Things like addiction and position are nothing new, and they tend to touch and affect everyone in one way or another. Hopkins believes that her work exposes the universal truths of life.

Hopkins has also suggested that there is more of her life in her books than most people realize, though she has admitted to mining interesting tidbits from the lives of some of her family members.

The author has never fought against suggestions that her books might actually be about Cristal’s escapades (Cristal is Hopkins’ daughter from her first marriage). Whenever she is asked about her literary inspirations, Hopkins is quick to mention her daughter Cristal. While her young adult books have a dedicated fanbase, she has also made a few waves with adult novels like Collateral that take an even darker tone because they explore uniquely disturbing aspects of the human psyche. Elements like drug addiction and mental illness tend to liter Ellen Hopkins’ books. She eventually leaped into fiction, focusing her attention on the issues and struggles teenagers typically face and how they normally overcome them. She went on to write books like Air Devils which didn’t exactly strike a chord amongst readers. The author’s initial focus was nonfiction books targeted towards children.

When Ellen finally got around to writing in 1990, she had more than enough material to fill quite a few books.

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