When I stumbled across these ads, at the age of fifteen or so, it was incredibly exciting-it made me feel less alone, less “wrong.” Back then, personal ads and phone chat lines were a lifeline for young queer people-in a way, they were precursors to the dating apps we see now. On the housing scheme where I grew up, there was a real stigma to being gay it was a hard working-man’s world, and it was unimaginable for anyone to consider themselves out and proud. These types of personal ads were my first connection with a gay community when I was a young man. When did you start thinking about writing a story with a personal ad at its heart? Your story “ Found Wanting,” which takes place in the early nineteen-nineties, is about a seventeen-year-old Glaswegian boy who has placed a lonely-hearts ad in a magazine.
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