They use singular-they pronouns because ‘they’ is non-gendered and my friend is nonbinary.”
“Are you talking about one friend or more than one friend?” Her writing frequently includes iterations of “I don’t know” and “I’m not sure,” which works well as a healthy, realistic acknowledgement of the process that is coming out and/or coming to understand one’s own sexuality and identity: Steph herself is questioning her queerness or lack thereof, a tender tie-in to the fundamental uncertainty of her life. The authenticity of this dialogue is impressive and could be trusted by any high schooler who’s even tangentially on Tumblr. Kritzer makes a significant nod to the newfound accessibility of queerness for young people on the internet, as cyber confidants with usernames like “Boom Storm” or “FireStar” vent about getting dead-named or misgendered. Unable to stay in one place for long, the majority of Steph’s social life takes place in internet chatrooms that provide cute narrative pit stops throughout. Steph’s story is one of constant turbulence, as she is perpetually on the run with her mom from a shadowy and very abusive (pinkie mutilating!) ex-husband. There are entire chapters of this novel reserved for chat room dialogues and the internal musings of artificial intelligence, but Kritzer strives to leave space for her main character’s irl tale as well. From the title alone, Kritzer’s specific interest in the internet is apparent. Naomi Kritzer opts for a restrained immersion into the cyber teen experience with her young adult novel Catfishing on Catnet.
These new modes of communication will occasionally inform the entire format of a piece, as is the case with Lauren Myracle’s ttyl and Andrew Hussie’s Homestuck. Contemporary works inevitably cut away to text messages and social media, from John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars to Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why. The emergent media targeting today’s young adult demographic will necessarily make some allusion to the internet and its perpetual reconstruction of social activity.
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