Seanan McGuire Quotes

Bobbed hair makes women look uniform. They lack individuality.

When I was a teenager I would lock myself in the bathroom for hours, bouffanting my hair like Patty Duke and trying to recreate Barbra Streisand's flawless eyeliner, only to comb it all out and wash it all off before stepping out into the world a butchish bisexual teen.

When I was fourteen, I was one of those kids who wore all black because it matched everything. Seriously.

As a teenager I went all Goth, but I wasn't mopey enough. I would pretend to be, but I'd end up making people laugh.

When I was fourteen and first started going out, I always wanted to be the opposite of everyone else. So I would go to the club in a polo T-shirt and pants and sneakers and a hat on backward, just so I would not be dressed like other girls.

And all the zig-zags and lines in my hair? I used to do that myself. I just thought it was cool that you could actually do that with your hair.

I mean, I'm pretty good in real life, but sometimes people seem surprised that I'm like a normal teenager and wear black nail polish and I'm just a little bit more edgy than the person I play on television.

I don't use labels a lot.

They are called 'Emos' now, and before that they were 'Goths.' They didn't have a name for it when I was one, but I was that black-wearing teenager and yes, I wore a little eyeliner.

I definitely went through some dark teenage years. I wore black raccoon eyeliner every single day. I would be late to school if I didn't have time to put my eyeliner on.

I'm very proud that I was always able to be myself and didn't really care what people thought when I wanted bangs with my little Con-Air curling iron, and I wanted to wear glitter on my eyes and rings on every finger and charm necklaces that look like I was wearing baggage while I skated. But I do look back, and man, those '90s bangs.

You can say, 'I am a poet, rock-climbing shaman, and my name is Hiawatha Moonbeam,' and people in America will say, 'Hey, that's great. All power to you, man'.

I'd spent so much of my youth and twenties dying my hair bright red to either look like Ziggy Stardust or Johnny Rotten.

I went through a rebellious phase, and was super into doing crazy hair things. I did only wear black for my junior year of high school. I was one of those kids.

I just always wear bows. I always love bows, and it's always been my thing.

I wasn't what you would envision for the son of an Army man. I liked doll baby clothes and twirled a baton. But my aunts and uncles tell me how much he loved me.

I grew up in a conservative New England town and showed up to my middle school orientation dressed like 'Clueless' while everyone else was wearing J. Crew and lacrosse uniforms. I never really fit into that preppy look.

I hate to do what everybody else is doing. Why, only last week, on Fifth Avenue and some cross streets, I noticed that every feminine citizen of these United States wore an artificial posy on her coat or gown. I came home and ripped off every one of the really lovely refrigerator blossoms that were sewn on my own bodices.

I hate labels, and I wear no labels. When a man has to put something around his neck and say I am, he isn't.

My plan was to never get married. I was going to be an art monster instead. Women almost never become art monsters because art monsters only concern themselves with art, never mundane things. Nabokov didn't even fold his own umbrella. Vera licked his stamps for him.

I'm too tall to be a girl, I never had enough dresses to be a lady, I wouldn't call myself a woman. I'd say I'm somewhere between a chick and a broad.

Let's look different! I like monster movies, so why can't I have Godzilla's face on my boots?

Maybe I'm a prehistoric monster by being an individual. It's highly likely. All I offer to others is their own individuality. Grab it!

I came to live in a country I love; some people label me a defector. I have loved men and women in my life; I've been labeled the bisexual defector. Want to know another secret? I'm even ambidextrous. I don't like labels. Just call me Martina.

I never saw a ­distinction between a man and a woman. My ­grandparents and my mother were great examples of men and women, and they taught me ­equality. So I would fight with boys and wear my cousin's clothes. I would do whatever I wanted, and that's where I still stand today.