sketchbook: story brainstorming

it's not sherlock holmes! for now...

I’ve recently been very interested in Victorian era queer history. There’s something so interesting in reading about people I recognize instinctively, even if the words they use to describe themselves and the worlds they inhabit are very different from mine. It’s like a chain - one with many lost, destroyed, and hidden links, that nevertheless connects my present experience to people who feel like ancestors. A different kind of family tree, traced through experience and artistry and storytelling.

I suspect there’s a graphic novel in there somewhere, but sometimes you need to sit with a feeling for a while before anything cohesive comes out - and this is a relatively new feeling. So for now, here are some drawings for a story I’m putting back in the oven to cook a bit longer. It’s about a teenager from the present day, a painting, and the link forged between them and two men from the past. Maybe one day I’ll figure out how to tell it.

(at the end of the post is a list of some books I’ve been enjoying on this subject!)

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some stuff I’ve been reading:

Strangers: Homosexual Love in the Nineteeth Century by Graham Robb - this book is a treasure trove of well researched information. A lot of queer history focuses on men and I really appreciate all the stories about women in this one. It’s 20 years old and by (as far as I can tell) a straight author, so there’s some limitations - a total lack of awareness of bisexuality and trans identity - but I really enjoyed it regardless.

Fanny and Stella by Neil McKenna - I’m halfway through this heavily researched story of two trans femmes in Victorian England, the crossdressing trial that scandalized London, their sisterhood and surrounding community, and the love triangle they were involved in. It’s written in a VERY fun and gossipy way and is such a compelling story!

Gay History and Literature by Ricor Norton - it’s a website, not a book (I can’t find his books except at really high prices!) but it’s an obsessively compiled list of…basically…what it says on the tin. There’s a collection of gay love letters that are fascinating to read!

The Portrait of Mr. W. H. by Oscar Wilde, heard of him? This is my favorite Wilde story! It’s about the theory that Shakespeare’s sonnets were written to a young man, and how the desire for proof drives a man to death, and the frustrations and joys of looking for yourself in long-dead writing.

Before Queer Theory: Victorian Aestheticism and the Self by Dustin Friedman - reading this book felt like making my brain lift weights, but it was really interesting - it’s about the Aesthetic movement and how modern queer identity began in the nineteeth century.