1. Please tell us a bit about the background of Making Friends with Monsters.
A few years ago, I was back home in Sydney, Australia, doing a book signing for my debut YA/Fantasy, when a school friend told me her heartbreaking story. A year or so prior, her ex died of suicide and she was left with three young daughters, ages 11-15. She told me she could handle all of it except for when her daughter asked, "Mummy, why did Daddy do it?" That’s when I break down, because I have no idea what to say. My heart caved because my dad died of suicide when I was thirteen. Since then, two of my brothers have also passed the same way. During the flight back to Los Angeles, all I could think was, “If anyone can help speak to this, I could.” I almost felt as though it was my duty to help. Making Friends With Monsters is definitely a case of a story finding the author, not the other way around. I was supposed to start Book 2 of my fantasy series, but put it off in order to write this story. 2. What themes/messages do you want to explore in this book and your work?
The themes in Making Friends With Monsters include suicide, mental health, and family dysfunction. The goal of the story is to encourage teens to open up about their feelings by providing them and their parents a language where they feel comfortable talking about emotions that often get buried because no one knows how to even begin the conversation. I’d initially thought people who had faced a devastating loss would benefit most from reading my book, but after receiving feedback from readers, it seems anyone who wants to learn a bit more about themselves—what drives their emotions (or that of others)—can gain insight from my story. Because my themes are on the heavier side, I wanted a device through which I could filter the experience. This led to the idea of our emotions being controlled by monsters, and the concept that if we don’t keep these monsters in check, then they can turn around and swallow us whole. The ultimate message comes down to learning to accept and love oneself for who they are. As much as we might not want to experience certain emotions, be they fear, shyness, anxiety, anger, heartbreak, rather than fighting these feelings (which usually only makes them worse), try to acknowledge and accept them. It’s okay to feel a certain way in a particular moment. Things become problematic when we let the emotion take over and consume us. 3. What inspires you to write for young people?
I will always be a child a heart and that regard, I like the certain simplicity that writing young adult stories offer. I prefer writing from limited points of view. With Making Friends With Monsters, I kept everything in Sam’s POV. As a writer, when I remain with one character, I feel as though I really get to know them, which offers me a more immersive experience. While one might think the constraints of telling a story from only one perspective would be limiting, I find it freeing. This may sound counter-intuitive, however, if you imagine a story like a pinball machine and the plot the silver ball, you can get an idea of how easily the plot can fly off tangent when another character jumps in with their story. By keeping things confined to a narrower set of tracks, the story is more likely to stay on point. Because the teen years are so transformative, I seem to have a deeper connection to my emotional experiences during my limited high-school years compared to my broader life as an adult. In this regard, I feel I have a deeper well to tap into for this genre than if I were to write general fiction. 4. Where can we go to learn more about your work, including any websites or social media tags?
My website is www.SLRostirolla.com and my Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook handles are @SLRostirolla. For my new novel, I also have #makingfriendswithmonsters and #MFWM.
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