There’s always another side to every writing project, whether it’s a book, review, blog, or whatever. Readers see the words and themes, but they don’t often see the blood, sweat, and tears that went into creating the text. I want to share a little of that today for my new book, The Metamorphosis of Molly Shadowen (available May 2nd).
After publishing the emotionally exhausting The Tumult of my Heart, I was not ready to move on to a novel I’d been planning for years, tentatively titled Fathom or Five Funerals. I plan to write that adult-level novel someday, but it was proving to be just as emotionally arduous as Tumult, so I wanted to do something else.
As any author, I have a document full of story ideas, and after having a dream with the name Möbius Molly within it, I started building a story that felt more fun and almost nonsensical at times. I wanted it to feel untamed. I wanted it to be a trilogy (just because I love trilogies). I wanted it to reflect my taste for fantasy, science fiction, horror, and adventure. I wanted it to be full of monsters and danger. I wanted it to appeal to older teens and adults.
I ended up taking a few other ideas out of my story file, some of them also from dreams, and combining them with some real-life experiences of mine, plus a short story I wrote in high school. Using these as a foundation for the tone, I started to build a back story for this mysterious “Molly”, the evil “Absalom Kaine”, and the world that was about to be the site of their confrontation.
This was my first real attempt at fiction, and I wanted to use it as a learning experience for writing Fathom later. But as I dove into Molly’s world, I fell in love with the characters and connected to them on a level that I did not expect. Soon enough, messaging and themes that were deeply meaningful to me made their way into the story. What was meant to be a silly book ended up having a darker, more sobering side.
And I leaned into those literary shadows. The book was supposed to be ridiculous, but I soon wanted it to be a tribute to the stories that shaped me as a child and even as an adult, a celebration of genres and literature. Books such as the Lord of the Rings, Heidi, and an array of YA titles from Bruce Coville all made their way into the story, as did films such as Mad Max, Pan’s Labyrinth, and Ridley Scott’s Legend. I wanted this book to be on the same level of adventure, too, as so many exciting books from my youth.
I’ve always loved the ‘young girl confronting unspeakable evil’ trope, and it made me so happy to use it here, only with a twist that you will discover as you read it. I had fun crafting the creatures, which will change in style with each book. I worked hard on the action scenes, trying to make them more fast-paced in their writing than other parts of the book. I wanted emotional dialogue and dramatic familial side stories.
One interesting thing about the book is that it’s not “second world” fantasy. It is set in a real place, namely northeastern Ohio, where I live. I looked out the window and imagined a post-apocalyptic version of what I saw, so I imagine other NE Ohio residents will recognize some of the locations. I truly wanted to “write what I know” with this story.
The Metamorphosis of Molly Shadowen is book one of the Möbius Molly trilogy. I’m hoping to release parts two and three in May 2026 and May 2027, respectively. I’m currently about 60% done with the first draft of the second book, tentatively titled Hearts in Orbit. I hope you’ll join me on this journey when it launches later this week. Preferred order links are coming soon, though you can Google the book and find it on pre-order in paperback and e-book across a wide variety of sites already.
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