Queerness also runs throughout the story – how did you approach telling Chiamaka and Devon’s respective journeys authentically? Chiamaka’s also a child of immigrants, so I wanted to show that this can bring about pressures to live up to parental expectations, which can be isolating. When you’re a teenager, it’s really difficult to fully accept yourself when you’re trying to fit in, or you have other people telling you that something about yourself is wrong. Self-acceptance and loneliness are also big themes. The biggest themes are dreams and hopes – Chiamaka and Devon are just trying to make it in a world that is built to be against them, and make it in a system that is basically built to stop them from succeeding. What would you say the story's biggest themes are? We have a similar background in terms of coming from working-class families, having a lot of responsibility, and feeling like you almost have to be a parent figure in your own home – so I really relate to him on a socio-economic level. I relate to them both in a lot of different ways, but I think I relate to Devon more. Each chapter alternates between both character’s points of view – which one did you relate to the most?
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