Eliza Mirk is the last person you’d expect with a secret identity. By day, she’s the awkward loner left alone by her classmates. At night, she's LadyConstellation, the anonymous author of the phenomenal webcomic, Monstrous Sea, the mother of a fandom.
Early in her senior year of high school, by happenstance, Eliza meets Wallace Warland, a fan of Monstrous Sea, in fact, one of the fandom's most well-known fanfiction writers. Speaking through written notes or text, the two strike up a friendship, all while Wallace remains unaware that he's speaking with LadyConstellation herself.
However, as Eliza begins to step outside her comfort zone — meeting Wallace’s friends and even dating him — she struggles to balance her own life and Monstrous Sea, leaving her unprepared when her secret is revealed.
Tropes found in this work include:
- Adults Are Useless: Eliza is of this mindset, and her parents have their moments. The most obvious is how little they actually looked into Monstrous Sea and how much of a big deal it, and Eliza's anonymity, was. Even after her identity is made public, they're still under the impression that the comic is "just a hobby" and not something Eliza could make a living off of. Or that she's no longer safe now that LadyConstellation has a face. They get better with the help of Eliza's brothers.
- An Aesop:
- While there's nothing wrong with loving your creative work, try not to make it your entire world to the point it overwhelms you. It's not good for your mental health.
- If you're struggling with your big creative endeavor, it's okay to step away for a bit. Try revisiting something you love or loved once, and it may feed the motivational fire.
- It's not enough to just tell your child to "be safe on the internet." You need to at least peek at their online activities. Had Eliza's parents dug a little more into Monstrous Sea they would have realized it wasn't "just a hobby" and how important Eliza's anonymity was. Then they might not have carelessly outed her.
- Actually, I Am Him:
- This comes up when Wallace reveals himself to be rainmaker, one of the Monstrous Sea fandom's most popular fanfic writers.
- Eliza averts doing this for most of the book. So when Wallace inevitably does learn that she's LadyConstellation, he's understandably upset with her.
- Alice Allusion: At one point, Eliza describes the computer as her "rabbit hole" and the internet as her "Wonderland".
- Anger Born of Worry: Eliza's parents a few times. Largely because of how often she spends time online and how deep within herself she hides.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Eliza sees her younger twin brothers as such, since they are loud and messy and constantly tease her. However, they actually respect that she doesn't want it to be known that she's the author of a popular webcomic. They are also the ones who explain to their parents exactly what position they have put Eliza in by making her identity public. And although they don't make a big deal about it, they do mention that it's kind of cool that Eliza made Monstrous Sea in the first place.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Eliza's two younger brothers, Church and Sully. They know more about her online life than their parents, due to actually reading Monstrous Sea. So, after they accidentally reveal her secret, they give their parents a nice What the Hell, Hero?.
- Big Eater: Wallace. Justified because he was a varsity football player.
- Big Friendly Dog: Eliza's dog Davy is described as big and happy and cuddles with Wallace almost as soon as he meets him. He was the basis for a Gentle Giant sea monster with the same name in Monstrous Sea.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Wallace, who witnessed his father's suicide. Worst still, he saw the signs and never said anything.
- Driven to Suicide: A rather dark pun, as the method involves driving off a steep curve into a ravine.
- Wallace's father as a result of his minimum wage, soul-crushing, thankless job. He was in his right mind enough to make Wallace get out of the car, though.
- Eliza considers going similarly at the end of the book. She's able to talk herself out of it.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Eliza's brothers, Church and Sully, do this to her parents for outing Eliza as LadyConstellation. Both are fully aware of the repercussions and that their parents don't really understand what they just did.
- Fandom Life Cycle: An in-universe example happened with the Children of Hypnos fandom. Because the last book was never finished, the fandom ended at stage 6B. Monstrous Sea appears to be at Stage 4, having a dedicated and active fandom with its own forums, and Eliza mentions how a couple even quoted the work when exchanging their marriage vows.
- Foreshadowing: After Eliza introduces Wallace to Children of Hypnos, he compares it to a mental health book and how most end with the main character deciding not to commit suicide. In the climax, Eliza does seriously contemplate suicide, but she manages to talk herself out of it.
