Sarah Rose Etter on Magical Realism, Capitalism, and Writing Through Collapse
How dark fiction, emotional labor, and surreal storytelling help make sense of a broken world.
In this week’s episode of Sick Sad Lit, I talk to acclaimed author Sarah Rose Etter about writing through collapse.
We discuss the surreal underworld of The Book of X, the capitalist despair of Ripe, and how she balances a demanding day job with emotionally intense, boundary-pushing fiction. Sarah opens up about grief, burnout, abortion rights, and why she believes surrealism is one of the most potent tools writers have for making sense of a world that feels increasingly senseless.
We also dive into:
Why she writes for a short attention span
Crafting characters in emotional crisis
What it means to resist under late capitalism
The dark absurdity of the “girlboss” era
And why, sometimes, it’s okay to write badly
🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts
🖤 Read The Book of X and Ripe if you haven’t already (you won’t regret it).