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Lang Leav on embarrassing posts, being silly, and ‘Sad Girls’
Writing has always been Lang Leav’s first love, but it wasn’t until she started posting her work on social media in 2012 that she first realized that she could actually make a career out of it. Since then the Cambodia-born, Australia-raised, New Zealand-residing poet and author has sold thousands of her books and has amassed tens of thousands more devoted fans all over the world.
Quite a number of those fans are Filipino, which is why Manila was a stop in Leav’s latest tour to promote Sad Girls, her first novel.
“Essentially it’s about a girl who tells a lie and it inadvertently results in the death of her classmate,” she tells me during a quick chat before she jetted off to Cebu last week. “The book is really about how this one lie…it’s almost like it opened up this whole new reality, and the adverse way that this one lie has affected Audrey, the protagonist, as well as people who are dear to her. It shows through this entire cast how this lie has impacted their lives.”
Leav is charming and down-to-earth, which is quite unexpected for someone whose work deals a lot with love and loss, longing and heartbreak.
“I’m just really silly,” she says. “I don’t take anything too seriously. I’m just like a clown basically. I think people close to me would describe me as that. I love writing comedy, but I’ve never shared any of it. Maybe one day.”
“I know a lot of people think I’m really depressed or whatever, but no, I’m not really like that at all,” she adds.
Leav talks more about her work, what she really thinks about haters and critics, and what else she’d like to accomplish in this interview:
GMA News: What do you remember most about your previous trip to Manila?
Lang Leav: It’s always been quite magical coming here. Just seeing all the people. So many wonderful memories. I came with my partner last time, Michael, so that was really great. He was meant to come with me this time, but he had a cold. It’s a shame.
How easy or difficult was it to move from writing poetry to writing a novel?
With Sad Girls, my first novel, it’s a completely different process from writing poetry. Writing poetry is more sporadic. Writing a novel is extremely immersive. You live and breathe the characters. You’re just stuck in that world for a very long time. You become quite attached and protective of that world. It’s really strange to have the characters out there in the world now. Hearing other people talk about it, when they’ve been in my head for such a long time.
I thought it was quite a natural progression. Sad Girls was my little project I was working on on the side. I didn’t even tell my agent about it. It wasn’t until I was quite advanced in the story that I announced it. It was something that I really loved coming back to. I didn’t want to set a deadline to it at all. I just wanted it to be, like a playground, a chance to explore that part of me. I didn’t know if I could do it or not, so I didn’t want to put that kind of pressure on myself. It all worked out well, in the end.
Was it a conscious decision for you to write a young adult novel?
It’s interesting, because Sad Girls is quite dark. I suppose new adult would be the closest, but even then, there’s romance in it, but it’s not really a romance, it’s a coming-of-age. Without giving too much away, there’s a little bit of a thriller in there, too. The genre is really hard to define. And I think that’s really cool. My audience for Sad Girls is incredibly diverse, compared to my poetry.
Lightning round. What’s your favorite city?
Probably Queenstown in New Zealand.
Favorite snack?
I love Pringles. I don’t know why.
Favorite TV show?
"House of Cards." That’s probably my ultimate favorite. And it’s really kind of cool because Frank Underwood is like an anti-hero, and so is Audrey [from Sad Girls]. I suppose I’ve always been drawn to villains, and anti-heroes, which is why I think it happened quite naturally that my character is kind of complex.
Favorite zoo animal?
Probably monkeys. Because I was born in the year of the monkey.
If you were to organize an intimate dinner party for three living writers, who would be there?
I’d definitely have my partner there, Michael [Faudet]. Haruki Murakami. Murakami was actually in town, but we didn’t realize, and I said to my partner we should have invited him over for dumplings. I doubt he would’ve come though (laughs). And Margaret Atwood. The Handmaid’s Tale is one of my favorite books. I’d really love to pick her brain about it.
You’re quite active on social media and you like interacting with your fans. What about those who have not-so-good impressions about your work? The critics? How do you handle them?
(Laughs) Everyone’s a critic these days. You just ignore it. Every once in a while you might make a funny, sarcastic comment because I suppose it’s just my comedic nature coming out. And I just can’t resist it because it’s so funny and they just sort of set themselves up. But besides that, no, I don’t really think about it too much. What sort of a person stalks you on Twitter? And then saying all these things about your work? So you know, the opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s apathy.
Did you ever go through periods of self-doubt?
Oh yeah. Absolutely. I still do. I think no matter how much success you get as a writer, or how many books you sell, you still have self-doubt. I think for any creative person, with my fashion and everything, you‘re always so close to what you create. You’re so overly critical of yourself. I think that goes in general for people. It’s just knowing when to ignore that little voice in your head. And just doing it. You just don’t know what you can achieve.
Do you ever get to read some of your past work and maybe not recognize who wrote that or what you were going through at the time?
Yeah. I was very active [on social media] at one point and I made like a pact with myself to post a new [work] every day. Which I kind of regret now (laughs). Because sometimes I just see, like, a poem post on social media. And I say, oh my god, that’s so embarrassing. Michael’s always teasing me about it. There was one particular poem, I can’t remember the title of it, that I absolutely hate, and he said, ‘Put it in your book.’
Did you?
No, no. And I never will. I hate it. So yeah there are things like that that come up online. So yeah, it comes up and I’d be like, ‘God, I wish I didn’t write that.’
You’ve had an enormous amount of success, the kind that most writers could only dream of. But what else would you like to accomplish? Both as an author and outside publishing?
I think I’ve gotten to a really great place, where I’ve got a lot of creative freedom. For a creative person, it’s just an amazing position to be in. I suppose I just really look forward to creating, spending more time with my family, having a bit more leisure time. I’m used to making books by hand. Like actual handmade books. My dream is to one day get back into it.
If I had a dream, I’d love to be in a position where I could just spend as much time as I want to, just getting lost, creating and making things.
And I’m also going to write more novels, too.
Is there something brewing already?
I’ve got about five things brewing. I’m just gonna decide which one I gravitate to the most and just go with that. — BM, GMA News
Sad Girls, Lang Leav’s debut novel, is available at National Book Store.
Paul John Caña is a writer and live music geek. Check out his blog manontheotherside.blogspot.com. Email him at pjcana@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter and Instagram @pauljohncana.
