When You Called My Name follows a sixteen-year-old boy with autism, depression, and anxiety who is contemplating suicide till he meets a new girl in school who helps him change his perspective. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

Three friends of mine inspired this story. They bravely shared stories of what life was like for them as autistic people with depression and anxiety. (One of them is a counselor, and he shared more things from a professional POV.) They also mentioned how men got less attention for the same mental issues compared to women because traditionally, men were not encouraged to show any weakness or emotion. (That unfortunately remains a fact to this day.) That got me thinking. That’s why I wrote When You Called My Name and decided to tackle mental issues from a male perspective. The main character, Logan, was loosely based on my friends, although he does have my insecurity and tendency to overthink. Can’t help it, I always put a little bit of myself into every character I create.

Despite my objective to examine mental illness through a male perspective, female characters—most notably, Andrea—play an important role in the novel, too. Andrea is a perfect example of what a strong, brave character should be like. She doesn’t put down anyone because she’s comfortable with being herself. She doesn’t have to hurt anyone to make herself feel better. Only the best people choose to empower others, and that’s exactly what she does—she empowers Logan and helps him discover the beauty in being himself.

A lot of time was spent crafting the character traits in this novel. What was the most important factor for you to get right in your characters?

Actually, I didn’t spend a lot of time crafting their character traits. Things just came easily to me. Logan Smith is an insecure main character who has a full character arc and becomes brave and emotionally mature at the end. Andrea Goldstein is a fairy godmother type of character who’s sunshiny and has a gift for making quirky, clever remarks. She ranks high on my list of favorite characters (which is an incredible feat, as I’ve written thirty-two books now and created hundreds of characters!) I don’t think I’ll ever give birth to another character as cool, interesting, and positive as she.

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

There’s the obvious anti-bullying message, of course, but what lies behind it matters more—compassion, bravery, and finding the strength to grow. The sub-themes in my story are mortality and existentialism. The plot twists in the latter part of the story also serve to remind readers that life is fragile, and we must cherish every minute of it.

What is one thing that you hope teens and young adults take away from When You Called My Name?

Have empathy. Have empathy for anyone of any gender, race, or age. We’ll never know what it’s like to be in the shoes of another person, but having empathy and the ability to imagine ourselves in their position is what makes us human. To you, winning an award may be a tremendous achievement; to someone else, getting through another day is an accomplishment in itself. You never know what other people are going through, so “Judge not,” as the Bible says.

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