I was a lot younger - when I wrote Water Lilies. I was like 26. It felt so natural to write about adolescence.

I think I like about coming-of-age stories is that there's everything in them. It's a genre that kind of contains everything: you have the chronicle, you can go into naturalism, but it's also about transforming physically, so it's kind of a fantastical genre.

Being in a group is a way to actually to speak up, and define yourself in the comfort, and the complexity of the group.

I like to work around identification for the audience, and when there's a grown-up or a moral figure or something like that, people tend to go there.

I want to try different genres. I think I'll still be looking at a strong female character in the center, and identity struggle and transformation.

I was a lot younger - when I wrote Water Lilies. I was like 26. It felt so natural to write about adolescence.

I intentionally leave adults out in my stories, not to say that they're not in charge or that they don't care, or that they're failing at what they do. Not at all. It's two things: It's a way to be true to what adolescence feels like, because, okay, your parents may be around, but you still don't want them to be around. What you go through, you go through alone, I think.