The Author Unpacking an Unhealthy Obsession

Candace Opper was fixated on her dead middle school crush. She wrote a book about trying to figure out why.

Editor's note: This article contains discussions about suicide

Last year at Narratively, Candace Opper wrote about an obsession with her middle school crush who died by suicide. Opper was fixated on his death and wasn’t quite sure why. But her Narratively story was just the beginning. In her new book Certain and Impossible Events, Opper dives deep to to find out why she was obsessed, and how media coverage and conversations about suicide impact the way people react to news of it. Opper talked to Narratively about confronting her unhealthy obsession, writing about mental health and what’s next for her.