Actress and HSS graduate Sophie Lee about her new novel Alice in La La Land
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Australian actress and UTS student Sophie Lee recently celebrated the release of her book Alice in La La Land, originally part of an anthology of stories she completed as part of her final assignment for 'Short Fiction Workshop'.
As a mother of three children (Edie, Tom and Jack) and with another publishing deal in the works, Lee speaks about motherhood, her favourite books and how her time spent at UTS proved a rewarding experience.
Actress and HSS graduate Sophie Lee
Picture by Simon Upton
How did Alice in La La Land come about?
"The story was the final short story in a collection of short stories I did for my final assignment in 'Short Fiction Workshop' (with Angelo Loukakis). I originally enrolled in a graduate certificate a UTS while I was pregnant with my second child and it was when I completed it that I enrolled in my Masters and had my third child. At the moment I am busy looking after my children but I hope to go back and do my Masters next year."
How did the writing workshop influence your writing style or ideas?
"There were so many gifted writers at UTS. It's probably a strange thing to say but a lot of my peers were very gifted within their literary style which made me realise that my strengths lay in characterisation and dialogue within more of a popular fiction genre.
"I unashamedly set out to write my story in a 'popular' sort of style."
"I guess in a sense I didn't want it (Alice in La La Land) to be literary, but I wanted it to still have depth. I wanted it to be entertaining as well as enlightening."
"It's a work of fiction but because the main character is an Australian actress, there was real fertile ground there for my experiences to come out and some of that just poured out when I was writing the story."
How have the different roles you have undertaken, both within acting and different professions, influenced your outlook as a mother and how has your experience of juggling motherhood and study been?
"In my final semester while I was doing the workshop, I was pregnant with my second child and after that I had my third child. It was difficult but I managed to write while Edie, my newborn, was asleep."
"As a mother it's about looking after other people's needs - as an actress you spend a lot of time cogitating about yourself really... As an actor I spent a lot of my time chasing acting work. Being a mother is fulfilling in the way that I can put myself second and help others out more."