Trevor filmmaker and The Trevor Project co-founder James Lecesne has a new career—teen book author

BY CHRISTOPHER LISOTTA

The 1994 Academy Award-winning short film Trevor won writer and director James Lecesne major acclaim. For the past ten years Lecesne has watched the organization he founded, the teen hotline The Trevor Project, helped thousands of sexually confused teens who felt they were all alone in their struggles. Lecesne's latest project is his book Absolute Brightness, which is narrated by a teenage girl, Phoebe. Absolute Brightness tells the story of what happens to Phoebe's family when a flamboyant boy, Leonard, comes to live with them.

FRONTIERS: Did you start writing thinking you were going to write a teen book?

JAMES LECESNE: If you talk to most young adult authors, you find they really just wrote a book that involves young adults. Because the way the book market is, it is so fragmented, a lot of books are naturally geared in that direction. It was a surprise to me, but in some ways it fits perfectly because of the work I've been doing with the Trevor Project. It seems very natural in some way. To use an overused word, it seems sort of miraculous that it should be for young adults. But the books for young adults these days, well, they are certainly not Nancy Drew. They deal with a lot of very challenging issues. Plus kids are much more advanced than they were when I was a kid, certainly.

Did you know you were going to write a mystery?

I know what I like to read, and I like to read a story where you have to figure something out, and you're compelled to keep reading. To a certain extent, it was a mystery to me as well, and as I was writing it I was also curious to see what was going to happen. I just knew a couple things I wanted to have happen. I knew that Leonard, the main character, would disappear. What happens to him and how Phoebe, the protagonist, finds him was sort of a mystery to me to figure out as well.

Is Leonard an outgrowth of Trevor?

I think (Leonard's) personal circumstances are very different in some ways. Nowadays the difference between the character of Trevor and the character of Leonard is that Trevor doesn't realize he's gay. What has happened in the past 10-15 years is that a lot of kids are identifying much earlier. There is less of an obstacle to it in a way. Leonard is somebody who, though he is pre-sexual, is aware of the fact that he is different, and he is aware that he may be perceived that way, but it's not a big problem for him. It's more a problem for other people.

You get through it quickly—your narrator realizes he's gay and moves on.

She doesn't have a problem with him being gay, she has a problem with him being so different. Even in the gay community, sometimes I find people saying “oh my god, he is so gay.” There is almost a homophobia in the community about that. It's okay to be gay, but you can't be like a big queen.

What was it like getting into the head of a 16-year-old teenage girl? The old gag would be a 30- or 40-something gay guy is the same thing as a female teenager.

For many years I wrote these monologues, and I wrote them as many different people—old men, young kids, housewives—so I had some idea and understanding about voice. I knew that I could enter a character and get into the mind of a character and write in what I hope would be their authentic voice. When I started thinking of this idea of writing the book, I thought this is just a really long monologue. I think what was more challenging was to have to write in such large forms. That was more of a challenge, actually being able to sustain the voice throughout this entire story.

Do you see this as a series?

I think a story for those characters is done. I'm actually developing a series that takes place in different towns around the country and the towns are named after planets.

And this one was of course set in Neptune, New Jersey.

And now the one I'm working on takes place in Jupiter, Florida. They are sort of held together thematically by certain things, but they are different characters and different voices.

And finally, where does one keep his Oscar?

I actually don't have an Oscar! The Oscar goes to the film, and in that category it is given to the producer. Peggy Rajski has the Oscar. But I held it. And I have the envelope in a frame, which they very kindly saved for me.