Freja Nicole Woolf
About Author
Freja Nicole Woolf wrote her debut Never Trust a Gemini at just 24 years - a joyful, romantic alternative to the issue-led LGBTQ+ stories she grew up with. Her writing is absolutely not autobiographical. (Except for the bits that are.) She lives in London and aspires to be a Capricorn. Unfortunately, she's a Pisces.
Interview
Never Trust a Gemini (Walker Books)
June 2023
Our Teen Author of the Month tells ReadingZone about writing her LGBTQ+ romcom, about a girl who is in love with her best friend. Look out for all the normal, amusing, embarrassing things that we expect from a rom-com, says author Freja Nicole Woolf, who is celebrating being a published author with a book she wrote aged just 24.
Read a Chapter from Never Trust a Gemini
"I wanted the kind of story you'd sit down to relax with on Netflix, something funny and relatable, and with good characters. Those spaces shouldn't just be for cis straight romances!"
Q&A with Freja Nicole Woolf
1. What was your route into becoming a published author? Do you fit your writing around a 'day job'?
I am supposed to fit writing in around my day job, but it's challenging. I work best in intense bursts, so my best writing work recently has been done on leave from work, when I can completely focus. It's rarely taken me longer than three months to produce a first draft. That's how I wrote Never Trust A Gemini - I was stuck at home for a long time with nothing else to think about! Then I got incredibly lucky with stumbling across my agent, and that's how it happened. I may never have been proactive enough to become published without her. You'd think I were a Taurus or something.
2. What is Never Trust a Gemini, about, and what inspired the story?
The book is about a 14-year-old lesbian, Cat, coming of age as chaotically as possible. She's in love with her straight best friend, Alison, and, as an astrology addict, she's convinced their love is written in the stars. But a gorgeous Gemini, Morgan, throws Cat's plans off course by being cool and enigmatic. Essentially, it's a classic rom-com story. I wanted all the normal, amusing, embarrassing things that we expect from a rom-com, but make it sapphic.
"I learned that writing happier books can make you feel happier as well!
I'd never tried writing comedy before, so it was a real eye opener."
3. This is your debut novel - how long did it take you to write, and what did you learn through the process of writing it?
I had written this book before, but wasn't fully happy with it, so I actually rewrote it before letting my agent read the full thing. It took me just over three weeks, and I learned that writing happier books can make you feel happier as well! I'd never tried writing comedy before, so it was a real eye opener.
I think what really helped is that I'd written about these characters beyond this book, and so knew them better than if I were starting fresh. In a sit-com, it often takes a couple of seasons for the characters to settle in - however I was able to go back and polish up Season 1 by already having Season 2 in the bank. It was uncharacteristically well-organised of me.
4. What did you draw on from your own life for this book - any embarrassing bits?
I will put it like this. One time, I went to a party where I fell down the stairs, then tipped backwards off my chair into a bush, then sat on a swing seat which tipped rainwater all over me. All in one evening. (It's fine.) So, I've definitely got a clown streak to me, but Cat's specific disasters are rarely, if ever, taken from real life… thank goodness. I am not Cat, and her story is entirely her own. That said, I do believe her story is a very universal experience!
5. So why did you want to write a funny, romantic LGBTQ story?
I wanted to read an easy-going and happy LGBT story. Being LGBT is hard and there is absolutely a space for these stories on our shelves, but I feel it sends the wrong message if that's all LGBT people have available! Being gay, even a little gay, is actually very normal, and we can be LGBT in every walk of life and in every type of story - including light-hearted, everyday ones. I wanted the kind of story you'd sit down to relax with on Netflix, something funny and relatable, and with good characters. Those spaces shouldn't just be for cis straight romances! (Although Love Island, they can keep…)
"Being gay, even a little gay, is actually very normal, and we can be LGBT in every walk of life
and in every type of story - including light-hearted, everyday ones."
