She also comes from not a lot of money, like I do, and sort of deflects the hurt around her appearance and her place in the world with wisecracks and by pursuing people who she knows don’t really value her. And then Beth, who’s big and obvious and can’t pass, is much more true to my experience of life, to the reality that I have to navigate every day. But when you’re born with money and looks, intention only goes so far. I like Fran - I think that she is largely a relatable and well-intentioned person. A friend of mine once said that skinny, rich white people are the Vichy France of queers. Sometimes that’s a neutral thing, and sometimes it’s unfortunately a dangerous sort of collaborator kind of thing. Fran sort of embodies the part of me that wants to be invisible as a trans woman, that wants to conform and disappear into the world around me and not have to deal with any harassment or legal consequences of being a woman in the way that I am. GRETCHEN FELKER-MARTIN: I’d say it’s pretty psychologically straightforward where they come from. SARAH NEILSON: How did you come up with the three main characters, and what do you like most about them?

Shondaland spoke with Felker-Martin about imagining characters of varying trans experiences, the transgressive and transformative aspects of horror, state and interpersonal violence, and how her work as a film critic informs her fiction. LaTanya McQueen Takes on Plantation Weddings.

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