Behind the Book

Debutante Ball authors share the inspiration that sparked the story idea for their debut novels

What is it about a story that won’t let us go? What compels an author to chase it to the end, to spend years writing and revising and pitching and submitting their book for it to one day be published and shared with readers?

This month, our Debutante Ball authors share the inspiration that sparked the story idea for their debut novels. By the time you’re done reading their shares, not only will you want to read each one of their books, but you’ll also be inspired to write (or keep writing!) your own!

Gloria Huang, KAYA OF THE OCEAN (January 7, 2025)

The idea for KAYA first came to me when the world was just starting to emerge from the pandemic, and I watched some kids who were really close to me struggle with anxiety for the first time (something I had also struggled with as a child). I could see–and remember–how terrifying it was to worry that something was deeply wrong with you. I wanted to write a book to send a message to these kids (and any others who might be struggling or fighting battles inside where no one can see) that every part of them, even the parts they might not like or might see as flaws or weaknesses, are important elements that make up the beautiful, complex people they are. That accepting everything they are can make them stronger. That’s when I wrote Kaya’s story, about a Chinese-American girl living in Hawaii and struggling with anxiety and a fear of the water, who one day learns she’s secretly descended from the Chinese water goddess Mazu.

C.I. Jerez, AT THE ISLAND’S EDGE (March 18, 2025)

I signed up to serve in the U.S. Army in 2005 and served for a total of nine years. Over the last 19 years, I have not seen any commercial fiction or Hollywood films depicting women battling the return to normal life following their wartime experiences. There have been plenty of books and films focused on the male experience, but nothing for women who often return home and must resume their duties as wives and mothers despite the very real challenges of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. I knew I had an opportunity to honor the complexities of that journey, especially by incorporating cultural dynamics and a child with special needs into the storyline. This book is a tribute to honor the more than 300,000 women who served in Iraq and Afghanistan alone, in addition to all the women who came before in each of our nation’s wars.

Catalina Margulis, AGAIN, ONLY MORE LIKE YOU (April 29, 2025)

I had hit my rock bottom when I finally started to write this book. I was pregnant, laid off, with no job prospects and had finally run out of excuses to write the book I’d always knew I’d write. The story flowed out of me in 24-48 hours. I took all the pain, laughs, struggles, hopes, fears, tears, that my friends and I were experiencing as we turned 40. It turns out that was just a sketch of a first draft, however (it actually started as a screenplay), and it took many years more–like fine wine–to finally have a novel that was ready for readers.

Alexandria Faulkenbury, SOMEWHERE PAST THE END (May 20, 2025)

I’ve always been intrigued by cults. How does one person shape themselves into a leader others will follow? What makes an individual more susceptible to manipulative tactics than another? How do people get out? These questions have always fascinated me. But as the idea for this novel took shape, I had another question. What if there was a cult leader who was just as bad as all the others but the thing he said was going to happen actually happened? How would those left behind reconcile the idea that someone who put them through hell also made this seemingly correct prophecy? How would they move forward when they’d been left behind? So, in short, I’ve got way too many questions swirling around in my head and sometimes they lead to books. :)

Kristin Offiler, THE HOUSEWARMING (July 29, 2025)

I started this book after a failed attempt at querying my first novel. To put the first book out of my mind, I dove into an idea I’d had for a while to write about a group of friends navigating their early 30s. I was a new mom to a one-year-old at the time (when this book is published, he’ll be eight!), and I was thinking a lot about how hard it can be to maintain friendships in different phases of adulthood. But over the years I spent rewriting this book, it went in a different direction. It began interrogating our collective obsession with true crime and the real human cost of that obsession. What started as a desire to write about female friendship turned into something deeper once there was a missing woman, a true crime blogger/podcaster with an insatiable obsession, and a group of friends who love each other but don’t know if they trust each other.

Penny Zang, DOLL PARTS (August 26, 2025)

After the death of one of my best friends in 2016, I began dreaming about dead women and writing about the loss of friendship. It wasn’t until the pandemic and the loss of a grad school acquaintance, that I began to also research Sylvia Plath and write what would become Doll Parts. It felt like a collage at first, a mix of all my obsessions: poetry, dresses, Courtney Love, ghost stories, and, of course, ride-or-die friendship. Soon it turned into a story I couldn’t let go of. In some ways, it feels like the eulogy I never got to give my friend. That’s a sad story for a novel full of suspense and what I hope is the right amount of weirdness, but for me, it’s all mixed together. Life and loss, beauty and death, ghosts and friendship.

Emily Krempholtz, VIOLET THISTLEWAITE IS NOT A VILLAIN ANYMORE (November 18, 2025)

I always tell people that VIOLET THISTLEWAITE was my “f*ck it” book. The one that I wrote just for me because I was sick of querying and sick of rejection. I wanted to write a book that was magical and funny and romantic and whimsical—one that made me happy to write and to read.

The idea for VIOLET THISTLEWAITE IS NOT A VILLAIN ANYMORE actually came from watching my partner fight some big bad evil guy in a video game one day. I started joking that maybe the boss’ minions were just working for the bad guy because they had bills to pay. Maybe they were just trying to put their kids through college! Maybe they were saving up to support their own ambitions, and dreamed of stomping out of there in a blaze of righteous you-can’t-fire-me-I-quit fury! My mind started wandering and I started thinking about what would happen to those minions once the big bad was defeated. Just like that, Violet was born: a sweet (and very traumatized) nature witch with a seed of hope buried deep within her heart, who wants nothing more than to start over after the villain who raised her is defeated.

Violet’s flower shop, her love story with the alchemist next door, and even her mildly homicidal sentient houseplant all took root and sprouted a life of their own, and what started as my “f*ck it” book turned into a story of second chances, found family, acceptance, and what it really means to be a good person.