Sheryl Payea asked Genta Sebastian:

Where to you get your ideas?

Genta Sebastian Hi, Sheryl! I get my ideas from any number of places. My first YA novels were conceived as I listened to Rosie O'Donnell talk about the questions her (then) ten-year-old son had about growing up with lesbian parents.

My much more mature YA novel (contemporary horror) was a reaction to a nearby school district that suffered nine (9) student suicides in a matter of months due to a repressive (Don't Say Gay) administration.

I spent time writing and selling lesbian erotica, mostly to prove to myself that I could turn out saleable literature. I'd been shlepping the YA novels to mainstream presses and received close to two hundred rejection letters. When I sold eight short stories to three major lesbian presses within 18 months, I felt a bit more vindicated.

But my newest book is a sheer work of love. I've taken my wife's childhood stories and fictionalized them into a romance novel. I think it's the best thing I've ever written, and I'm looking forward to publishing it soon, hopefully, this summer.

Thanks for your question.

~ Genta

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