Interview | Grace Valerie-Lynette on her new podcast Twinemies

Next up on my local artist interview segment is the amazing Grace Valerie-Lynette, the writer and producer of new comedy podcast that's climbing up the charts, Twinemies.

With an interest in stories portraying queer teens coming of age in odd and strange ways, Grace Valerie-Lynette is a contemporary writer and honest storyteller with a penchant for using experimental formats to portray heightened emotional worlds. In 2021/2022 Grace's debut musical podcast 'Twinemies' was created with funding from the Community Broadcasting Foundation as a part of SYN Media's Podcast Incubator Program, and is referred to as the cheesiest, gayest, and sappiest podcast of 2022, is a queer teen romcom musical. Here's what Grace had to say....

VIRAG: How did the story behind Twinemies come about?

GRACE: I really love those late nineties, early naughty rom-com films. Like teen rom coms like Ten Things I Hate About You and Clueless. I think they are the best films of the generation and right now I feel like we're in a cheesy, goodness kind of renaissance when it comes to art. We love stuff with a happy ending and me being the person that I am, I really wanted to write a cheesy rom com but I'm also gay so it has to be gay. (Laughs) I wanted to do a contemporary version of a late nineties cheesy rom com and making it queer as that would be great.

It was originally just the story of Darcy, who is one of our two main characters, and her love interest Marco, in an opposite attracts kind of story. I was doing this as one of my final year university projects and my university tutor was doing her phd in twin relationships. I had written an off-hand comment in my planning document saying that Darcy had a twin sister and was competitive with her. My teacher latched onto it and was like 'yes, we can talk about this!' We just got spitballing and brainstorming what the story would be if it was more focused on the twin relationships and that's how it became Twinemies.

Instead of just a generic rom com, it became a coming-of-age story set, keeping the queer element but having it centered around the two teen girls.

VIRAG: What appealed to you about presenting the story of Twinemies as a podcast?

GRACE: I wrote it to be on the stage originally and that was my whole plan for it. But then covid hit and obviously all theatre productions shut down. And I had been toying around with the idea of a podcast for a while. Like, I really like audio only as a medium. I think it's so interesting. So I was like, okay, maybe I can do this as a podcast instead. I applied for SYN Media's Podcast Incubator Program that teaches you how to create a podcast and pairs you with some of Australia's best radio hosts to mentor you and provide you with equipment.

I was lucky enough to get it and I ended up creating four episodes of the story. So, the story itself is about two hours worth of content but the podcast follows a small arc of the story which takes place at a party and is a kind of a good introduction to the story without giving you the full thing and having you feel overwhelmed.

It follows Darcy and Chloe at the party, Darcy having her first kiss with Margot and Chloe figuring out who her mysterious den boy is. You get a little bit of the twin dynamic as well. Whereas, the full story is actually about these two twins Chloe and Darcy who have a bet going on to see how can do the most iconic teenage acts; from having a first kiss to breaking a teacher to all of those things to see which one is the best twin. The podcast is the proof of concept and hopefully this can go on stage in the next couple of years.

VIRAG: Since the podcast premiered, you had anyone reach out to you from the industry about offers of putting it on stage? Do you know how you'd translate it onto the stage?

GRACE: I've had a few independent production companies approach me about wanting to continue it as the full blown podcast version as well as having it on stage in Sydney. I'd love to have it on stage. I think it would be this really charming story that punches in the face in the same way (Yve Blake's) Fangirls does. That show is my inspiration for this.

I saw the play twice, in Brisbane and Sydney, and I spoke to Yve after the second time I had seen it and I told her about how I was working on Twinemies. She gave me her phone number and talked to me for like three hours. She was so wonderful and I'm so grateful for her support. That's the core of how Twinemies came to be.

VIRAG: How can we support you as an independent artist and creator ?

GRACE: Supporting Twinemies is the best way you can support me (Laughs). The more you listen to it, the more it climbs up the charts. We've been lucky enough that we are currently sitting on number three in the charts. And last week we got featured on Apple's New and Noteworthy which was like what the -. This is the third Australian podcast to be featured on the chart. It's pretty crazy.

And talk to people about Twinemies, getting the word out that people are interested in queer love stories and want this content is vital is getting this to go any further.

You can find Twinemies out now where-ever you get your podcasts, but more specifically:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6CQ9igv7TcljL9C8loFpfT?si=6c10e41d9ee845f4

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/twinemies/id1578807692

Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/Podcast/B08JJQXMSD

Social Media:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/twinemies_musical/

Tumblr: https://twinemies.tumblr.com/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@twinemies_podcast

Official Website: https://www.twinemies.com/

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