The Quiet Rot

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Background

In August of 2025, I had a bad mental health incident. While I was away from my house, I wrote down an idea for a novel. It was overly edgy, and didn't have a cohesive theme. After I got back, and started school, we read a book called The Outsiders. This, combined with one of my all time favorite books, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, developed my previous idea into what it is today. And by that, I mean only the name and appearance of the main character stayed the same >.<

Summary (no spoilers :D)

The Quiet Rot follows Harper Jones, a 15 year old navigating his way through mental health struggles and relational termoil. Harper's life is flipped on its head when a new girl named Autumn Grace moves to his town. The story is presented as Harper recounting his life through the dates of September 2025-October 2026, telling them to an unknown(for now?) man with a notebook. (I promise that part is important!! >_<) The novel features exact dates that events take place, which will be showcased on a timeline at the end pages of the book. If literally any of that sounds interesting to you, then you should probably read it when it comes out. (Not like I'm biased or anything... ('-';) )

Inspirations

[Book] The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky - TQR takes inspiration from this in the strong mental health themes.

[Book] The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton - TQR takes inspiration from this in the close friednships, theme-centric narrative, and "them versus us" mentality.

[Song] A Match Into Water by Pierce the Veil - TQR takes inspiration from this in (too big of a spoiler to drop here sorry).

[Song] Hell Above by Pierce the Veil - TQR takes inspiration from this in (too big of a spoiler to drop here sorry).

[Song] Famous Last Words by My Chemical Romance - ...uhh don't worry about it.