Every year we have a talented collection of participants whose work is featured at our Gala. Over the next few weeks, we will interview and get to know some of our writers from the 2023 Gala: What Now!? Next up is Christina Santos! Check out her interview.
1. How did it feel to have your work performed at the Gala?
Intimidating! I am very shy about my writing so this was an enormous leap for me. When I saw that Merritt Wever was one of the actors, I almost fell out of my chair! Ultimately, I am glad I submitted the work. The other WGI writers were supportive and generous. I was proud to be among them and inspired by their writing.
2. What is something you’d like to achieve with writing?
I would like my writing to help people feel less alone. Storytelling connects us, whether the content resonates with us or is from a perspective that we are experiencing for the first time. I hope to write something that helps people understand themselves and others better. I do think that specificity helps. “It is hard to hate people up close,” has been attributed to a number of different people. Regardless of the source, it’s true.
3. How has your writing grown over the years?
It’s hard for things to grow without light. Because I haven’t shared much of my writing, it hasn’t had an opportunity to grow. WGI has allowed me to share my writing, receive mentoring from professional writers, and learn from other WGI participants. The past few months have changed the way I think of myself as a writer.
4. What are some of your favorite books, TV shows, movies?
I have a special place in my heart for women whose writing traced characters from childhood through adulthood in a series of books: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery, Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace. Despite outdated and problematic aspects of each of these series, the idea that a reader can follow these characters from childhood through adulthood– and that so many of the main characters are writers themselves– is really meaningful to me. I would love to write a series about a girl growing up in Philadelphia in a working-class Catholic family, coming out as queer, and finding her identity through story-telling. Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume also mean the world to me. As a kid, I slept with their books under my pillow and read them until they fell apart.
I will read anything by Ann Patchett, Colson Whitehead, Jesmyn Ward, and Elizabeth Strout. I’m so glad I was alive at the same time as Toni Morrison. She treated every word, written or spoken, with respect. For commentary, I’ve learned so much about both writing and life from Roxane Gay, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Tressie McMillan Cottom.
I am a tv and movie junkie, which I justify because I read more than eighty books a year. Otherwise, I’d be afraid my brain was turning to mush.
The Philadelphia Story is my all-time favorite movie. It has love, comedy, a main character who is a writer, and Katharine Hepburn. You can’t get better than that!
Some of my favorite TV writers are Quinta Brunson of Abbott Elementary (Team Philly, always!), Brett Goldstein of Ted Lasso and Shrinking, and Amy Sherman-Palladino of Gilmore Girls and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. No one writes like Aaron Sorkin. West Wing is my favorite show of all of time. I watched The American President on VHS every day in the 12th grade. I recently started watching Black Mirror and can’t help but wonder what is happening in Charlie Brooker’s brain. Black Mirror is both brilliant and absolutely terrifying.
5. What do you like to do for fun (other than writing)?
I have been knitting for twenty years. Knitting in my sanity. I was thrilled when Michelle Obama shared about her love for knitting in her newest book, The Light We Carry. I have a clinical anxiety disorder and knitting is instrumental in managing my mental health. I also quilt and make dresses. I rarely sit still without some piece of needlework.
My wife and I love to travel and spend time with our families, including eight nieces and nephews. Being an aunt is one of the joys of my life.
6. How did participating in a WGI (Writers Guild Initiative) workshop help your writing, (if so)?
WGI has been transformative for me. It has encouraged me to share my writing in a way that I have always resisted doing. Support from WGI participants and mentors has helped me feel more confident in sharing my writing, even when I’m not satisfied with it. As a lifelong perfectionist with a fear of failure, first drafts do not align with my expectations of myself. I like everything to be right the first time. Writing doesn’t work that way. It gets better with time, feedback, and revision.
7. What/Who inspires your writing?
My Gram was a tremendous storyteller and a huge influence on my life. I learned nursery rhymes by heart before I could read. I’ve always loved story songs, which feel like the grown-up version of nursery rhymes.
Even though I am neither a songwriter or a performer, I am inspired by songwriters. Joni Mitchell, of course, is a genius. John Lennon, Dolly Parton, Bernie Taupin, Brandi Carlile, Bruce Springsteen, Carole King, James Taylor, Billy Joel, Emily Saliers and Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls. My wife laughs because any time a Stevie Wonder song comes on, I declare, “national treasure!” which I truly believe. When Burt Bacharach died, I realized just how many of his songs are favorites of mine. And Taylor Swift. I listen to at least one Taylor Swift song every day because you can’t beat her honesty.
I’m also inspired by musical theater writers. Lin-Manuel Miranda is a once-in-a-generation talent. Stephen Schwartz of Godspell and Wicked has the most incredible mind for words. Even when his characters misuse words, it’s brilliant! Sondheim’s Somewhere from West Side Story never fails to make me cry.
8. What is your favorite piece of writing (by you or otherwise)?
I have read James Joyce’s The Dead, the final short story from Dubliners, countless times since I was seventeen. I have a visceral reaction to that story. It makes me ache, in the best way, just thinking about it.
I know people think it’s pretentious to say this but my favorite book of all time truly is Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. It is so singular in form, narration, perspective– it is incomparable in terms of storytelling. DFW’s death was a loss to us all. It’s overwhelming to think about the art he could have created.
I could listen to Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell every day for the rest of my life and never tire of it.
9. Any advice, tips, resources or guidance you’d like to share for someone who wants to write?
Oh geez, I do not feel qualified to give advice to anyone! I’ll share one piece of advice from Ann Lamott’s Bird by Bird: Give yourself permission to write a “really shitty first draft.” Even when you are scared or tired or think you are both an awful writer (and maybe even an awful person), write anyway.
