... asked Mia Siegert:

Jerkbait was generally one of the best books I have read in a while. How did you even create it?

Mia Siegert Great question, Rebekah!

Originally it was an assignment for a creative writing class I took in undergrad. It was vastly different then--still twins, but Tristan was a lacrosse player and Robbie and artist, and Jimmy was "getting married."

I forgot about that short story for years. Not long after I finished grad school, I picked it up and wrote a draft in 2.5 weeks. I showed it to someone prematurely and they were like, "Oh, I didn't know you wrote YA!" I didn't even know what YA was at the time. Immediately, I dove into reading as much as possible and the story evolved. IRL I was a high schooler in the HUGE era of Martin Brodeur, Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer, and countless others in the New Jersey Devils when we kept winning cups. I thought about maybe changing the story up, making Robbie a promising hockey prospect who's grappling with his sexuality because he desperately wants to be drafted and how dangerous a place it can be.

With Tristan, some of my influence with the change came from my love of musical theatre. I made a few winks to some friends in Broadway shows and really talked with my editor a lot about toxic masculinity. It emerged from there and the idea of being the exhibitionist versus the voyeur.

Thanks so much for your great question and giving my book a chance. I'm so glad you enjoyed it! My next YA, SOMEBODY TOLD ME, will come out in April, 2020, and I hope it will meet the expectations of JERKBAIT readers like yourself.

Best,
Mia

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