Delia Gallegos

Delia Gallegos has been a nerd longer than she has known the meaning of the word. Texas born and raised, she’s a writer, an off-key singer, and journal enthusiast. When she’s not lamenting the lack of Ravenclaw representation in the Wizarding World, Delia enjoys nerding out over Jane Austen, Game of Thrones/ASoIaF, Lord of the Rings, all things Disney, and Doctor Who. We spoke to Delia about being a creator and what she hopes to bring to BGC as Creative Coordinator.

Black Girls Create: What do you create?

If I had to pinpoint a single thing, I’d say I create stories. However, I am also a sometimes essayist and an avid doodler. These days I create a lot of Harry Potter-related fan content.

BGC: Why do you create?

Even as a kid, I was drawn to writing, though I didn’t understand why. As soon as I learned writing was something you could do as an adult job, I knew that was it for me. Even in first grade I knew I wanted to be a novelist. My childhood was books and stories through other mediums, like video games. Reading opened up my entire world as a kid and had a profound impact on my development and worldview. To potentially one day be able to impact someone’s life like that, even in part, I feel like there’s no greater purpose.

BGC: Where do you get your creative inspiration from?

My imagination has always worked in overdrive. I’m always daydreaming, imagining a story or world beyond here. Generally, stories come to me as questions first. What if we lived in a world where time suddenly broke? Why did history happen like this? Most of the time, the questions themselves aren’t that creative or interesting. But I like to turn it into a game of coming up with the most creative plausible answer. These often give life to plots and characters who take over from there.

BGC: Why is it important as a Black person to create?

Existing in America is to exist in white culture. White culture is so ubiquitous that it has shaped our histories, societies, and our narratives. It’s important for me to assert my perspective in my art, to say, “I’m here and this is how I see the world.” Creating ensures that the story the world is telling me isn’t the story I’m telling myself.

BGC: How does community help improve your creativity?

Firstly, community has given me access to perspectives I would not have considered before and fuels new ideas. As an introvert, my ideas often bounce around in my head, taking in no new outside information. Having people to theorize and question things with has been absolute fuel to my creativity.

Secondly, having such a strong sense of community has given me a supportive audience. Since I was a kid, I’ve only ever written for myself. A story idea would take hold of me and I’d have to write it down because it was a story I wanted to read myself. Typically, I didn’t share these with people because my interests felt very personal. So while they were good stories, they didn’t feel like The Story I should share with the world. Having a community has shown me you don’t get one chance to tell the world a story. For every story that exists, there is an audience for it, so it’s worth putting out there.  

BGC: Advice for young creators/ones just starting?

My biggest piece of advice to anyone hesitant about creating: Just start. Create it for yourself. Make something you’ll like. In the age of social media, it feels like to be validated as a creator you need an audience. Every other creator on The Platform always seems to have a huge audience and has found their niche. It puts a lot of pressure on that creation when creating anything for the first time can be daunting on its own. Forget all of that. Do it. If you enjoy creating something, and feel proud of what you create, that’s enough.

BGC: What do you hope to bring to BGC?

I’m definitely here to bring Big Yeehaw Energy. In all seriousness, BGC has grown a lot over the past four years. Bayana and Robyn created a podcast that blossomed into a fully fledged community and hub for Black Girl Creators like myself. Then, when they brought Cousin Connie on board, the content flourished, and the audience increased exponentially from there. The momentum and support behind BGC means it has only just started and it is going to keep growing. My hope is to be a support as they move into this next stage and to be able to help them organize and build into even greater, better things. One team, one dream!