As most do, with terrible fan-fiction as a child. From ages 12 - 15, I secretly wrote hundreds of pages of a fantasy trilogy, including multiple full-length spinoffs. I didn’t write until a few years after college, when I meant to toy with a 20k word short-story—that short story became a 99k word YA speculative fiction thriller. Writing has had me in a stranglehold since.

That first YA speculative fic thriller made me realize I had so much I wished I could tell my teenage self, and others who might be struggling with the darker parts of coming-of-age, like I did. And since I’m a go-big-or-go-home girl, I decided to give trad publishing all I had. I researched everything I could about writing, about querying, about publishing.

I sent queries out to agents, and after nine months, got an offer from the most incredible agent (after 12 complete rewrites of that YA spec-fic thriller). We worked on revisions for a few months to make the book as strong as possible, and then sent it out on submission to publishers. It was deemed too genre-blending at the time, but while we waited, I wrote YOU ARE FATALLY INVITED, which we sent out a year later.* Within forty-eight hours, we accepted a UK preempt offer. Less than two weeks later, we accepted a US preempt ahead of a seven-house auction, with separate deals in the UK, Germany, and Italy. I literally went from nothing, never having been paid for my writing or anything, to… way more than I’d ever dreamed of, within two weeks. See below for why I’m sharing all this:

*it is important to note that I nearly put down my pen half a dozen times the year before YAFI sold, the last time being the week before we sent it out to publishers. You never, ever know what’s around the corner. The only failed writer is the one who gave up. Never give up, never surrender, etcetera.

Ted Dekker and Stephen King gave me a love for stories with teeth; J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Paolini, and Leigh Bardugo ignited my fantasy addiction; and Tana French, Marisha Pessl, Maggie Stiefvater, and Melissa Albert have influenced so much of my prose. Adrienne Young and Lucy Foley have taught me so much about weaving complex stories together. And we’ll talk about Christopher Nolan in a minute.
Oh and I’m pretty sure Deanna Troi from Star Trek: The Next Generation is why I love dramatic makeup, but that’s neither here nor there.

For YA/crossover, Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo is peak fantasy for me. I will also reread ad nauseam The Cruel Prince (Holly Black), Fireborne (Rosaria Munda), Red Rising (Pierce Brown), and anything by Stephanie Garber.

In adult, The Institute by Stephen King, Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young, The Likeness by Tana French, and Midnight is the Darkest Hour by Ashley Winstead have made their mark on me.

…and I’ll stop there, but stop by my Book Recs tab for more.

I am SO excited for YOU ARE FATALLY INVITED to find the people it was meant for! And as a reader first, one of my favorite things is to connect with authors of books I adore, and I hope readers will feel the same about YAFI. I do, however, keep a couple of considerations in mind when interacting online—for one, I stay off Goodreads/review websites. Those are reader spaces, and readers need to be able to honestly share opinions without being nervous the author is going to be offended! I’m still figuring out the balance with social, but one of my biggest hopes is to hear how readers connect with the book—so if you’re sharing a good review, please do tag me so I see it, or dm me, or use my “Contact Me” form here!

That said, I won’t be interacting with negative dm’s or reviews, and I would ask readers not to tag me in them. 🖤

I’m glad you asked! Aside from being a deliciously clever concept, being perfectly cast, and having whip-smart dialogue, the story itself is the perfect weaving of the internal and external (Save the Cat: Monster in the House plot). The plot couldn’t happen to any other character; everything about Dom Cobb propels the story, and his arc is simply masterful all the way through.

Also, the themes of guilt, grief, and catharsis are incredibly well done, and the emotional stakes never let up. When I first watched the movie in theaters as a twelve-year-old, the dude behind me SOBBED during the end credits. At the time, I was perplexed (and admittedly, amused). But now, I GET IT.

Not to mention that the world-building is complex but oh-so perfectly dripped into the story at key moments; a great lesson in how to avoid info-dumping.

Christopher Nolan has taught me more about story and character than any other artist (also see The Prestige, The Dark Knight).