“Some of the gross stuff Brody does is loosely based on a few girls I’ve had in my life over the years. I’ve known a handful of grubby, letting-it-all-hang-out, skanky, unshowered, nasty, crass, jerk-ass, nose-picking girls who played important roles in my life in the past, the kind of girl who shows up at your door and the only thing you can say is ‘try some deodorant’ and then in response she wipes a booger on your leg. The book was originally going to be much raunchier and grosser with much more profanity and overall vulgarity, it was going to be me writing about these girls from my life, and there’s still a lot of that in the book, but it did get toned down a lot. I guess it’s good to see that people still seem to be repulsed by the characters. But aside from her specific vulgarities, most of Brody’s personality is made up from scratch. I find that a good mix of both make for the best characters.”

Water Baby