Mishti asked Heather Demetrios:

Hello! I read "I'll Meet You There" and found it to be eye opening about our own journey and how meeting someone who you can be yourself with helps you find yourself. I am so grateful that you chose to write it. :) My one question is: What do you think, as a writer, is the most effective way of conveying information to an audience, while maximizing the impact it has on them?

Heather Demetrios Ohhh, this is such a delicious question. I think the most effective way to convey an idea with maximum impact is to create characters that are authentic and flawed and deeply human, and then to give opportunities for the reader to fall in love with them, to really be invested in what happens to these characters. I had a friend who texted me on Memorial Day say that she actually thought of Josh on that day as though he were a real person, a vet who should be honored. That was probably one of the biggest compliments I ever got. Because he's that real to me, too. I think the reason why IMYT impacts people is because they grow to love Josh, even though he's complicated and imperfect and screws up a lot. I think that makes them love him even more. And so what happens is that when they finish the book, many of these readers start thinking about the real soldiers out there who are fighting to survive PTSD and their injuries and all the demons of warfare. And THAT is where you get the marriage of conveying info and maximizing its impact. So you create real characters, put them in the ring, and let them fight with everything they've got.

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