Thanks for joining us here at YALC. We would love you to introduce yourself
Hi gang! Thank you for having me. I’m Molly, and I’m the author of four Young Adult novels, This is Not the End, Annie LeBlanc is Not Dead Yet, Rewind to Us and My Ex and Other Monsters. I like to say that I’m a writer of “YA weirdness,” and what that basically means is I write magical realism that errs on the side of strange, but in what I like to think is a silly way. I like to play with familiar teenage tropes by adding a little magic to them, in the hopes that it’s looking at everyday issues in an unfamiliar, slightly goofy way.
Can you give our readers an overview of your YA novel My Ex and Other Monsters
My Ex and Other Monsters follows the story of 17-year-old Indie, who has been cursed so that everyone she falls in love with turns into a monster. As you can imagine, this kind of screws up her love life, so she enlists the help of her unwitting arch nemesis to break the curse, while doing her absolute best not to fall in love with him (which is tricky, because he’s super cute and super fun to be around). It’s all about looking at healthy relationships and toxic relationships for teenagers, friendship, family, establishing boundaries – and while there are a lot of monsters in it, there are also a lot of humans behaving monstrously.
And, if you could do it in just 5 words or less, what would they be?
Monsters, secrets, romance and friendship
Who was your favourite character to write and why?
I think Max was my favourite character to write – he’s Indie’s unwitting arch nemesis. I say he’s unwitting because he doesn’t really know how he fits into her bigger picture (unbeknownst to him, his dad knew her mom – it’s a whole thing), so he’s just helping Indie break the curse because it’s the right thing to do. All the love interests in my previous books have always been a bit complicated – and while Indie’s relationship with Max certainly isn’t straightforward in her mind, he is. He’s kind and funny and loyal and caring, and I just enjoyed writing someone that is inherently good.
Is there a character that you relate to?
Indie, for sure. I especially relate to her passion for Tyler, the hot guy who works at a local record store who doesn’t know her name and who she’s never really spoken to, but is absolutely enamoured with. That has teenage Molly Morris written all over it.
But more seriously, I relate to a lot of Indie’s love mishaps, and her journey in mapping out what she does and doesn’t want in a relationship, how to behave in one, what’s healthy and what’s not. When I was a teenager, I knew I wanted a relationship in theory, but not what that would actually look like. The only examples I really had were from popular media which, in the 90’s and early 00’s, were not exactly the beacons of health.
Is there a particular scene that felt rewarding to write?
Without going into too much detail, I would say the “big confrontation.” In a lot of ways, this book is about Indie figuring out what she does and doesn’t want from a relationship, and this moment is where she finally spells it out and stands up for herself. I was very proud of her.
What inspired your creation of combining romance and monsters?
This goes back to my love of playing with familiar tropes – it’s very common to hear someone talk about ex-partners or just people in general as monsters, so I thought it might be interesting to see what that would look like in a literal sense. Plus, I think speaking about people that way has this kind of dehumanising effect, which can be doing the bigger picture a disservice in that it lets people off the hook for their bad behaviour. Don’t mind them, they’re just monsters. But really, they’re human beings, and we should demand more from them, especially as young people in a romantic situation. That’s why in this book, yes, there are literal monsters, but there are also some monstrous humans. I wanted readers to have to question who the real monsters in this story are.
Which character was the most fun to write?
I’m tempted to say Indie’s best friend Sam, because she’s got big ride-or-die energy. She loves rom-coms, always has her best friend’s interests at heart, and even has her own cheeky romance going on. Their friendship was so important to me to make clear on the page because yes, Indie’s romantic interests take up a lot of her life, but when things go awry, it’s always Sam who’s still by her side.
What do you enjoy when writing stories that mix different genres?
I love that so many more doors are opened. Sticking with one genre tends to limit you to particular structures or preconceived notions, but if you mix genres, all bets are off and you get to kind of have a bit more freedom. Mixing genres is all about play, and above all I love to have fun with my writing.
If the monsters in the book were real, which one would you want to meet?
Tyler as a goat-werewolf, for sure – he seems the least threatening. He loves eating pizza in a cave and having his hair brushed.
How did you come up with the title? Was it a hard process?
I have an excellent editor Alice Moloney who actually came up with the title. She was throwing out ideas and casually mentioned she’d thought about My Ex and Other Monsters and my agent and I were both like, well, that’s it! It’s the perfect fit.
Why did you choose this idea as a focus of the book?
I really wanted to promote this conversation of the difference between toxic and healthy relationships for teenagers, because it feels really pertinent right now, especially for young women. We all have similar questions to each other as young people when we’re trying out different relationships–This person is gorgeous, but are they actually the right fit for me? I don’t really like him, but what if I hurt his feelings?–and so it felt important to put that on paper and show those conversations playing out. I wanted young people to feel emboldened enough to set boundaries in their relationships and seek out health and happiness.
Where do you write?
Oh, it’s such a mixture! I primarily write in my office, though as the weather gets sunnier I tend to migrate outside to a bench in my garden that’s beside the pond, or out in the grass while my guinea pigs scamper around beside me. To have a good writing session I need to have a certain pep, so I go wherever I can to feel happy and energised.
What is your favourite genre to read?
I absolutely love reading magical realism, as I love fantasy and contemporary fiction in their own rites, so magical realism strikes that perfect blend. I love everything funny, and have recently been getting more into horror, too. But no matter what, everything I love reading most has a romance in it. I can really struggle to get through a book if there’s no romance.
Where can our readers find you on social media?
Primarily on Instagram, at @weirdmollyyy, but I’ve been known to TikTok very occasionally on @weird_mollyyy.
Finally can you give us your favourite quote from a novel (it can be yours!)?
I’ll give you my favourite quote from My Ex and Other Monsters, as I don’t think we’ve got enough page space for me to list out entire chapters of Little Women here. It’s from Indie, when she’s considering her love situation very early on in the book:
“Sometimes, though, I think it would be nice to care about stuff outwardly, loudly, the way [she] does. Even about something as vapid and pointless as prom. It’s just, the last time I did, he grew horns.”