We’re Obsessed With Queer Writer and TikToker Raven Stone

We don't know about you, but we can spend hours upon hours scrolling through TikTok.

Sometimes we don't even realize we've just wasted a whole morning on the app, but we never regret it, especially after coming across someone as hilarious as Raven Stone. Raven is an actor, writer, singer and so much more. We're willing to bet you've scrolled through one of his videos on your "For You" page—after all, that's how we found him! Our favorites have to be his commentary on movies like A Cinderella Story, Twilight and Legally Blonde. He goes through all the classics!

We got the chance to chat with him all about his life, fame on TikTok and LGBT representation in the literary space. Keep scrolling for our full interview with Raven Stone.

Sweety High: Tell us a bit about yourself!

Raven Stone: I'm a pretty typical midwestern queer person from a small town in Mid-Michigan. I studied comedy writing and performance at Columbia College in Chicago, and after graduation, I moved to West Michigan where I've been ever since. I loved living in Chicago, but I needed a change of pace and room to breathe. I'm incredibly close with my family, so it's great to be able to see them all the time (including our Australian shepherds, Bernie, Barry and Freddie.) My apartment is in the middle of the woods, which is a similar environment to the one I grew up in, and my creativity thrives when my environment is comfortable and familiar. I guess I could summarize myself as an old-soul, hopeless romantic, with a love for the arts and an obsession for all things Queen/Freddie Mercury.

 

SH: What is your debut novel about?

RS: It's a queer love story set in 1952, in a town similar to the one I grew up in. The story follows Samson, a jaded and insecure wallflower, and Neil, a misunderstood greaser, who find themselves swept up in an unlikely summer romance. I was very close with my Granny growing up, and she instilled this love for the movies and music of the early 20th century, and I couldn't think of a better period in time to set the book. As I said before, I'm a hopeless romantic, and this story really indulges that part of me. While the romance part is great, what I hope young people will take away from it is to live in the moment and not worry about the future (easier said than done.) I think a lot of the time we think about our lives as not having started yet, which is simply not true. We're meant to enjoy our lives at every stage, so do what makes you happy in the now and have faith in your future self that you're going to be okay. I'm currently querying my manuscript to literary agencies, so fingers crossed we'll get a "yes" soon!

 

SH: Why is it important to you to show LGBT representation in the literary space?

RS: When I was a teenager, there were very few young adult books that had lead queer characters, and I didn't see myself in those that did. Things have come a long way in the last ten years as far as queer visibility in the media, but especially in literature. Now, we have so many incredible books with queer characters of every variety for young people to identify with and be inspired by, which is the most important part. If I would have had even a handful of these books when I was a teenager, I would have felt way more optimistic and hopeful about my place in the world as a queer person. When we read books, we want to fall in love with the characters, we want to laugh with them, cry with them, and root for them, and when you root for a character you love and identify with, you're rooting for yourself.

@mrstoneauthorwho's excited to read my debut novel??? ##fyp ##foryou ##booktok ##queerauthor ##vintage ##oldsoul ##queerromance ##yabooks ##oldfashioned ##aesthetic♬ PUT YOUR HEAD ON MY SHOULDER FROM ANOTHER ROOM – synn ⋆ she/her

SH: What would you tell teens struggling with their sexual identity?

RS: It's important to remember that your sexual identity isn't your whole identity. Sexual identity and gender identity are very important aspects of what makes you you, but there is so much more than that. There isn't a clock ticking down that you have to have these things figured out, so have fun getting to know yourself as a whole and let the rest fall into place. Be friends with who you want to be friends with, wear what you want to wear, listen to music because you love it, and be unapologetic in who you are because there isn't a person on the planet you have to apologize to for being yourself. I spent a lot of years trying to adapt to who I thought I should be rather than learning who I actually am, and it feels so ridiculous in retrospect because knowing who you are is the best gift you can give yourself.

 

SH: We love your TikToks. What inspired you to become a creator?

RS: Originally, I joined TikTok because I wanted to have an active account on every social media platform to promote myself as a writer. It was never my intent to gain a big following from videos that had nothing to do with my writing, but it's become something great that I never expected.

