In Conversation with The Writer I Could Have Been

I recently read a profile of the late great writer Stephanie Hoogstad called “The Writer I Could Have Been” (a title which, I believe, was meant to evoke Ms. Hoogstad’s posthumously granted wish to become a famous writer). I was baffled by the brevity of the piece and by how shallow its analysis of her writing actually was. In fact, there was no analysis of Ms. Hoogstad’s writing itself. Instead, it focused on the fame of the Elon the Alien drabble series, as well as brief analyses of overall patterns in her writing. This is an injustice to a writing career which, while certainly incomplete (as most writing careers are), was prolific.

While Elon the Alien is Ms. Hoogstad’s best-known and most controversial piece—as is evident by the Hulu miniseries and the slew of lawsuits from Elon Musk’s estate—it is not, by far, her best work. Ms. Hoogstad wrote several short stories and poems that went into more depth about the state of society and arguably had a greater impact on the reading world.

The Animal Kingdom is turning on its head

The lion’s share has been thrown out to the hyenas

While the lioness scrapes and scavenges

To make up for the loss from her hunt

To keep her pride alive

Starvation is imminent

The King of the Savannah lies dying

As hyenas laugh down at him

The one percent taking over the population—

Scavengers taking food while hunters get nothing

Why don’t the lions eat the hyenas instead?

Natural order restored

--Stephanie Hoogstad, "The Kingdom of Capitalism"

As shown above in “The Kingdom of Capitalism”, Ms. Hoogstad did not shy away from politics in her works beyond Elon the Alien. She often addressed such issues as poverty, the breaks cut to the one percent, and the need for more generosity and unity among humankind. She also utilized Greek and Roman myths in many of her poems, turning them on their heads to criticize the themes often associated with them and society in general, as can be seen in such works as “Icarus” and “Hera’s Triumph”.

Oh, my husband, he should raise me up

But instead he just tears me down

He cheats, lies, belittles me

He should watch out for me

I lie in wait like

A snake and strike

When he least

Expects

It

--Stephanie Hoogstad, "Hera's Triumph"

However, it was not just poetry that Ms. Hoogstad used to explore society and its themes. In fact, she called fiction her “first love” and said that it was her way of making sense of the chaos of the world. This is best seen in one of her earliest works, a werewolf short story (although one could argue it might have been a first chapter) called “Sanity” that Ms. Hoogstad wrote at the tender age of sixteen.

Edward Cullen and Harry Potter never had to go through this, I thought. They were never questioned. “I’m a vampire and I want your blood.” “All right. I love you!” “I’m a powerful wizard even though I’m abused.” “Great! Save us!” I huffed. Then again, that’s fiction. This is reality. Not everyone gets a fucking happy ending and can be controlled and forced to not question things.

--Stephanie Hoogstad, "Sanity"

In “Sanity”, Ms. Hoogstad brings readers to the brink of what is truth and what is fiction, questioning the narrator’s sanity just as he does. It also brings into question the practices of modern mental institutions, abuse, and mental disorders—particularly posttraumatic disorders—overall. Although not entirely accurate in some of its portrayals, it was impressive for something written by a sixteen-year-old.

Even award-winning writer Paul Stewart, a contemporary and ally of Ms. Hoogstad, had this to say about “Sanity”: 

Well now bravo. I absolutely fucking hate Henry. Don't trust Dr Huber very much and love how you did Ken. To say you wrote this when you were 16 is astonishing. Crikey it's complex and clever and shows a keen understanding of mental health and psychology. I was engrossed by it. Not just blowing gas up your ass.

--Paul Stewart

Ms. Hoogstad continued to use fiction to explore the psychological side of humankind even as she reinvented fairy tales, as can be seen in her twist on Peter Pan, a psychological thriller titled “Neverland Lost”. Her love for fairy tales can be found throughout her career, from “Red Shift” (a take on “The Pied Piper”) to “Lips as Red as Blood” (a vampiric retelling of “Snow White”). It is with “Neverland Lost”, however, that Ms. Hoogstad truly used her ability to turn fairy tales on their heads to explore psychology of the world around her. Although considered “a rather dark take on the fairy tale,” it is also one of Ms. Hoogstad’s greatest triumphs in terms of character, plot, and theme.

Many people want to focus on Ms. Hoogstad’s incomplete works, such as Elon the Alien and La Belle Fatale. However, this approach to her life and works only takes away from the stories and poems that she did complete. Did we lose out because Ms. Hoogstad left so many stories without endings? Yes, that is unfortunate for us because we may never know what she wanted to say with those stories. Nevertheless, we should not focus on what was left unsaid. Instead, we should focus on what she did say, which was this: take care of each other, take down the rich, and remember that everyone is going through something, even the villains in our lives.

That is the true legacy of Stephanie Hoogstad.