Pip Landers-Letts on penning a sapphic story about transformation and hope

“I yearned for a story with a sapphic lead in her early 40s, who doesn’t have her life together”

BY PIP LANDERS-LETTS

For so long, it seemed there was a drought of sapphic representation in mainstream media. For context, I spent my formative years in the nineties – Catholic, closeted and confused. Looking to my TV screen, I saw only the very intense lesbian vet from Emmerdale, and on my bookcase sat a well-fingered copy of Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit. Neither of these quenched my thirst. Finally, a drop of hope… Bad Girls arrived just in time to inform my queer awakening. Around the same time, the legendary Sarah Waters shouldered up to the lonely Jeanette Winterson on my bookshelf. 

Regardless of whether or not the characters depicted were people like me, I drank it all up… thirsty for anything that made my queer existence more acceptable, plausible even. 

Nowadays, I’m grateful that the pickings aren’t so slim. I can scroll through dozens of sapphic movies and TV shows before settling on something to watch. I can even mood read sapphic fiction. You don’t have to look hard to find sapphic representation in all its glorious technicolours, spanning genres and smashing stereotypes. And thanks to the rise of indie-publishing, it’s ever easier to seek out nuanced, relatable sapphic stories.

There’s literally something for everyone. Voluptuous vampires? Of course! Dystopian, dark romance? Sure! Sapphic space pirates? Yes!

Despite the delicious smorgasbord of sapphic stories, I once again found myself again hungering for representation I couldn’t find. I yearned for a story with a sapphic lead in her early 40s, who doesn’t have her life together (not due to her sexuality, that’s incidental), because you’re supposed to have it all figured out by your 40s, aren’t you? 

This craving came from my own shifting circumstances. I woke in the post-pandemic dawn to find I’d lost my sense of purpose and was struggling to grasp my sense of self. Maybe it was burnout, or maybe I just needed a change, either way… I took the brave (some would’ve said stupid) decision to step away from a 15-year career, not really knowing who I was without it, or what was next. Like a bear coming out of hibernation, I crawled out of my cave and squinted into the sun… and after a little reflection, I found my purpose: writing. 

Here I am now, happier and healthier than before, and revived by writing the stories I want to read. My struggle shaped my sophomore release, Pyg. A loose-sapphic retelling of Pygmalion, Pyg is a story about transformation and hope. At 42, Alice is a hot mess… She’s left her toxic lover, she’s about to lose her job and ruin her expensive heels… when a chance encounter changes the course of her life. 

While I’m not Alice, I know what it is to feel a bit lost in life when you should have it all figured out. If you can relate to that, then Pyg might be the book for you!

Pyg is available now from Amazon in paperback, eBook and on Kindle Unlimited. You can find out more at pipwritesfiction.com. You can follow Pip’s journey on Instagram @pipwritesfiction. 

*Click to find your next sapphic fiction read.

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