I write the books I needed as a teen and couldn’t find. People call my books edgy, and I guess they are, but for me and for many teens out there, they are just part of normal life. Bad things happen to people—and I think we’re a lot better off if we can talk about them, and find out that we’re not alone. Books are a great way to do that.
I’m an incest and ritual abuse survivor (my parents were part of intergenerational cults). I have some effects from the abuse and torture, including PTSD, body image issues, and depression, and I used self-harm to cope. I’m also queer and feminist. So I have a lot that I want to talk about! I try to take only a fragment or two at a time from what I went through in ritual abuse, and focus on those in each book. I want to make sure readers can hear me, not turn away from the pain or the trauma. So I make sure to write my novels as entertaining reads, full of suspense and tension. But I’m also trying to reach people, to let them know they’re not alone, that it gets better—and to help others understand what it can be like.
~ read more ~
