YA novel author Tiffany D. Jackson decided if media outlets and law enforcement weren’t going to address the epidemic of missing black girls, she most definitely would. In her latest novel Monday’s Not Coming, Jackson tells the story of friendship and loss through the eyes of a character named “Claudia.” When Claudia’s best friend Monday goes missing, it seems as if investigating her disappearance is not a priority to anyone but her. As the middle-schooler pursues the truth she unearths shocking secrets about her friend’s life. The fictional story which also explores themes of systematic racism, murder and neglect is actually based on the epidemic behind the hashtag #MissingDCGirls that occurred in 2017. Jackson used these events to spotlight the injustices young women if color experience as initially victims of crime and secondly afterthoughts of the press and the communities they go missing from in a country where numerous investigations and media coverage are dedicated to their white counterparts such as Jonbenet Ramsey and Natalee Holloway.

Jackson recently sat down with Bustle to discuss her process in writing the book and what she hopes to accomplish with its message. She shared that the novel is based specifically on two real cases of missing children, one taking place in Washington D.C. and the other in Detroit:

“Hard to point to the cases without ruining the ending of the book but both cases involved children who had been missing for up to two years, yet no one noticed [they were missing] until their bodies were found.”

Jackson says she incorporated much of the reality that surrounded the two cases into the novel including the media bias that repeatedly surrounds stories involving children of color as well as the troubling legal system that often fails their well-being:

“I incorporated the way kids slip through the cracks in the system, the way there is no immediate sense of urgency when black teen girls go missing, and lifted parts of their tragic end. I also focused on the media bias when it comes to reporting about missing white children vs. missing children of color. Coincidentally, when I turned in the book to my editor, the hashtag #missinggirlsDC had just gone viral.”

Jackson also shared how it’s important to her in her writing to respect the families of victims and to make sure readers can easily distinguish fact from fiction:

“It’s crucial for authors to not only respect the victims but also respect the families by doing solid research and making their stories appropriately different. Additionally, in all of my school talks and book chats, I make it a point to teach kids the difference between ‘based on’ vs. ‘inspired by’ so that readers are fully aware my books are not the carbon copy of someone’s tragedy.”

She also shared the importance of making the stories about the victims and the lives they lived and left behind and not to include them merely as props in a story:

“I realized, more often more than not, girls become nothing more props in a story. They’re not the elephant in the room, they’re merely pieces of living room furniture you can easily overlook, subsequently taking away their humanity and detaching us emotionally. Also, we never think about the victim’s family or friends or the way their catastrophic loss plagues them, almost daily.” “I prefer to give my victims an unforgettably strong voice, either through their own words or through the people who loved them, allowing readers to know them inside and out, so they’re not just a body on a page. In Monday’s Not Coming, I used flashbacks to reveal how Monday and Claudia’s friendship developed over time, so that when Monday is missing, you truly feel Claudia’s loss more than you would have if you never knew Monday.”

Monday’s Not Coming is currently available at a bookseller near you.