INTERVIEW: Dani Arieli and "A Sodomite Out of Principle"

Brent Phakousonh interviews Dani Arieli about her piece "A Sodomite out of Principle", featured in the 2026 Anthology, EXIT LINES, her writing process, and her time at Sheridan's Creative Writing and Publishing Program.

ABOUT DANI ARIELI

DANI ARIELI is a lover of weird, dark, and archaic literature—coddling eccentricity like stitches to a flesh wound, which is sedulously sewn into her poetry and prose. She has creative works featured in 'Lothlorien Poetry Journal', '7th-Circle Pyrite', 'Beyond Words', and more, with one of her short-fiction pieces having accrued a Pushcart Prize nomination. She is the marketing and publicity specialist for At Bay Press, and is an alumna of Sheridan College’s Honours Bachelor of Creative Writing and Publishing program. If Dani is not obsessing over her diction or syntax, you might find her wandering amidst Gothic architecture or wettish woods. You can follow @daniarieli on Instagram, or, visit her website, daniarieli.com, for further authorial diableries.

INTERVIEW

BRENT PHAKOUSONH: What is the inspiration behind your piece? Why is it called "A Sodomite Out of Principle?"

DANI ARIELI: Yeah! So, in the summer, I took Jennifer Chambers' Masterclass in Creative Writing, and we had to choose a piece for our main project, the capstone project – to really "see through" a minimum of fifty-ish pages – which is already a lot for someone who typically writes short stories. And in another class, I think it was a "Research for Creative Writing Class", I had written about a historical French figure, and I found it really interesting because I hadn't really dabbled in historical fiction, or literary fiction for that matter. And with that in mind, I really wanted to like, delve into a story that would pertain to both historical and literary fiction, but also cover a historical figure. And I thought it would be very interesting if I found someone who's more infamous, than famous, and I came across The Marquis De Sade and I, you know, I'd read up on him in a lot of scholarly articles, and I was like, "this guy's really weird, I'm going to write about him."

And then I started writing it, and I got about about forty pages in for the Masterclass and I didn't know if I was going to see it through past that, of course, because I didn't have like, a specific manuscript in mind. Because I just, I feel like you can't really force that, you kind of know when that's your long-form manuscript more-or-less. And then I kept writing and I realised, how interesting it is to write in the head of someone so depraved, and it almost – once again, not like, the plot itself – but the writing process, has been weirdly therapeutic to me, just how crazy it is, how debauched you can get on the page. It's really been a really wonderful process.

And yeah, that's the inspiration more-or-less. I thought it would be super unique to write something that's well out of my comfort zone, that every time I sit down and write it I think hey, you know, "this is a boring scene". It's just been super unique for me. And why it's called a "Sodomite Out of Principle", so I love naming things, but it takes me a long time to name things because I want the title to feel like it sticks. And I was actually going through a very old draft of it recently, and the original name I had for it, I believe it was "The Literary Origins"– or Orgies, not orgins, haha–

BP: Hahaha

DA: Origins or orgies– either one would work, honestly– of Citizen Sade, okay, that's cool, then I was reading an article on him, that said verbatim, that he was like, "a sodomite out of principle" and I was like, oh that's really cool, and I basically pulled that from the article. And that is currently my working title, but it feels like with all the workshops I've gone through and the people I've spoken to about this piece, it really feels like it's going stay, so, yeah!

BP: How has Sheridan's CW&P program impacted your writing career?

DA: So, when I came into this program I knew that it would be a very good way to hone my skills as a writer – and editor and reader. What I didn't expect, though, was how many connections I would make and learning really, like, the actual meat of actually being in the industry and being a writer. And the amount of events Sheridan holds, for example the Ampersand Review, and the events the professors will tell you about like The Word on The Street, for example, I ended up going to all these events and it was great, because I met all these people in the Can-Lit world, and honestly, I don't think I would have been able to do that for two reasons: 1. I wouldn't have known about the events and 2. I'm rather shy, and I don't think I would have like, actually gone out to these events to meet people, so I was kind of incentivised to be there because I knew my other peers were going to be there and my profs were going to be there.

In the vein of my profs too, they have been so helpful, and just wonderful these past four years. Specifically actually, for poetry – and I want to mention poetry too because, I feel like if I hadn't honed my poetry skills, my manuscript wouldn't be in the voice that it is today, which I'm very proud of. I took Paul Vermeersch's poetry class, and I'll never forget, the first day, I didn't know what poetry was about. I didn't even like poetry at the time, and I sat down and I crafted a "poem" and he sits down, and he looks at me and says "Dani, this is shit," hahah.

BP: Hahaha

DA: And I realised from that day forward, there were a lot of places to improve both in poetry and prose, and reading and substantive copyediting – everything. And all of the Profs in the program really helped me hone those skills and I think once again, my manuscript and other short stories and even academic writings, wouldn't be at the level they are today if it weren't for my professors and Sheridan as a whole.

BP: Two things I kind of want to follow up with you, One: Paul is always, he's the professor that'll just keep it real with you, so I love how that just directly translates, as someone who has also been taught by him, so I think that's really cool. And second, the thing about connections, it's not just the Sheridan program or CW&P in general, but obviously the people in our class. Because you just don't know, obviously, you don't know where everyone's going to go. It's gonna be really interesting to see and then, you never know, you might just collaborate with someone in the future, in CW&P, right?

DA: Exactly, yeah. It's been a wonderful experience and I'm really excited to see all my peers out in the "CanLit Wilds", as I call it, so–

BP: Haha, that's good. So what's one thing you would say to the next graduating class of CW&P?

DA: Yeah! So to the next graduating class, and I honestly would give this advice to any emerging writer, it would be to stick with what you truly want to write. Because I feel like a lot of people, especially in the more contemporary age of reading and writing, and just really, creativity as a whole, people get really swept up in wanting to write what's hot, and what you know is going to sell. And that's fine, but I think if you really want to remain happy in this vocation, you should absolutely stick to what you think is interesting, to what you want to show the world, how you want to show your voice. Whether that's poetry, prose, scriptwriting, etcetera – I think a lot of people get nervous to, especially if you're going against the grain there, and you know, if no one's really writing what you're writing, I think that's great, honestly.

So, in a nutshell, stick to what you want to do regardless of what anyone says to you. And also, take it from someone who is writing about the Marquis De Sade. Haha.

BP: Perfect, thanks a lot, Dani. Thank you for your time.

DA: Thank you, Brent.

LISTEN TO "A SODOMITE OUT OF PRINCIPLE" HERE