Writing queer fiction to heal from religious trauma
In short: For Casey McQuiston, writing isn't just a career; it is a method of survival. By crafting stories about queer people in conservative settings, they aim to provide the sanctuary they lacked as a teenager growing up in an evangelical Christian school.
McQuiston’s literary output is deeply rooted in personal history and coping mechanisms. After experiencing their father's death in 2014 and subsequent mental health struggles in 2015, McQuiston turned to writing as a primary way to navigate these challenges. Their work often serves as a 'conduit' for queer people who need safe spaces to engage with their identities, reflecting the author's own desire to feel less isolated during their youth.
This personal history informs specific narrative choices across their bibliography. For instance, their 2022 young adult novel, I Kissed Shara Wheeler, is set in a Christian high school in Alabama—a setting McQuiston chose specifically to address their own religious trauma. They describe this work as the most personal they have ever written, utilizing the tradition of queer coming-of-age stories in oppressive religious environments to explore themes of identity and escape.
While their debut, Red, White & Royal Blue (2019), drew from high-profile political inspirations like the 2016 American presidential elections and biographies of Hillary Clinton, it remains anchored in McQuiston's lived experience. They have noted that they write queer fiction for the same reasons straight authors write straight fiction: to draw from their own lives. This includes using their own experiences with bisexuality to shape characters like Alex Claremont-Diaz, ensuring that the stories resonate with authentic human emotion rather than just trope-driven plot points.
McQuiston also seeks to challenge structural norms in storytelling. They have expressed a dislike for narratives where queer characters are isolated anomalies within heterosexual casts, arguing that such depictions are unrealistic. Instead, they strive to create diverse queer casts and explore nuanced identities, such as the 'healthy sex positivity' explored in their 2024 novel, The Pairing.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Casey McQuiston
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