Pinterest boards have proven to be a recurring resource for author Danielle Valentine when mapping out her books.
Valentine was looking for inspiration for her lead character, Anna Alcott, a New York City-based actress.
“It has been purely thrilling to watch it happen,” she adds.
Kim Kardashian and Emma Roberts star in ‘American Horror Story’ season 12, which is inspired by the novel ‘Delicate Condition’.Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images; Sourcebooks; Theo Wargo/Getty Images
The Anna ofDelicate Conditionhas come to suspect that someone is trying to stop her from getting pregnant.
Could it be the anonymous online Tumblr user @Number1Fan, who’s been dragging her on the internet?
Could it be the strange lady that snuck a photo of her as she entered her doctor’s office?
The cover of ‘Delicate Condition,’ by Danielle Valentine.Sourcebooks
She can’t be certain of anything these days.
She can still see the physical effects it’s having on her body.
“It is essentially a horror novel about pregnancy,” Valentine says.
The 1979 sci-fi/horror classic starringSigourney Weaveras Ellen Ripley ranks among Valentine’s favorite films.
(Her cats are even named after characters in the movie.)
She was six months pregnant with a baby girl when the topic ofAlienresurfaced.
She and her husband then started talking aboutAlienas a reference for something else to write about.
That’s just a pregnancy story without the pregnancy.'
That was the seed right there."
Multiple other works would come to informDelicate Condition.
As a writer of horror, Valentine can’t help but give credit to the works ofStephen King.
Another isSilence of the Lambs.
Then there’s the horror of our own reality.
“My brain is different,” she emphasizes.
“I know women say that, and I didn’t understand what they meant.
I have anxiety that I didn’t have before.
I feel like a different person, physically and mentally, just from having gone through this experience.
WithDelicate Condition, she wanted to take a note fromBuffy, as well as books likeThe Handmaid’s Tale.
“So it’s been really easy for me to feel entirely excited for that.”
Read EW’s exclusive excerpt fromDelicate Condition.
