson’s poetry and their entire worldview, and Virginia Woolf’s Orlando. I feel like those three things in particular have kind of shaped how I view storytelling, how I view queerness, how I view what I want to put into the world.

What books have you recently read that you love and want others to read right now?

So much! I feel like every time I finish a book everyone I’ve ever met needs to hear about it. The last book that I read was Emma Denny All the Painted Stars. It is a historical fantasy romance, so knights and princesses and all that. It has one of my favorite tropes, which is a woman dressed up as a man. It’s done really interestingly. I just love that book.

One that’s more long-lasting in that I’ve read them in the past year and have been shouting about them from the rooftops is Ruby Landers’ Grace Notes series. Just perfection. Her storytelling, the way she weaves that series together, is just masterful.

I’m a massive JJ Arias fan.

Me too!

Right?! The world does not deserve her. No one does chemistry like JJ Arias. Her books are just on fire. I’m obsessed.

I just started T.J O’Sheas’ Sweet Home Alabarden Park and I am infuriated by how funny she is. I’m so jealous of how funny she is. I’m not that far into it and I can just tell that I’m going to be telling everyone about that.

L.M. Bennett just came out with a book today and the name is totally escaping me (Jamie’s Note: it’s You Were Almost Home), but I am so so so excited. I’m obsessed with L.M. Bennet. I feel like people are sleeping on her and I wish more people read her.

You rave about JJ and JJ raved about you in her interview.

We’re in love. It’s fine.

What draws you to the trope of “woman disguised as a man”?

I think it’s such an interesting way to explore gender expression, especially in historical settings. In the time when All the Painted Stars takes place, women had a very specific role and the book talks about that. It talks about how this woman dressing as a knight and entering this tournament opens these doors for her. She’s able to explore these other facets of her personality. Luc Dreamer also did that trope in his Heart’s Home series. I think it’s so interesting to see the psychology between an outward appearance and how that can shape confidence. I think it’s so interesting.

What other sapphic media have you been loving recently?

Unfortunately, I consume a lot of media right now that is strictly for toddlers. But you can’t tell me Moana and Elsa aren’t at least a little queer coded, am I right?

Oh absolutely! Elsa is so queer coded, it’s obvious.

Seriously. So, I enjoy reading into that shit. In terms of canonically or culturally gay things, when I tell you the hold KPop Demon Hunters has on me. Everyone says it’s not specifically sapphic, but are you kidding me? No, it is. That’s for the girls. I love it. I can’t stop talking about it or listening to it.

It’s taken over our house right now too. Our 7-year old is obsessed.

My tastes often align with pre-teens.

The great thing about having a toddler now is that as they grow they’ll get into things like She-Ra.

Oh, I am obsessed with She-Ra. I’ve been obsessed with Nate Stevenson’s since the Nimona webtoon. I am friends with Grace Ellis, who wrote Lumberjanes with him. I’m also re-reading Moonstruck by Grace Ellis. That is so adorable. Would highly recommend. I love everything that she touches.

Really, I love graphic novels. I’ve also recently been reading Rat Queens. So fun, so ridiculous. I just love over the top women being chaotic.

My wife is re-playing Horizon Zero Dawn and I’m the kind of person who just sits and watches others play video games. I was the youngest of six, so I never got to play the videos games, just watch. I still am that way. So, yeah, been really into Horizon Zero Dawn. Aloy is a confirmed sapphic. I love her.

As far as music is concerned, I’m on a huge Zolita kick right now. Her music is fun pop. Her music videos are elite, they’re works of art. I think she’s so underrated. I like her better than Chappell Roan.

What is your favorite thing that you have ever written?

This is so hard.

That’s why I have it as a question.

I know. I’m one of those writers who is like, “that’s the best thing I’ve ever written!” the moment I finish a book. I do feel like I am improving in my craft with every book I write. I feel like I am a better writer today. In terms of my favorite story, I have a soft spot for The Adventurers. That is the book that really changed my career. It brought a bunch of people to my work. It was also a story where I plotted almost nothing and just went off joy and fun and vibes. It was the beginning of COVID and for me it was such a release. I love that book and am forever grateful for it.

If chaos, hijinks, and ridiculousness are you thing, that’s the book for you.

