How were you able to thing of the idea and story behind your book "Eliza and Her Monsters"? I'm very interested in the story behind finding a plot like this as a teen author.

Francesca Zappia The original kernel of an idea was given to me by my agent. That was literally as simple as "girl writes a popular webcomic that is Monstrous Sea" because I had to write another contemporary book, but Monstrous Sea is what I really love, and having it in there helped me write.

When I thought about why I loved Monstrous Sea, and how I would feel if it had gotten mega-popular when I was a teenager, I quickly realized the book was about anxiety. From there, it's about Eliza NOT dealing with the anxiety she feels over just about everything, from her art to her fandom to her relationship with her family and friends and Wallace.

Because so much of the story hinged on her anonymity, I knew that the big turning point of the book had to be her identity getting revealed. How it happens changed a bit in the writing process, but the plot felt very simple to construct after that with a "this happens, therefore this happens" mindset.

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