Clichés & Curses

by AKMAR ANNUAR 

WHEN Deidre Isaac — a nom de plume — sat down in her room in Sandakan, Sabah, with a story idea that wouldn’t let go, she had no intention of becoming a published author. 

But the moment she titled her manuscript Clichés & Curses, something shifted. The book — which began as a Wattpad project during her university days — would eventually find its way into bookstores under the Penguin Teen label. 

“I always knew if I ever wrote something, I wanted it on Wattpad first,” she shared with The Malaysian Reserve (TMR). 

“That was my teen dream. That’s who I dedicated the book to — my past self.” 

A hopeless romantic at heart, Deidre grew up immersed in stories, reading romance novels with the promise of happy endings. 

She started writing in earnest in September 2022, completed the first draft by February the following year and began posting it on Wattpad over the course of eight weeks — coinciding with the final stretch of her university life. 

“Every week I posted three chapters. The final chapter went up the same week I had my last university class,” she said. 

That symmetry — an ending and a beginning — mirrors the very essence of her debut, which follows a protagonist reckoning with heartbreak, family and identity. 

At the centre of Clichés & Curses is Sarah Healy, a young woman who believes her family is cursed by cliché love interests. 

The novel plays with romantic tropes while questioning their weight in shaping relationships. 

According to Deidre, the idea stemmed from a desire to explore emotional vulnerability without slipping into sentimentality. 

“I wanted the book to be sweet, but also honest. 

“There’s a chapter — Chapter 14 — that I rewrote several times. It was about Sarah’s relationship with her sister, and it made me cry every time I worked on it,” she said. Though fictional, much of Clichés & Curses is deeply personal. Sarah’s beliefs — particularly her scepticism toward romance — mirror Deidre’s own reflections during the writing process. “Clara, the protagonist, is an extension of myself. That’s why it’s written in the first person. Her beliefs were my beliefs then. It felt like editing a journal I wrote years ago,” she said.

Yet the book isn’t just about familial trauma or romantic disillusionment. A standout element is its sensitive and nuanced inclusion of American Sign Language (ASL). 

Deidre, who was self-taught before enrolling in formal ASL classes, included the language to better represent the deaf community: A decision rooted in both admiration and responsibility. 

“I started learning vocabulary on my own. I wanted to portray the community positively. There’s a joy that comes when someone from the deaf community sees you sign ‘thank you’. It’s not just understanding — it’s being understood,” she told TMR. 

As she revised the manuscript, Deidre was concurrently taking Level 1 ASL, integrating her growing understanding into the narrative. 

This attention to detail, she believed, added authenticity to Sarah’s journey and deepened the emotional resonance between characters. 

Representation aside, the book gained traction quickly. Although Clichés & Curses was only up on Wattpad for a few months before she submitted it to publishers, it managed to climb romance lists and rack up over 30,000 reads. 

Encouraged by friends who saw the potential, Deidre submitted the manuscript and eventually signed with Penguin SEA. 

That momentum, however, did not come from social media buzz or author branding. In fact, Deidre wrote the entire manuscript in secret. 

“No one knew. Not until I started dropping cryptic posts about a ‘best kept secret’. Even then, people didn’t see it coming,” she admitted, laughing. 

Part of the magic, she noted, happened after midnight. 

“My brain works best after 12am. I have vlogs timestamped at 4am. Those were the quiet hours when everything clicked,” she said. 

When asked whether she imagines her book being adapted for screen, Deidre didn’t flinch. 

While no discussions have materialised yet, she’s thought about it. Her main requirement? Chemistry. 

“This story depends so much on the dynamic between the leads. And of course, sign language. That has to stay. I wouldn’t mind changes to the script, but those two things — the chemistry and the ASL — they’re non-negotiable,” she said. 

In a tongue-in-cheek nod to her pop culture influences, she laughed when reminded that High School Musical’s Troy Bolton makes a cameo reference in the book. 

“Someone once joked Zac Efron should play the male lead. I didn’t even realise how much he influenced the character until the second draft!” 

Still, Clichés & Curses is only the beginning. Deidre is already deep into the world of romance literature, still fangirling over indie books and rooting for characters with messy hearts. 

Her current favourite is Attached at Heart by Amelie Rhys, a friend and fellow author. 

“She actually blurbed the book. I’m still grateful for that,” she said. Reflecting on her journey, Deidre settles on one cliché to define her experience: The classic “she found herself ”. It’s the one she’d embrace, not curse. 

“I’ve wanted to write since I was 13. This book — from idea to editing to release — it’s everything younger me hoped for.” 

And in writing a story about curses, Deidre may have just lifted her own. 

Copies of Clichés & Curses are now available at MPH bookstores nationwide — and perhaps worth picking up two, because why not? 

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• This article first appeared in The Malaysian Reserve weekly print edition

The post The journey behind Clichés & Curses appeared first on The Malaysian Reserve.