{"id":2953,"date":"2025-12-11T00:28:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T00:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/websites.emerson.edu\/undergraduate-students-publishing\/?p=2953"},"modified":"2025-12-11T00:28:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T00:28:15","slug":"interview-with-wilde-presss-elisabeth-grass-author-of-moonstruck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orgs.emerson.edu\/undergraduate-students-publishing\/2025\/12\/11\/interview-with-wilde-presss-elisabeth-grass-author-of-moonstruck\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Wilde Press’s Elisabeth Grass: Author of Moonstruck"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Undergraduate Students for Publishing Vice President \/\/ Abigail Lincks<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fifteen years after a violent assault, Eleanor changes each night into a bloodthirsty creature. By day, she is the average department store worker and the victim of her coworkers\u2019 gossip. A little odd, maybe, but Eleanor lets them. After all, as long as she is home before sunset, no one has to know the truth. Clara, a young woman working alongside Eleanor, is everything Eleanor isn\u2019t. Young and newly married, she sees a rosy life before her and is ignorant to the darkness around her. But night is falling quickly, and a new monster is waiting just around the corner. Prowling. Waiting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was definitely cathartic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this interview, Grass speaks to us about her upcoming novella Moonstruck, exploring how the lingering effects of sexual assault can manifest into something both ferocious and empowering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

How does it feel to have Moonstruck picked up for publication?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being an author is something that I\u2019ve always just really wanted to be, so it\u2019s exciting to have this piece published.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What influenced or inspired the novella?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was writing a short story for a class last semester, and I knew I wanted to write something werewolf-ish because I had never done that before and it sounded fun. I was literally just reading the Wikipedia page for \u201cLycanthropy<\/a>\u201d and there was a woman who was institutionalized because she was convinced she was shapeshifting into different animals. That sparked the story that would then eventually evolve into the longer version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, I knew I wanted to write about a woman. I was playing with this idea of whether or not her transformation was actually happening or if it was all in her head, which I\u2019m still open to people interpreting that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What did your writing process look like?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within the past year, I\u2019ve started writing things out on physical paper because I like the act of writing and I feel like it gets my thoughts flowing. Then, I\u2019ll usually construct some sort of outline in a notebook and then write it out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For this novella, I kind of wrote out of order. There were scenes that I could really picture that I wrote first and then I kind of filled the rest of the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because I\u2019m a creative writing major, there was a period where I was like, \u2018I don\u2019t even know if I like this anymore,\u2019 because I was doing it for class. But I had a professor last semester, Jabari Asim, who was so motivating for me. He was just so wise and smart and fun, and he really helped me with this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eleanor (the protagonist) is middle-aged. What made you choose to write from the perspective of an older woman, as opposed to a younger woman your own age?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I was writing the first version of the story, it just made complete sense. I never really considered making her younger. I think the apathy that she goes through life with feels more mature. In the story, we see Clara who\u2019s kind of the complete opposite of her\u2014lively and eager to experience life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which scenes were most enjoyable to write?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think one of the strongest points was the opening scene with Eleanor\u2019s transformation. I feel like I could really get into the nitty gritty with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which scenes were most difficult to write?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The end was the most difficult part for me to write because I was concerned about how vividly I was writing what would happen to Clara. I was definitely concerned I was getting too graphic, for lack of a better word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was also concerned people wouldn\u2019t read it the way I was hoping they would read it, considering it\u2019s very personal and something I really put a lot of my own experience and feelings into. I was concerned about my intentions not being fully understood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How has writing this influenced your experience with trauma?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been a good outlet for me. A lot of the body horror aspects\u2014I could put myself into. I had such an image in my head when I was writing those scenes, so it was definitely cathartic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you hope readers take away?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sexual violence is a real problem. It always has been and will probably continue to be, especially under the current administration with crisis centers being defunded. But there\u2019s always a community out there. There are people who can help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anything else you\u2019d like to share?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve always been nervous to write about really serious topics like assault. But for this piece it was the only thing I was able to think about and I\u2019m glad people seem to be receptive to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, this is a real thing. It definitely needs to be written about and talked about in ways that are not glorifying it. For example, you see so much media of unnecessary rape scenes or abuse toward women that are not relevant to the plot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, I just wanted to counter that with something that is very much something I can relate to and that\u2019s personal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Moonstruck <\/em>will be officially released at Pub Club’s launch party December 13th from 2 PM-4 PM in the Lion’s Den! Make sure to grab yourself a copy and listen to Elisabeth Grass read an excerpt from the story!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Undergraduate Students for Publishing Vice President \/\/ Abigail Lincks Fifteen years after a violent assault, Eleanor changes each night into a bloodthirsty creature. By day, she is the average department…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4,16,17,9,12],"tags":[49,56,26,38,41],"class_list":["post-2953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-about-publishing","category-about-writing","category-author-bios","category-usp-authors","category-pub-news","category-wilde-press","tag-books","tag-emerson","tag-publishing","tag-reading","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orgs.emerson.edu\/undergraduate-students-publishing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orgs.emerson.edu\/undergraduate-students-publishing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orgs.emerson.edu\/undergraduate-students-publishing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orgs.emerson.edu\/undergraduate-students-publishing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orgs.emerson.edu\/undergraduate-students-publishing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2953"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/orgs.emerson.edu\/undergraduate-students-publishing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2986,"href":"https:\/\/orgs.emerson.edu\/undergraduate-students-publishing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2953\/revisions\/2986"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orgs.emerson.edu\/undergraduate-students-publishing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orgs.emerson.edu\/undergraduate-students-publishing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orgs.emerson.edu\/undergraduate-students-publishing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orgs.emerson.edu\/undergraduate-students-publishing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}