If you kick off your Sunday mornings with a quaint scroll through DeuxMoi’s Sunday Spotted, then you are part of a legion of 1.7 million+ Instagrammers who do the same. The internet’s resident Gossip Girl has undeniably carved their spot in the realm of celeb chatter, growing a massive audience in the process, but in their newest project, fact takes a back seat to fiction.
DeuxMoi teamed up with author and Cosmo alum Jessica Goodman on Anon Pls., a novel about a character who sounds a helluva lot like DeuxMoi themselves. Here’s the book’s synopsis, courtesy of HarperCollins:
“When Cricket Lopez, assistant to one of the most notorious celebrity stylists, revamps her old fashion Instagram account and turns it into a source for celebrity gossip on a drunken whim, she never thinks it will become anything. It’s just a way to blow off steam after a terrible, terrible day at work where her nightmarish boss screams at her and blames her for some 18-year-old influencer’s screwup. But when the account grows overnight and, even wilder, when she starts getting gossip from fans and insiders—juicy gossip—she has to face facts: Her Instagram is now famous. She is now famous.
“Though no one knows that she is behind the account, its newfound success quickly wreaks havoc on her real life. Her boss wonders why she’s disappearing on the job, her friends are increasingly irritated by her dedication to the account, and she has celebrities, investors, and journalists approaching her nonstop. Plus, there’s a steamy new love interest who she meets through her online persona—except she has no idea if she can truly trust his motives.
“As the account grows and becomes more and more influential, she has to wonder: Is it—the fame, the insider access, the escape from real life—really worth losing everything she has?”
Cosmopolitan’s associate entertainment editor Tamara Fuentes sent along questions for DeuxMoi and Jessica to ponder together, and their ensuing conversation gives insight into what it was really like to mine DeuxMoi’s life for a novel. Read below for the exchange (and pick up a copy of Anon Pls. while you’re at it!).
How did this partnership start off? What was it like getting to work together?
JG: After Deux came up with the idea for the novel, our agents set us up to have a get-to-know-you call to see if we got along and if our creative processes meshed well together. I remember during the first call, we were tossing around ideas for plot and character and from the very beginning it felt like we could make something really fun happen. I mostly write thrillers under my own byline, so it was an exciting professional challenge to work outside my genre and audience and to write in someone else’s voice, a skill I believe I honed while working at Cosmopolitan, where I used to edit other people’s personal pieces all the time. Plus, writing can be such a lonely endeavor, so it was a treat to have a collaborator like Deux since we talked out story beats together all the time.
DM: I knew from our first phone call that Jessica totally understood the vibe and tone of the book. I felt very protective about how Cricket was portrayed since her character was inspired by my actual feelings and emotions. I really poured my heart out to Jessica and told her EVERYTHING. She was so understanding and nonjudgmental that it made the whole collaboration experience enjoyable and fun. Talking to her about the account and my life was the first time I was completely open and honest about everything that had transpired over the past two years that our phone calls literally felt like therapy sessions.
DeuxMoi, you point out at the beginning of the book that “while this book definitely draws inspo from events in my actual life, this story is obvi a work of fiction.” How hard was it sharing your story while also trying to keep your identity a secret?
DM: I hope fans of the account will read this book and learn more about me on a personal level. So it wasn’t hard at all; I was excited! Unless someone knows very specific details about my life, I don’t think the book confirms my identity at all.
This is a really big partnership of trust, especially because DeuxMoi’s identity is a secret to most of the world. How did you establish that trust minus, ya know, NDAs?
JG: I was never really interested in WHO Deux is—that’s besides the point when you’re working on a project like this. So after we established the boundaries for the book, we could go full speed ahead in crafting the most fun story possible.
DM: I trusted Jessica right off the bat. If I felt like I couldn’t have trusted her, the process of writing the book would have been a disaster and that would have been reflected in the final product. I think I probably told Jessica more about my life from these past two years than any of my friends or family. She knows where all the bodies are buried, so to speak!
Jess, how much did you get to draw from their story for the writing? Did it make it easier or harder?
JG: After learning more about how DeuxMoi began and what’s happened in her personal life since then, the story arc of Anon Pls. came together quite naturally because we were just pulling beats from her life and massaging them to work as fiction. It definitely made it easier because we had the groundwork already there in her real life.
This is still fiction, but did it help having something to draw from? Or did you feel like you had to keep more in mind when writing some of the sections?
JG: It definitely helped to have something to draw from, especially when you have someone like Deux who can chime in with notes like, “Well, that’s not really how a celebrity would reach out to ask me to take something offline” or “Here’s the lingo fashion stylists really use.” We wanted the story to feel as authentic to this world as possible, so having someone who has lived and breathed it be able to write and edit with that in mind was invaluable.
Obviously, this book includes celebs, events, other current It Things like Raya. Was there worry about how things might change from writing to now? Like, who or what we’re talking about/who is relevant anymore?
JG: Yes and no. We wanted the book to feel fresh, but we also wanted to give little Easter eggs for longtime DeuxMoi followers to find along the way, like shout-outs to favorite celeb stories or inside jokes from the past. But when it came to the main characters and plot points, we felt it was best to create fake celebrities inspired by real events that Deux has been through with real celebs.
DM: The pop culture moments and celebrities we chose to fictionalize are still being talked about today and are definitely still being talked [about] on the DeuxMoi social media accounts, so the issue of relevancy never crossed my mind.
Was there anything cut that you wanted to add but seemed like it might be a bit too much or maybe not good to feature? Maybe about a celeb or a personal experience?
JG: We went back and forth with legal a few times to make sure we weren’t getting Deux into hot water by making certain eyebrow-raising storylines too close to reality.
DM: There were certain character storylines, specific details, and even names that we had to adjust for legal reasons, so I would get bummed about that because I was like, “Let’s spill it all!!” In the end, we obviously had to listen to legal, and in retrospect, that decision was for the best.
Part of the fun of this book is that you see texts, emails, DMs, even messages/comments from different social media platforms. What was the most fun to do and how was it trying to get the voice for each thing? Did one stand out?
JG: Working on the social media excerpts was my favorite part of the project because Deux would literally pull some of these from real interactions! We would edit some of them for clarity and grammar, things like that, but many of them stayed true to the original messages, which I think is so fun.
DM: I pulled A LOT of personal texts, emails, and DMs from archives to help shape the story. I really wanted the reader to feel like they were reading something they maybe shouldn’t be!
The ending kind of leaves us with the possibility of there being more to this story. Any chance there will be more?
JG: Never say never!
DM: A lot has happened from the point the book ends to now, so hopefully we will have a chance to continue the story!
DeuxMoi, because this is kind of personal, is there anything from the book that you want fans to learn about you without actually learning who you are? Was there anything you learned yourself from writing this book?
DM: I don’t know if it’s obvious, but I wanted the book to serve as inspiration for anyone who feels stuck at their current job. For anyone who is being mistreated by their employer or feeling underappreciated, you don’t deserve to be treated poorly in the workplace, and there is a way out! Hard work does pay off! Never stop believing in yourself and don’t let anyone tell you to change who you are to fit a corporate stereotype!
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity. Shop DeuxMoi and Jessica Goodman’s book Anon Pls. below:
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