This story is a gothic-themed narrative which represents the amalgamation of two academic fields: creative writing and psychology. Told from the perspective of the main character, Euanthe, the focus of the story is to provide the reader with a recounting of a moment in her life as she contemplates her existence as a vampire. Set in a decaying gothic city, this is an excerpt of a more extensive narrative and is intended to serve as a self-contained piece within a larger story. Sources such as folk tales, historical accounts of vampirism, popular literature, religious beliefs, and architectural symbolism were all influences that contributed to the conceptualization of the story and its themes.

As of 2022, suicide is the second leading cause of death for young people ages 12-24. For adolescents who identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ communities, the rates of suicide contemplations and attempts are as high as four times more likely compared with their heterosexual or cisgender peers. As of 2022, 45% of LGBTQIA+ youths have contemplated suicide. LGBTQIA+ teens are also more likely to experience bullying and discrimination. Despite extensive research conducted by The Trevor Project pointing to the importance of representation in the media for these LGBTQIA+ teens, governors, state legislatures, and school boards around the United States have made it their mission to deny these teens access to literature that feature LGBTQIA+ characters. As of September 2022, one in four books that are banned across the country from school libraries contain LGBTQIA+ characters. In order to combat this lack of access to LGBTQIA+ Young Adult literature, I created a resource website that acts as a safe space for queer teens to explore literature that features teens who identify like they do. The purpose of my website is threefold. First, I aimed to create a joyous space for teens to discover LGBTQIA+ literature. Second, I provided resources and information about different sexualities and gender identities for anyone who might want more information on these topics. And third, I wanted to prove to website visitors that they are not alone, regardless of how they may be negatively treated at home or at school. To accomplish these three goals, I created specific pages on the website, such as book recommendation pages compiled with research of LGBTQIA+ YA books paired with my own knowledge and resource pages informed by outside research such as my hotlines, LGBTQIA+ terminology, statistics, and gender identity explained pages. I also include a handful of author interview pages, which highlight written interviews I conducted with a few critically acclaimed queer YA authors. I provide screenshots and explanations in the following pages.