Author's Note: Summary and Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The Author's Note opens with a recollection from 2015, when the author was a teenager living in Oakland. News broke that members of the Oakland Police Department, along with officers from several other Bay Area departments, had sexually exploited a young woman and then attempted to cover up their actions. The case unfolded over months and years, and even as the news cycle moved on, the author kept returning to the story—wondering about the girl at the center of it, and about the many other girls who never received headlines but still experienced the cruelty of policing.

The author notes that for every case that reaches the media, there are dozens of others involving sex workers and young women who experience violence at the hands of police, whose stories are never told, never reach court, and who may not escape those situations at all. The cases we know about are few.

The author began writing Nightcrawling at seventeen, while contemplating what it meant to be vulnerable, unprotected, and unseen. Growing up as a Black girl, she was often told to tend to and shield the Black men around her—her brother, her dad—and learned that her own safety, body, and dreams were secondary. There was no one and nothing that could or would protect her.

Kiara is an entirely fictional character, but what happens to her reflects the types of violence that Black and brown women face regularly. The author cites a 2010 study finding that police sexual violence is the second most reported instance of police misconduct and disproportionately impacts women of color.

Drawing inspiration from the Oakland case and others like it, the author wanted to write a story of her city, but also to explore what it would mean for this to happen to a young Black woman—to put the case in the narrative control of a survivor, to show a world beyond the headline, and to give readers access to that world. The stories of Black women and queer and trans folks are not often represented in the narratives of violence that get protested, written about, and amplified in most movements, but that does not erase their existence. The author wanted to reflect the fear and danger of Black womanhood and the adultification of Black girls, while also recognizing that Kiara—like so many people in circumstances that feel impossible to survive—is still capable of joy and love.

Key Events

The 2015 Oakland police sexual exploitation case breaks in the news.
The author, a teenager at the time, follows the case as it develops over months and years.
The author begins writing Nightcrawling at seventeen, contemplating vulnerability.
The author researches the Oakland case and similar incidents.
The author decides to write from a survivor's narrative control, centering a young Black woman.
The novel is published with this Author's Note explaining its real-world roots.

Character Development

Kiara is a fictional character, but the Author's Note makes clear that her experiences are grounded in real patterns of violence. The author explains that Kiara's story reflects the adultification of Black girls—the way society treats young Black women as older and less deserving of protection than their white peers. Kiara's vulnerability is not an accident of plot but a reflection of a systemic failure to protect Black and brown women.

The Author's Note also emphasizes that Kiara is capable of joy and love despite her circumstances. This is a deliberate authorial choice: the author wanted to show that a survivor of violence is not defined solely by that violence. Kiara's capacity for joy and love is part of what makes her a full person rather than a victim archetype.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Police sexual violence: The Author's Note grounds the novel in the real, documented problem of police sexual violence, citing a 2010 study that identifies it as the second most reported form of police misconduct, with disproportionate impact on women of color.

Adultification of Black girls: The author explicitly names the adultification of Black girls as a theme, explaining how young Black women are often perceived as older and therefore less worthy of protection.

Survivor narrative control: The author explains her choice to place the story in the narrative control of a survivor, giving Kiara agency over her own story rather than letting the media or the police define it.

Unseen stories: The Author's Note emphasizes the gap between the few cases that make headlines and the dozens of others that never see court or public attention.

Joy and love: The author explicitly states that Kiara is capable of joy and love, making this a deliberate theme of the novel.

Protection of Black men: The author describes growing up being told to protect the Black men around her while her own safety was treated as secondary—a dynamic that shapes Kiara's world.

Why This Chapter Matters

The Author's Note is essential reading for understanding Nightcrawling as more than a work of fiction. It provides the real-world context—the 2015 Oakland case and the broader pattern of police sexual violence—that the novel draws from. It also clarifies the author's intentions: to center a survivor's voice, to represent the experiences of Black women and queer and trans folks, and to show that even in impossible circumstances, joy and love remain possible.

For readers, this chapter reframes the novel as a response to a specific injustice and a broader systemic failure. It also serves as a call to attention: the cases we know about are few, and the stories that never reach headlines deserve our consideration.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why did the author choose to write from a survivor's narrative control, and how does this choice shape the novel?

The author wanted to explore what it would mean for a case like the 2015 Oakland incident to happen to a young Black woman and to be told from her perspective. By placing the story in the narrative control of a survivor, the author gives Kiara agency over her own story, countering the way media and institutions typically define victims. This choice shapes the novel by centering Kiara's interiority, her fears, her relationships, and her capacity for joy and love.

2. What does the author mean by the adultification of Black girls, and how does it relate to Kiara's experiences?

The author uses the term to describe how Black girls are often treated as older and less deserving of protection than their white peers. Growing up, the author was told to protect the Black men around her while her own safety was treated as secondary. This dynamic is reflected in Kiara's experiences: she is vulnerable and unprotected, and the systems that should safeguard her instead exploit her.

3. How does the Author's Note connect the novel to real-world events, and why is this connection important?

The Author's Note connects the novel to the 2015 Oakland police sexual exploitation case and to a 2010 study showing that police sexual violence is the second most reported form of police misconduct, disproportionately affecting women of color. This connection is important because it grounds the novel in documented reality, showing that Kiara's story is not an isolated invention but a reflection of systemic patterns. It also serves as a reminder that many similar cases never reach headlines or court.

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