So a Bryce Oakley book. I get it.

[laughs]

You said you’ve seen improvement in your craft. Where do you think you’ve seen it the most?

This is going to sound silly, but my descriptions have improved the most. Physical descriptions are always something that I have struggled with. Describing the room characters are in, describing what a person looks like, even describing the physical sensation of emotions, has never been a strong point for me, so I’ve focused on improving that. Writing a fantasy novel has helped me improve that. I’ve carried that back over to my contemporary romances. I’m such a visual person that I think I just overlook it. Trying to identify those little holes where I can get better has really helped.

If you had to choose one book to introduce sapphic literature to a newcomer, what would you pick to sell them on sapphic lit?

Okay, I’m going to pick three. It depends on what they like, but there are three books that could make any person fall in love with sapphic lit. Stephanie Shea’s Chef’s Kiss. I think that Stephanie Shea is a masterful lyricist. Her prose is just out of this world good. I also think Ruby Lander’s Falls From Grace is also just a perfect book. Love love love that book. That book has a perfect third act breakup. People hate them, but that book is so good at it. If I had to choose a top 1, it would be JJ Arias’ Guava Flavored Lies. Everyone talked about Destination You but Guava-Flavored Lies really captures a Cuban American experience, the Miami culture, and JJ Arias’ comedic voice so well. I was laughing out loud reading that book. The tension in that book is really good. The sex is really steamy. Everything is peak JJ Arias in that book.

I love both [Destination You and Guava Flavored Lies] and part of me is like, “yeah, you’re right.” Guava Flavored Lies is so good in every single thing it does.

Seriously. I think it’s so underrated.

I get that because if you asked me to pick JJ Arias’ top three, I don’t know that I’d pick it unless you asked me about it specifically. Then I’d be, “oh of course!”

Absolutely. I also highly recommend it as an audiobook. Carrie Coello does it and her performance is so good.

Is there anything you’re currently working on that you’re really excited about?

I am currently finishing the main draft and starting revisions of the third book in the Longitude and Latitude series and I am super excited about it because it is a set up that I’ve never tried before. It’s an established couple and a marriage re-connection. I think that’s fascinating. I’ve taken my time with this one and it’s stayed warm for me. I’m really excited about that.

I also am trying to hurry up and finish it so that I can get back to revising my fantasy series. I wrote it last year and then set it down and let it breathe just because it was such a huge undertaking. I wanted to make sure that it was exactly the story I wanted to tell. Now that I have these ideas for how I want to adjust things and revise, I’m really excited to get back into it. It started out as a dark sapphic retelling of Jim Henson’s The Labyrinth. You wouldn’t think that those things could work, but it’s pretty far from the goofiness and all that from the actual movie. It definitely still has a woman going into the labyrinth and this time the very cool, androgynous keeper of the labyrinth is a woman. That’s what’s happening there.

I’m excited about the third book in the Longitude and Latitude series. That series has been so good.

Thank you. It’s been really fun. I’ve loved this cast of characters. I never planned on writing Maggie and Gwen. I was going to kill Gwen in Shift the Tide, but I didn’t.

Good!

Thank you, thank you. I’m excited that it’s opened this book for me to explore this interesting dynamic now.

What do you hope to see more of in sapphic lit in the future?

I bet everyone kind of says the same thing here, but diversity. Obviously. Specifically, I think that the sapphic lit world needs more trans women writing women characters. I live for that and I want more of that. I am also super desperate for diversity in terms of genre. Sapphic romance is obviously a huge seller so we’re getting a lot of it. But Virginia Black’s sci-fi, Erin Branch and Evelyn Shine’s romantasy, the romantasy panel at GCLS made me so excited that things are opening up there. I feel like that world is about to crack wide open. I want more genre diversity.

I would also love to see specifically more diversity in gender expression. I feel like we get a lot of femmes, a lot of slender white females. I want different types of characters. You go to GCLS and everyone is all shapes and sizes and expressions. Everyone is so different and cool in their own ways and then every book is about this slender white femme. Let’s fucking stop that. Let’s feature some new types of people and let them fall in love dammit.

Love it!

Well, thank you very much for joining me today.

Thank you! It’s been a pleasure! I’m so excited to geek out!