About Me — Jay Pendragon. Queer, trans* writer and creative ‘Jay…
By: Jay Pendragon
Tags: LGBTQ, Self Improvement, About Me, Activism, Freelance

About Me — Jay Pendragon

A formal selfie of Jay, since they have yet to get headshots taken.

Where I am right now

My bio up there is a mouthful, isn’t it?

I’m the first to admit it’s difficult to describe the various shapes of projects and creative endeavors I immerse myself in. Finding your niche and specializing in it seems to be the prevalent advice, yet I’ve never been one to fit well into boxes.

(Not even those of binary gender.)

Anyway, for now I embrace the diversity of my creativity. I’m a ‘Jay of all trades’, so to speak! Maybe life will lead me to a more well-defined area, but until then I happily follow my Muse where she takes me.

Here’s a quick overview of the main formats I travel in:

Essays and content writing

Since you’re reading this on Medium, I assume you already know — or at least suspect — that I write essays and other content.

While I enjoy educational pieces about certain issues, personal essays hold a special place in my heart. As someone trained in anthropology, the very clear subjectivity of an author taking you through a journey or a story resonates deeply with me.

With such essays, I know exactly who is speaking and from where they are raising their voice.

Fiction and fanfic

I barely buy books. And most copies I do acquire are non-fiction or from writers I simply want to support with my buck (or both).

The reason for this can be found in my love for fanfiction — fan-written stories about existing fictional worlds, shared for free online. I have yet to run out of superb reading material, because yes, fandom is full of incredibly talented writers. It’s where I grew up and learned about storytelling, too.

I still write fanfic, albeit less now that I strive to turn writing into a full-time job for me. If you’re curious as to what I’m working on, you can find my fanfic on my AO3 profile.

My fics tend to be modern AUs, alternate universe takes on the characters that come naturally to me and are the kind of stories I enjoy reading the most.

They also lend themselves well for adapting them into original works — which I’ve begun in 2020 and will continue as I grow my published fiction portfolio. Until I switch to ‘fully’ original works, that is.

Jay (right) on the set of their second short film, “The Hacker”.

Screenwriting and filmmaking

I absolutely love both the storytelling potential of movies and series and the transformative effects that scripted stories on screen can sometimes have.

I want to be a part of this and so keep honing my screenwriting skills, whether on original works (shared on Scriptrevolution), or when collaborating with others on translating their vision onto the page and eventually the screen.

At first, I was drawn to the glamour and excitement of the movie industry, yet as I came more into my skin and my true self, this changed: I saw the lack of BIPOC representation, how few queer storylines there were and continue to be, how trans* and size-diverse characters are still far and few between.

So yes: My big dream is to help create a more diverse and inclusive global media landscape.

Copywriting

When the pandemic hit, I lost my side job, i.e. my main source of income, at a Berlin cinema.

Gone was the predictable salary that I could influence by signing up for more hours. All that was left was a mini-job managing the Facebook profiles of a local school in my Bavarian hometown, which would also conclude in December 2020.

I decided to interpret this as a sign from the universe and went for something that had been at the back of my mind for months now: copywriting.

While I have experience in social media marketing, spent years as a journalist writing for a local newspaper (in print!), and crafted my own website, I always shied away from the complex world of copywriting.

Why? Well, I used to think all copywriting is manipulative marketing trying to get you to buy products you don’t need.

I didn’t realize that copywriting also covers newsletters from therapists and coaches, flyers for group programs, website copy for truly wonderful companies and brands whose mission is to help, not (just) to make a profit.

Which is why I find myself on Upwork and offering my copywriting skills on various platforms, including my website.

Beyond these…

I also translate, sometimes still write for the newspaper, give filmmaking workshops for kids, have completed two short films, am in the process of starting a podcast…

So yeah. It’s a lot.

But at the end of the day, stating who I am at the core of my being, in my heart of hearts… that’s easy.

I’m a writer.