- Happily Adopted: Wallace is in a unique position. His stepmother, Vee essentially raised him as his mother and had a daughter with Wallace's father. After he died, Vee naturally became his legal guardian, and Vee later remarried a man with his own child.
- Irony: Eliza's parents are repeatedly shown to be worried about her being "safe" while on the internet. However, Eliza was careful about keeping her identity secret. Her parents were the ones who took away the safety nets Eliza built by thoughtlessly, and casually, revealing she wrote Monstrous Sea in her school paper's graduation issue, then the internet did the rest.
- Memetic Mutation: In-Universe; "You found me in a constellation" and "There are monsters in the sea" are the most popular quotes from Monstrous Sea. The former has been known to be used as a marriage vow, and the latter tends to be the subject of tattoos.
- My God, What Have I Done?:
- Wallace towards the end of the book when he realizes Eliza had the same darkness around her his father had when he was Driven to Suicide and almost ignored the signs.
- Even before that, the Mirk parents have one when they finally realize the ramifications outing Eliza had on her life and that Monstrous Sea wasn't just "a hobby" as they spent the entire book believing.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Sully and Church are named after entertainer Ed Sullivan and statesman Winston Churchill, respectively. Eliza tells Wallace she was lucky to get a "normal" name.
- No Ending: An in-universe example with the Children of Hypnos book series. The author never finished the fifth and final book, causing the fandom to cannibalize themselves. However, it is this that led Eliza to create Monstrous Sea to fill the void.
- Novelization: In-universe, Wallace starts working on one for Monstrous Sea. He's even offered a book deal late in the story.
- Ocean Punk: Monstrous Sea is this kind of fiction as it takes place in a largely aquatic planet dotted with some islands.
- Parents as People: While raising her brothers came easy for them, Eliza's parents really don't know how to handle her or help her. In their attempt to be supportive, they end up revealing that she created Monstrous Sea which only exacerbated her pre-existing anxiety issues.
- Reclusive Artist: In-Universe; Olivia Kane, author of Children of Hypnos, withdrew from the public eye after failing to come up with the final volume of the series. Rumors about her whereabouts sprouted, including one much alluded to that she became crazy and chased fans off her property with a shotgun (which is a complete lie). Eliza also briefly becomes one when her identity is exposed, refusing to attend school or continue Monstrous Sea to the end, eventually leading her to write a letter to Olivia Kane about her problems.
- Rule of Symbolism:
- In-universe, Wallace has a knack for picking up on the metaphor, being a writer himself. He's certain that the monsters in Monstrous Sea are a metaphor (though he doesn't say what for), and that the setup in Children of Hypnos is a metaphor for depression.
- Textually, monsters are used to describe Eliza's personal problems, her depression, her anxiety, eventually even Monstrous Sea.
- Show Within a Show: Besides Eliza's creation, Monstrous Sea, there's also Children of Hypnos, Eliza's favorite book series. Plus Dog Days, a cheesy soap opera that Eliza follows and seems to ironically enjoy.
- Shrinking Violet: Eliza struggles to be social and struggles with anything outside of her comfort zone. As the book continues and her relationship with Wallace deepens, she does eventually consider his friends her friends.
- Teen Genius: Emma, one of Eliza's online friends who's in college at fourteen.
- There Are No Therapists: There are, and Eliza even believes Wallace could benefit from seeing one. However, when given the offer herself, Eliza is a little hesitant. She ultimately goes through with it, though.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Hard-boiled eggs for Eliza. So much so that her father and twin brothers have nicknamed her Eggs. The brothers often twist it into something like Rotten Eggs or Eggs Benedict to tease her.
- Writing by the Seat of Your Pants: In-universe, all signs point to Eliza being a "pantser" when it comes to writing her webcomic. She seems to have some idea of where the story will end up, but a lot of it just comes to her as she goes. She even admits that she didn't know what one of the comic's most popular memes, "(He) found me in a constellation", was supposed to mean when she wrote it.
- Yaoi Fangirl: One of the most popular members of the Monstrous Sea fanbase is Chandra, who draws fanart shipping various characters. One of the drawings Eliza sees pairs two male characters. Cole (another well-known fan) is displeased about Chandra putting his favorite character in "gay situations", to which Chandra goes on a rant describing all their Ship Tease. Though Chandra draws heterosexual pairings too (no word on femslash).
