Introduction: Alanna Faelan

Left: My BFF, Right: Me

Do you have a nickname? Kirby, bequeathed to me for the shameless, maniacal glee I apparently exhibit while dominating Smash Bros with one of its cheesiest characters. What do you like to read? In fiction—great characters. If I’m not interested in the voice, it’s hard for me to sink into the text. I generally read 3-4 books at a time, so I take forever to finish. Some of my current favorites are Ursula K Le Guin, Octavia Butler, Carmen Maria Machado, Ottessa Moshfegh, Kelly Link, Lauren Groff, John Ajvide Lindqvist, Sarah Manguso, China Miéville, Joy Williams, and Jeff VanderMeer. Poetry faves are Morgan Parker, Ocean Vuong, Mary Oliver, Warsan Shire, Shinji Moon, and Claudia Rankine. I also like social justice-focused nonfiction (currently reading How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others In America and White Out) and a lot of graphic novels/comics (Saga, Preacher, Unsounded, OGLAF, Rat Queens). What kind of stories do you write? I started off writing literary fiction, usually about working-class queer women navigating trauma, mental illness, messy relationships, etc. with a backdrop of declining post-industrial areas (particularly Philadelphia, my hometown.) I grew up reading almost exclusively genre fiction but didn’t think I would be a “real” writer if I wrote it; it took me 26 years to figure out that was bullshit. I’m only now embracing my earliest influences: YA authors like Phillip Pullman and Tamora Pierce, mystery and neo-noir a la Dennis Lehane and Jonathan Lethem. How would you describe your personality? I come off chill and easygoing but am actually a high-functioning neurotic mess. I love a good-natured shouting match over a disagreement about theme interpretation in prestige television. I’ll banter with the best of them but am more comfortable with attentive listening. I have a little bit of a goth aesthetic going on but it’s mostly to appease my inner rebellious 12-year-old Catholic school girl and cultivate the perception that I am purposefully standoffish rather than too nervous to speak to anyone at the party. What would you do this summer if you hadn't been accepted to Clarion? Hardcore moping cut with the occasional trip to a lake so I can look at the water while hiding in tree-shade, where the sun cannot turn me to dust. Probably spend 3 months seriously contemplating creating a D&D campaign but, lacking someone to outsource the math to, never follow through. Who will miss you most while you're in San Diego (cats, kids, partner, boss, coworkers)? My partner, who is already threatening to sneak into my room and cry on all my soft things while I’m gone. Have you participated in an intensive writing workshop before? I’ve participated in the Tin House Summer Workshop twice, but I don’t think that it compares workload-wise. What scares you most about Clarion? That I will be revealed to be a fraud, can’t actually write speculative fiction, won’t be able to produce the volume of work required, will be crippled by anxiety, what if the water pressure in the shower is awful, etc. etc. What do you do to relax or for recreation? I watch a lot of television (a lot), movies, reading, tabletop games, online roleplaying (though that hobby has recently died for lack of a good outlet), enabling my fixation with ice cream & pastry. What 1-2 essential things will you bring to Clarion besides your laptop, watergun, and espresso maker? Snacks and weed. What is your ideal career? Spot in the writer’s room of the next Breaking Bad. Barring that, getting to do cool graphic design for literary / social-justice nonprofits while steadily publishing on the side. What else do you want us to know about you? I played a werewolf character in an online D&D campaign for 15 years. So I know a lot about werewolves. I’m maybe a little obsessed with werewolves. I grew up in South Philadelphia and moved to Portland, OR about two years ago, though I will remain an angry East Coaster forever. I use she/hers or their/theirs pronouns, whichever you want.