Rachel M. Wilson studied theater at Northwestern and received her MFA in writing for children and young adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her debut novel Don't Touch, about a girl with obsessive compulsive disorder, came out from HarperTeen in September 2014. The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books called it: "A vulnerable, moving, and often witty story about the terrible price of self-protection." Also look for “The Game of Boys and Monsters,” an eerie standalone short from HarperTeen Impulse. Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, Rachel now writes, acts, and teaches in Chicago, Illinois.
Writing about characters with mental illness can be challenging in various ways. How do you accurately convey a character’s state of mind, without compromising on clarity or excitement? How do you show a character’s skewed perceptions of the world?