@mrstoneauthor"We wanted to proTICT you" – helen thermopolis #theprincessdiaries #annehathaway #comedy #2000smovies #foryou #julieandrews #commentary #disney♬ original sound – Raven Stone

After I graduated college, I never expected to do anything with my comedy training, but now that I'm creating comedic content, I realize just how much my college education prepared me for it. There was a point a few years ago when I went back to school to be an educator because I was so scared that I wouldn't be able to make a name for myself as a writer or an actor or a singer, and I wanted to have a safe back up plan, but I knew deep down that teaching would not make me happy. (Shout out to all the incredible educators in the world who make the world keep spinning.)

After some reflection and a lot of talking with my mom and my therapist, I decided to stop going to school and give myself a chance. I still didn't know if I was talented enough to make a career for myself as a creative person, but the only thing I could do was try. The "talented enough" mindset is a rough one because, while a certain degree of talent is required to be a creative person, it's the confidence and the drive that gets you to where you want to be.

Now, I have an awesome following on TikTok made up of a huge variety of awesome people that happen to like the same movies and music as I do. So to answer the question, I believed in myself hard enough that I ended up inspiring myself to become a creator, but the continued inspiration comes from my viewers who leave comments about how much they look forward to my content. That's why creators create—to connect and add value.

@mrstoneauthor"LOVE her dress, hate her" #acinderellastory #cinderella #romcom #comedy #foryou #hilaryduff #chadmichaelmurray #commentary #2000smovies♬ original sound – Raven Stone

SH: What are your favorite types of videos to make?

RS: Honestly, all of my videos are my favorite to make because I have fun while I'm making them, but if I had to choose, I'd have to say my Oleson V. Ingalls videos. Mrs. Oleson and Mrs. Ingalls were characters from Little House on the Prairie, and they had an iconic rivalry, so I write my own little skits where I impersonate both of them having little arguments.

@mrstoneauthorSHES BACK #littlehouseontheprairie #littlehouse #classictv #comedy #fyp #foryou #lauraingalls #funny #over20 #over30 #70stv♬ original sound – Raven Stone

It's fun to actually play a character because the videos where I do commentary on things are just me being me. That being said, my favorite thing about my videos overall is reading the comments and connecting with my followers. People always comment that they feel like we're friends, and I love that because it's totally mutual. It's like how watching movies with your best friend and having that shared experience is so much better than watching it by yourself—but it's multiplied by a thousand.

 

SH: Who are your favorite fellow TikTokers to follow?

RS: Barbara Dixon (@broadwaybarbaraofficial) is, without a doubt, my favorite account. She creates autobiographical videos of the fictional Broadway Barbara Dixon, sharing stories from her tumultuous and iconic career on Broadway. Her videos never fail to make me laugh out loud—and not a figurative laugh out loud, but an audible one.

@broadwaybarbaraofficialLearn to Fosse like a pro! ##broadwaybarbara ##fosse ##broadway ##dance ##dancetutorial ##fyp ##foryoupage ##foryou♬ original sound – Broadway Barbara

Terence Sullivan (@papaterence) is another creator I can never get enough of. He does hysterical deep fakes of Ryan Reynolds and Chris Hemsworth, and he has the voice of an angel. Other than that, I don't have a lot of TikTokers that I follow religiously. I'm a fan of any content that makes me smile or teaches me something I didn't know before.

@papaterenceRyan and T swap facts you'll want to share at your next Halloween party #ryanreynolds #tiktokhalloween♬ original sound – Terence Sullivan

 

SH: Are you working on anything exciting at the moment?

RS: I'm working my way through the Twilight Saga commentaries, and I'm at the halfway point with Eclipse. Outside of TikTok, I'm working on the latest draft of my young adult manuscript, and I'm starting to conceptualize what I want my next book to be. I've also been having a lot of fun writing shorter works of fiction, and I'll be submitting them to literary magazines and journals in the near future, and you can subscribe to my website or follow me on Twitter for updates on that. I love this question because I'm at a point in my life where everything I'm working on is exciting, and that's how it should be! Why do something if you're not excited about it?

@mrstoneauthormy AIM was edwardbro13 #twilight #twilightsaga #2008 #2000smovies #fypage #comedy #commentary #edwardcullen♬ original sound – Raven Stone

SH: Is there anything else you'd like our audience to know?

RS: I recorded an album in April! It's a collection of queer folky/fable songs and I'm super excited to take the next steps and (hopefully) release the album officially. If you'd like to take a listen, I have a few of the demos up on my Soundcloud (@ravenstone). Also, I get my sense of humor from my mom.

 

Love TikTok as much as we do? Look HERE for some beauty hacks we learned on TikTok!