6. What makes this novel so funny?
I started to pursue the funny route after glittering up the language itself. I wanted to make it clean, as originally there was quite a bit of swearing! But I realised that by making up my own slang and vernacular, I could actually inject a lot of humour into a scene from how things are said: there doesn't have to be a dramatic fall every chapter! Although I enjoy writing that too…
7. Can you tell us about your main character, Cat; how did she develop?
I wanted Cat to counter all the things we usually see in a YA heroine. Instead of being an edgy outsider, Cat runs with the popular crowd. She's quite conventional, a girly girl who likes pink and princesses and isn't bothered by that. She has a stable, supportive homelife and doesn't always say and do all the right things: she's flawed and normal and hopefully, through all this, relatable. I always joke with my friends that I am secretly very basic, and I think Cat is a little bit the same!
8. Why did you decide to give her an all-absorbing interest in astrology?
Cat is a massive hopeless romantic, and so looking to the stars for romantic guidance very much makes sense for her. Like many of us, especially in our teens, Cat is looking for answers and for a sign: something she can feel safe in as her world expands with growing up. Astrology is also a very sapphic belief system, and as we all know, Cat is a full-on resident of Planet Venus!
9. So would you ever trust a Gemini?
Absolutely. One of my best friends is a Gemini! However, after the publication of my book, there's a strong chance that Geminis won't trust me…
10. Who is your favourite supporting character and why?
Easy answer: Siobhan. I know she can be horrendous, but that's what makes writing her so much fun. I love that she's shock-factor and a little controversial; but she's also inspirationally confident in herself, and her ability to take command of any situation is something I envy. Sometimes, when I'm feeling socially anxious or I'm struggling to stand up for myself, I ask myself, how would Siobhan behave right now? Then I dial that down by at least ten notches and sometimes it does the trick!
"Sometimes even our closest friends behave in ways that confuse or offend us.
Working through those conflicts, and accepting that we don't have to think or feel the same about everything, is really important."
11. You also explore toxic friendships and bullying in this story; how does that work into the novel's main themes?
Loyalty and friendships are such an important part of growing up. We need those ride or die figures in our lives, but sometimes even our closest friends behave in ways that confuse or offend us. Working through those conflicts, and accepting that we don't have to think or feel the same about everything, is really important, and similarly, Cat doesn't have to be surrounded by other purely LGBT people to be safe and sure in her identity.
I'd disagree actually that any friendships in Never Trust A Gemini are 'toxic'. They all serve Cat in some way, even if in teaching her what she doesn't vibe with, and I don't think any of the characters are inherently bad people. Except maybe Evil Cousin Lilac! They're teenagers at the end of the day. I've been just as bad and good as any of them!
12. Cat's experiences are very funny - but there are also some important issues covered; what would you like your readers to take from the book?
Mostly, I just want people to read it for enjoyment. I want them to laugh, soak up the vibes, and walk away feeling uplifted. If the book can bring positive energy to enough people, it's served its purpose for me. But if it can help normalise being LGBT along the way, just a little bit more, that would be amazing! I want people to see that it's not (or, at least, it shouldn't be) a big deal.
13. What are you writing currently, and what are your hopes and plans for your writing career?
Currently, my only hope is that I complete the edits for Book 2 successfully. I am trying not to think too far ahead, because who knows? Maybe I'll give it all up and move into an igloo like Pingu.
14. What kinds of books do you enjoy reading, when you're not writing your own? What does a favourite day of 'doing nothing' look like for you?
I envy people who can comfortably spend a day of doing nothing. I have no Taurus in my chart and it shows: I am rarely happy relaxing around the house or reading in bed! I read usually on the train - a little YA but more adult, anything LGBT or somehow alternative, with textured, imperfect characters. I've been really into non-fiction and biographies recently too. And if I'm doing nothing, I need to do nothing with a friend. Then I can trick my brain into thinking I'm doing something instead…
Never Trust a Gemini
