Allie Rowbottom: On Predicting Plastic Surgery Trends, Finding the Emotional Core in Our Writing, Society's Obsession with Youth and Her Novel, "Aesthetica"
Photo credit: Roeg Cohen
Last week, Allie Rowbottom took over the literary social feeds of Instagram and Twitter with the release of her novel, Aesthetica, which everyone from The New York Times to Nylon to Glamour covered. I was beyond excited to see such a buzz around this book, one I knew from the moment I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of was going to be a hit. How could it not? Allie tackles the beast of Instagram and social media with compassion while addressing the complexities of our relationship with it. There is no judgment of the platform or the image altering apps and plastic surgeries that are explored throughout the narrative. Instead, Allie, with clear yet emotionally packed prose, focuses more on the desire to be seen, that universal need we all find ourselves struggling to understand. Aesthetica is a novel unlike any other, one you will read obsessively.
I spoke with Allie via email about predicting plastic surgery trends, writing about Instagram, finding the emotional core to make your writing better, our obsession with youth and her process for writing Aesthetica.
What made you want to write about Instagram? Did it feel daunting to tackle such a massive topic, especially with little to no other literature written on the subject yet?
I wanted to write about Instagram because there was little to no other literature written about it. And the stuff that had come out tended to feel stuffy or snarky in a way I wanted to break free from. I also felt I was uniquely positioned to write about social media–and plastic surgery–because I’m willing to use and explore them in both a practical and performative manner, which felt necessary to really inhibit the world of the book. More than anything, I wanted to write about something that would feel hyper-relevant to millennial and gen z readers, because their interest and attention represents the future of books but their interest and attention aren’t catered to by the book industry and are instead capitalized on by technology…like Instagram.
Why do you think we, as a society, are so obsessed with youth and anti-aging, especially on social media? I know this has been a focus for women for years, but filters and photo editing apps on Instagram have taken it to a whole new level.
I think our societal obsession with youth comes one hundred percent from ideology–call it patriarchy, call it whatever you want–that oppresses women in order to uphold a social order in which men are empowered above all others. To say this puts women at a disadvantage is an understatement but I’m trying to be as clear as possible here: it’s oppressive to come up believing your value lives solely in your attractiveness to men; it’s oppressive to believe that after your early thirties (the age at which most men are basically considered zygotes) you lose that value. Or whatever other bullshit we’re all fed from birth. And of course many women don’t buy into this bullshit, but it takes energy to resist it, energy that could otherwise be spent on more meaningful stuff. Anyway, given all this, when handed the tools to instantly edit oneself into an ideal, it’s no surprise (to me) that people take them. Of course, as with any magic fix, there’s a consequence. Which is what Aesthetica explores.
When writing Aesthetica, did you write every day? Are you a routine or ritually motivated writer, or do you prefer to write in longer strides?
I’m a fairly disciplined daily writer. When I’m working on a longer project in particular I tend to go all in on a schedule. I like to start in the morning when I’m fresh and before anything else–emails, phone, editing clients, exercise, whatever–have messed with my ability to focus. I find, though, that I’m a writer who likes a plan. Sometimes the plan isn’t written down, but rather lives in my head; this is usually the case with essays for me, possibly because at this point, I only write essays if I absolutely have to, if whatever I need to say and can only be said in an essay form. In the case of novels or short fiction, I tend to write the plan down. This helps me stay disciplined–if I know where I’m going I don’t lose steam or get disheartened by wondering what happens next.
When you mention that you have to have a plan as part of your daily discipline, what does that look like? An outline or just notes to keep yourself focused?
Increasingly, it's looking like an outline, usually on a yellow legal pad, with notes in the margins and sentences I don't want to forget that sort of thing. I suppose previously it was more just notes and less structural outlining, but I really do find structure the most challenging element of writing (though I am getting much better at it as time passes and I get a few books under my belt - it's true what they say about practice). I find with any fiction I write I begin with a fairly conventional structure - three acts with inciting incidents, that sort of thing - but then expand and complicate things once I have a complete draft and a complete story arc.
With all your Instagram research, are there any plastic surgery or body-altering trends you foresee?
This is a great question. We already know that (as evidenced by the great Kardashian weight loss/BBL reductions of 2022 and, like, Julia Fox’s Instagram) we’re moving toward (backward?) a resurgence of the 90s and early 2000s heroin chic aesthetic (a return that I predict in AESTHETICA). It’s my hope that this trend regulates in a way it didn’t the first time around and by that I mean, it is my hope that young women in particular don’t fall prey to eating disorders as a means of achieving a really impossible, unhealthy ideal. Much more so than the ridiculously large butts of the recent past, I think extreme thinness is an evil trend and one that performs quite literally our cultural hatred of women. Facially speaking, I think we’re also moving away from the dramatic filler obsession of the recent past and toward a more “natural” aesthetic and by natural I mean less filler and more subtle surgical intervention and sooner. Increasingly I think we’ll see research come out that suggests filler ages poorly and does not “go away” with time as has previously been believed. I also think less of a cookie cutter approach (less identical nose jobs, for example) and more attention and respect paid to the unique facial features of each patient is probably (thankfully) on the docket.
After writing Aesthetica, do you now perceive your social media or phone use differently? How has the research you had to do for this novel impacted you?
Writing Aesthetica has dovetailed for me with a growth and exploration of my own Instagram platform which has brought with it the gift of readers and connection but can also be a drain. I’m fairly disciplined about posting my stuff then staying off it for the rest of the day, I think because when I fail to do so I feel physically unwell, mentally tortured by comparison and the anxiety of too much visual stimulation. It’s also seeming to me lately that Instagram is starting to lose some of its power; engagement is down, Tik Tok is taking over. This happens in AESTHETICA as well so I’m not surprised by it. Maybe I’m a little relieved.
Can you share a piece of advice that kept you going while writing this novel?
No matter what you’re writing, find the emotional core of it (my students, bless them, will all undoubtedly chuckle if they read this). I’m all about emotional core. It’s what gives any work that extra oomph, that unputdownable quality. By emotional core I mean what the book is *about* on a deep level beneath and beyond plot or theme. If you have that core, if that core is essential and personal and obsessional to you, the book you are working on will become an important one.
Are you working on anything new now?
Yes I am! But I’m keeping it close to the vest for the time being. It’s my precious project, the thing I look forward to most when Aesthetica is fully birthed and I can once again return to my desk and writing practice. What I will say is that it’s another novel.
Allie Rowbottom is the author of the New York Times Editors' Choice memoir Jell-O Girls. Her debut novel, Aesthetica, is forthcoming from Soho Press in November 2022. Allie’s essays and short fiction can be found in Vanity Fair, New York Tyrant, The Drunken Canal, Alta, Lit Hub, No Tokens, Bitch and elsewhere. She holds a PhD in literature and creative writing from the University of Houston and an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts and lives in Los Angeles.
