Writing was never really a conscious decision I made. I never sat down one day and thought, I’m going to try writing, or even, I want to be a writer. Instead, that desire was somehow always there, rooted within me as though a part of my DNA.

But it didn’t start with fiction. In fact, I didn’t write my first real story until college—and even then, I only did it because my small writing program offered no other workshops (how strange, the way life works out). Before that, I wrote songs, and poetry, and poetry I turned into songs. I wrote because I had an overwhelming gush of emotions, and writing was the only way I knew how to deal. I wrote because getting my thoughts onto paper, or into a song, helped me feel less lonely. Writing became the place where I always belonged.

To that end, writing was mostly a selfish act—something I did exclusively for me. As I moved wholly into fiction, I wrote because my characters and scenes were the first things I thought about when I woke up in the morning. I wrote because I didn’t know who I’d be without it.

But as soon as I sold my book, that began to shift.

Of course, I’d wanted to publish ever since I started The Midnights, and yet I’d never thought too much about it. I was always more consumed by the work, figured I’d have time to worry about the other stuff later. And then, all of a sudden, it was later; my little writing bubble popped. Selling my first book was the most amazing experience, but it also meant that I would now have an audience—teens, in particular. And with that audience came a new sense of responsibility.

Stories—whether in novels, or movies, or songs—meant everything to me as a teenager. Being able to see an experience I was having or an emotion I was feeling reflected in someone else’s art felt like the most validating thing in the world. It showed me that I was seen. That I was important. That my struggles were real, and also that I could get past them.

And now, while I do still write for me, I also write with the hope that I’ll have readers who can see themselves in my work—who can empathize with what my characters are going through, and who feel like their experiences are reflected, and important.

I write with the hope that my work can do for others what art has always done for me.