How to Become a Really Really Not Famous Trans Lady Writer

by Torrey Peters

In this short zine, you too, can learn how to become incredibly not famous as a trans lady writer. All the hottest tips from unreknowned trans lady writer of no repute, Torrey Peters

Genres: LGBT, Nonfiction, Transgender, Essays

22 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2016

About the author

Torrey Peters is the author of the novel Detransition, Baby, published by One World/Random House, which was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. She is also the authors of the novellas Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones and The Masker. She has an MFA from the University of Iowa and a Masters in Comparative Literature from Dartmouth. Torrey rides a pink motorcycle and splits her time between Brooklyn and an off-grid cabin in Vermont.

Reviews

[Ulysses Bougie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This bit, in particular, is an utter mood:

"Go on hormones. But do not, under any circumstances, think about becoming a lady. Instead, imagine yourself as a cool and mysterious David Bowie type character. Plan outfits and practice talking as though you have done a lot of acid, so you will be ready for when hormones bestow upon you this new look."

[Brook · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was a nobody when I read this, and now I teach 2000 person auditoriums how to win a lambda for trans novels and build a following, tony-robbins-style

[Enid Brain]

"Be paralyzed whenever you want to write anything. You were so wrong for so many years, so incredibly good at lying to yourself, and given that, how could you possibly think you’ll ever put a pen to paper and say something true?"

[Ally · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is basically a 23-Powerpoint-slide McSweeney's piece, but one of the good ones where you cry a little.

Reading this makes me think again about how transitory queer legibility is - like, here are some experiences that are written (or at least which I read) as being sorta universal-ish to transfemininity, but are so much less likely just a few years later. Googling in adulthood to discover transness, or running into an extremely orange novel from a little Brooklyn small press to see a first reflection of your trans interiority... the emotional trajectory of the next generation of trans folks is so different, the nature of trans community is so different, the needs and hopes of people sorting through their gender stuff are so different, even though this snapshot is from less than a decade ago. (Though maybe it's a simple swap of r/egg_irl for Nevada?) Do we have to totally re-figure out what it means to be a trans woman every few years because it changes so fast? (I guess maybe since we need to totally re-figure out what it means to be a woman on a slightly slower time scale, that checks out?) Maybe all the explorations and explanations of identity don't end up anywhere, are not all all a kind of pioneering science, are just a way to be together. That's sort of the punch line of HtBaRRNFTLW, isn't it?

Had to deduct a star because the advice clearly didn't work for Peters, who needs to drop one or two of the "really"s if this is ever reissued.

[Laura Freeland · Rating 5 out of 5]

I particularly love Step 13!

Cry on Brooklyn G train after finishing Nevada. Understand two things: number 1: New Yorkers are surprisingly accustomed and polite to people boo-hooing in public spaces. And number two: better give up on that David Bowie thing, ‘cause you, sweetheart, are a lady

[Aspen · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was perfect, thank you

[Katherine Clarkson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly satire, but of the really fun kind.
Only giving it 3 stars because it's such a short presentation

[Mary Zimmerle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I laughed and/or recognized myself in about every other page.

This probably shouldn’t count toward my book total but who cares.

[Clara Limón]

Alright I'll read Nevada damn

[Jasmin Isabell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a short but incredible read. Funny but also emotional towards the end. I loved it.

[AP · Rating 4 out of 5]

ok now i need the transmasculine version of this stat