An Interview between Abigail Cain (EIC) and writer Kylie Holloway.
Find Kylie’s work here.
AC: Introduce yourself a bit!
KH: I'm a Brooklyn based producer and writer with 9 years of experience in community building and arts leadership. I currently make a living writing jokes about climate change. You can find my work in McSweeney’s, The Cut, Vox Media’s Polygon, and live in Brooklyn on the New York Times recommended variety show Bear Hug, as well as Darling Tallie, hosted by Tallie Medel. My passion project is Nevertheless She Existed- a comedy storytelling show that celebrates the forgotten women and queers of history.
AC: Could you tell me a bit about your creative process?
KH: I'm a big journaler- I write at least 10 minutes a day. A lot of what I end up writing down are things I see around Brooklyn or the city. A snippet overheard at the bar or a funny image from my subway commute. I think maintaining that level of observation- even if I never use the material- is really important. And then I end up with this bank of story "seeds" to pull from later if I need inspiration. I also will say that I worked in the museum field for a long time sort of right around when I was figuring out what actually was unique about my creative process. A lot of inspiration and learning came from looking into what other artists did as they developed.
AC: I enjoy the crossing of humor and sex in your work. In fact, the fish girl persona in this collective began as a joke about my own lesbian sexuality. How do you find that humor and sex manifest themselves within each other to create literature?
KH: There's a lot that's fun/funny about sex. I think there's an openness and freedom that you only really find in great sex and great humor. And that lends itself to creating interesting stories. I think the tension of the taboo is also really present in both and that tension can be a really strong source to mine in creating narrative and driving plot forward.
AC: In 'Grace Jones and Shucking' you said, "Art is the act of extending oneself into other people’s realities." (I find it interesting that sex can easily replace the word art in that sentence). How do you aim to extend your own art to your audience?
KH: Ooooh boy. I think it's really just about trusting my gut and the validity of the stories I'm interested in telling. Connection comes from real authenticity. I think worrying about "is this the right story to tell" or "are audiences going to connect with this" is a really great way to get bogged down. It's like throwing up a roadblock in your own work. And writing is hard enough without that noise. As I've gotten older and more confident as a writer, I've realized that you just need to know that if you care about this story someone else on this planet will too. There's really no such thing as a story that's too niche.
