Zaina: I think fiction was a perfect vehicle for this kind of story for a number of reasons. One, I wanted to be subversive when it came to creating characters that were Arab, and specifically Palestinian and Muslim, and to challenge stereotypical depictions of Arabs and Muslims. Similarly, I wanted to challenge stereotypical depictions of queer people as well and to really just three-dimensionalize, which I felt I had more room to do in fiction. Getting the story on the -- it was very hard to write the story and to communicate the precise nature of her struggle because of the fact that so much of it was coming from within. In many ways, she was up against herself more than anyone else. Trying to really capture the psychological dynamics, I just remember the moments of epiphany when I would realize, ah, yes, this is exactly where her shame lies. This is exactly why her shame exists as it does. This is exactly why she's destroying this potential for a healthy relationship. Understanding that was, at once, revelatory and really a breakthrough and also really hard to depict in writing or hard to depict in a way that was artful. It was in part exhilarating and difficult.