Get ready to learn more about the book The Christmas Pic in this discussion with sapphic authors Rena Sapon-White & Ella Schaefer.
Join us for an exclusive peek behind the scenes as we quiz Rena Sapon-White & Ella Schaefer about The Christmas Pic, writing, reading, and more.
This book is part of the Holiday Romance category in the 2024 IHS Reading Challenge.
Why did you write The Christmas Pic?
Rena & Ella: The project originated as a typical hetero TV romcom script that Ella wrote years ago, featuring a small-town photographer named Jo and a prickly tech CEO named John. Although the script circulated, it never landed.
When the two of us founded our multimedia company Smokeshow Entertainment, we redeveloped the script, opting to switch the genders of the leads–Ava became the tech CEO and John the photographer. To our surprise, while pitching this new version, Ava was criticized for being unlikeable, a critique never levied against John.
As we grappled with the feedback, we realized that the best version of the story would stay true to our values rather than dilute them to appease the misogyny of the critiques. Thus, the most authentic version of The Christmas Pic was born–one that was queer, like us.
Nothing drives us gays more than spite, so we took our outrage at the sexist feedback we’d been given and spun it into a version that we could put in people’s hands faster than any other medium: a sapphic romance novel, published through our imprint, Smokeshow Press. The proof of what audiences desire is already showing up in the pudding of our earliest reviews: queer and straight readers alike love our two leads, and have found a particular affinity for Ava’s charm, in all her complex and neurodivergent glory.
Who is your favorite character in the book?
R: I’m a total Jo, from having great taste in music and a record collection that comprises 99% of my personality, to being unforgivably corny and sincere with an inclination for Dad Rock and Dad Jokes.
E: Don’t make me choose……. Matt. He’s just vibin’.
What inspired the idea for The Christmas Pic?
E: Aside from being a writer, I’m also a photographer. I drove a photo truck around Los Angeles for years and always thought it would be a fun setting for a story.
What part of The Christmas Pic was the most fun to write?
R: I’m very into history and folklore, so I had a lot of fun crafting the backstory of Harmony Springs and the town’s queer foundations.
E: I loved writing the drag show. The yassification of Charles Dickens was everything I didn’t know I needed in my life. Clearly, this writing partnership is well balanced.
If you’re planning a sequel, can you share a tiny bit about your plans for it?
R&E: We’ve got more novels cooking in the Harmony Springs Extended Universe! There’s a (dare we say unexpected?) sapphic age-gap involving two familiar faces, as well as a friends-to-lovers romance brewing between every reviewer’s favorite side characters from The Christmas Pic.
What is your favorite line from your book?
R: “Sometimes I see a girl so stunning that I have to come out to myself all over again in my head to digest the fraction of a possibility that I could get to be with that person. God, I love women…”
E: “I started Gramsta from my middle school computer lab, armed with nothing but sebaceous hyperplasia and a dream.”
What is your writing process like?
R&E: The mere thought of writing by the seat of our collective pants gave us a panic attack. We are meticulous plotters by nature. That’s not to say elements of the book don’t evolve as we write, but having the scaffolding of the story in place before we transition to prose is crucial to our process. Both of us were that kid who finished the group project alone in school, and thankfully, we grew up and found each other.
How do you celebrate when you finish your book?
R&E: Have a nervous breakdown and immediately start writing the next one.
Do you have a pet who helps/hinders your typing?
Rena’s dog Murray (he/him) is a black and white shih tzu mix from the streets of Queens who is very very tiny, so small you can barely see him with the naked eye. Ella’s Wynnie (she/they) is a white shih tzu mix who is definitely a 1980s Wolf of Wall Street reincarnated as a dog.
Murray and Wynnie can do no wrong, and as such, are very litigious about their reputations, so we sincerely hope they don’t sue you for libel simply for publishing their names. As their humans, we know how they operate and cannot be held responsible for their actions. And yes, they both have characters named after them in the book.
What is the most valuable piece of advice you’ve been given about writing, and by whom?
E: “Just keep going.” I’m not entirely sure who first told me this–it might have just been me, giving myself a pep talk to stave off a mid-writing crisis until after the draft is done. But it works?
R: My advice is the same as Ella’s but I’m going to be ten times wordier! I heard Pixar writer-director Andrew Stanton speak about writing as being an archeologist, not an inventor. As in, writing is a process of unearthing archetypes and stories that already exist, it’s just up to us to keep chipping away at them until their true form emerges from the dirt. That encourages me and takes some of the weight off when I’m struggling to generate what comes next in a story.
What do you do to get inside your character’s heads?
R: I make my actual life as unpleasant as possible so that the only respite I’ll have is writing my own escape. I stop doing laundry and all forms of domestic labor, attach a ten-foot straw from my Nespresso machine to my writing desk, put on a pretentious record, and light incense to mask the odor of dishes piling up in the sink.
E: A lobotomy.
Are there any books or authors that inspired you to become a writer?
R: I stole Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott off my mother’s bookshelf when I was way too young, and it changed my life. Not only does that book contain so much wisdom about the nature of Being A Writer, but the craft of her writing is just so advanced, you end up savoring particular sentences the way you would a poetry sonnet.
What book do you wish you had written?
R&E: On the topic of sapphic retellings, we have only one thing to say: release the lesbian version of Bend It Like Beckham as it was originally written! We deserve this! The world deserves this!
