Sappho: Behind the Scenes

Originally, I found the idea of writing a short story intimidating. How could I tell an entire story in only a few thousand words? In fact I resisted the idea until Tina, the leader of my writer’s group, organized a contest where we had to write a short story based on one of a list of titles she came up with.

One of the titles was “Sappho”, which Tina confessed she had put in just for me. No pressure, right? So I agreed to write a short story for the contest.

My first thought was that the main character would be a girl living in present day Arizona and that her parents had named her Sappho after the famous Greek poet. And naturally, her parents were lesbians who thought naming their child after a lesbian icon (Sappho the poet herself was bisexual) was a brilliant idea. What they failed to consider, of course, was how cruel kids can be.

So the story begins shortly after Sappho’s world lit class studies Ancient Greek poets, including Sappho’s namesake. Now everyone assumes that their classmate Sappho is a lesbian. And that’s when the harassment and bullying begins. And it is around this issue that the story revolves.

One of my goals as a writer is to illustrate the challenges faced by the gay and gender variant communities. One of those challenges is being bullied in school. This isn’t exclusively a gay or transgender issue. Kids are bullied for any number of reasons including ethnicity, body shape, skin color,  and for no reason at all. However, many educators tend to turn a blind eye when kids are harassed based on their perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.

I’ve thrown a few surprises into the story, too. I’ve had many readers literally gasp when they read it and tell me later, “I never saw that coming.” So I hope you have that same reaction. It’s one of the fun things about reading and writing stories.

“Sappho” is in essence a story about identity and loyalty, and what happens when loyalties are violated. It’s about making choices and having to live with the consequences of those choices. I feel proud of how the story turned out and I hope you enjoy it.

“Sappho: A Short Story” is available in Kindle edition at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003FGWUZ4. But you don’t need a Kindle in order to read it. I enjoy reading Kindle-format books on my iPod touch using the free Kindle for iPhone app. You can also read Kindle books via the free Kindle for PC and Kindle for Blackberry programs.