Spotlight: Exploring the Intimacy of Privacy, Savannah Brown Talks “The Things We Don’t See,” Social Media & More
WITH ONE SCROLL THROUGH HER INSTAGRAM — you get to know everything you need to know about Savannah Brown. First, that she is a writer. Second, she is a dedicated parent to a cat named Bug and two fascinating leaf insects. Third, she has purposefully set boundaries surrounding what she shares on the internet: you know what she needs you to know, and she intends to keep it that way.
Sharing her work online is something that Brown has considerable experience with: she was only 14 when she first started posting videos on YouTube, and it wasn't long before she found herself in the midst of a small community of new friends and viewers. “Of all of the things that are difficult to endure, sharing one’s life publicly isn’t super up there,” Brown remarks. “But I struggled with it a lot during my transition from a kid who had always seen having an audience as some inescapable feature of my life to a neurotic young adult who realized my ‘putting myself out there’ was actually a choice I’d made with life-altering consequences.”
Brown's YouTube uploads are now more sparse — she creates when she feels like she has something to say, and every time she does, it is just as mind-blowing. With time and adulthood, her content has also changed. Originally sharing hard-hitting slam poetry and occasional vlogs and song covers, the writer has now transitioned to creating haunting film-like videos that record her musings about life, mortality, and existential fears. Though scripted, these are stunningly raw, personal and evocative, and easy to resonate with. However, Brown fears otherwise: “There’s a fear that what I’m making isn’t relatable enough,” she says. “Like, I sometimes feel I should dedicate more time to writing meaning-unobscured or shorter or totally-digestible-within-one-read things that people would understand right away and would therefore be more inclined to share. I think about that a lot.”
Instead of YouTube, her energies are being focused on what she loves best: writing. Since 2016, Brown has published four books: two full-length novels and two collections of poetry. Her latest novel, The Things We Don't See, is a gripping thriller about a missing singer and the teenage girl who sets out to find her, and was released in June 2021 with rave reviews. It has a few things in common with her previous novel, The Truth About Keeping Secrets, the rural, mysterious setting is similar, as is the protagonist's coming-of-age. But despite these similarities, the two do stand out from each other in certain ways. “I came of age in a small town, and I sort of struggle to write about teenagehood occurring anywhere else, so The Things We Don't See follows suit in that sense,” Brown explains. “They’re both pretty moody and meditative. The Things We Don't See is maybe a bit darker. And The Truth About Keeping Secrets, to me, is more of a thriller hidden inside a quiet contemporary (or maybe the other way around) while The Things We Don't See is more of a straightforward mystery. Though I think they’re both stories which end up being about something other than what you thought they were about.”
Amongst the things that Brown turned to while writing, her latest thriller included a playlist that reminded her of the story: “It’s a weird mix of things — sort of wired and angry and searching and a bit melancholic.” Interestingly enough, all of her own writing follows a similar pattern; however, she finds it hard to describe her writing style. “My interests stay the same,” she states, “i.e., I’m always on some existential bullshit. I’m interested in infinity and finiteness and nature and intimacy and vulnerability and acknowledging that so many small and human things are happening while out of frame there’s, like, a star collapsing. I guess I like to try and breach big topics in a restrained and confessional way.”
But inspiration, for Brown, is better shared. In 2019, the writer founded Escapril, a month of poetry prompts curated by her to inspire poets and provide them with a sense of community. “I try to be as hands-off with Escapril as I possibly can and do my best to refrain from imposing my own will onto any part of it, including the prompts. I don’t take my curator role lightly, and honestly it’s really nice to oversee something creative that also isn’t about me at all,” Brown says. “The prompts always take a while to put together. Instead of being like, ‘I want to read a bunch of poems about this topic,’ I spend time considering what will inspire people, or what ideas might be more challenging to explore, and how it all affects the pacing of the month — I avoid grouping a bunch of heavy prompts in a row, for example. Though I guess the prompts always align a bit with my interests no matter what, as I can’t think about what I can’t think about.” The poet and writer has unarguably succeeded in her role: since 2019, nearly 90,000 poets have taken part in the event, and the community grows with every passing year. In regards to advice for other writers on finding a voice and an audience, Brown suggests, “Read outside of your comfort zone, read actively; try copying other poets as practice to see how it makes you feel. I have no idea how to find an audience, but only do this if you must. For real. I’m pretty sure the only good reason to become a writer is because you would be unhappy doing anything else.”
Apart from writing, curating Escapril, and occasionally sharing a cool outfit on Instagram, Brown has found herself living more privately in the last couple of years. “It’s crazy, but even a totally minute amount of celebrity teaches you how valuable privacy is,” she says, reflecting on how her relationship with social media has changed for the better. “Apart from occasionally losing my mind on Twitter in the form of bad joke sprees, these days I post almost exclusively about stuff I’ve made or am working on (or, in fairness, my leaf insects) instead of anything to do with my personal life. Out of all the platforms I use I’m actually probably the most ‘open’ on YouTube, but even that is in the form of scripted and performed essays, so there’s still a lot of separation. I’m pretty at peace with how I use social media now. I like the quiet. Though I could probably do a bit less vacant scrolling.”
Without the pressure to create content, Brown has been exploring essays, sustainable fashion, video games, and — best of all — “a social life.” Speaking on her intentions for the future, she shares, “At the moment, I have basically five directions I could take myself in so I’m trying to decide if I should pick one or just go every direction at once.” It is doubtless that wherever she goes, Savannah Brown is bound to make an impact.
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