Emily Singer’s Debut Novel, Doll Baby, Is A Sexy, Sharp Take On Gen Z Los Angeles

Los Angeles is often seen as a city of contrasts, where the allure of Hollywood exists alongside the challenges of everyday life, and where growing up can feel both mundane and monumental.

For Emily Singer, this contrast serves as the backdrop for her debut novel, Doll Baby. Having grown up in Calabasas herself, Emily didn’t set out to make an autobiographical piece, but rather one that carries traces of her experiences and translates them into a world many young women can relate to. Doll Baby offers a modern portrait of girlhood shaped by attention, privilege, and desire — a story that captures the ache of wanting to be chosen, and the quiet power of choosing yourself instead.

A Passion For Writing From A Young Age

Emily’s interest in storytelling began early. "I don’t remember a time when I didn’t think I would be a writer,” she recalls. As a child, she would find comfort and escapism in books, reading as many as three a day.

Over the years, she began working across TV, film, and production, learning narrative rhythm and structure by reading scripts, producing and directing short films and commercial campaigns, developing pitches, and even writing an episode of television at 24 years old.

Those experiences sharpened her sense of pacing and dialogue but also gave her the confidence to tell stories and create on her own terms. Doll Baby started off as a short story called “fifteen,” written years ago and tucked away.

Gradually, she started adding more chapters into the story, each one threading together a decade in main character Jolie’s life — until Emily realized she had a novel on her hands.

Inside Doll Baby

Emily’s debut novel Doll Baby follows Jolie through the delicate process of becoming an adult and the unique dynamics of teen relationships and how they morph into adult ones — each phase showing a new part of who she is and what she wants.

Jolie draws partly from Emily’s experiences but stands on her own as a character, with Emily describing her as “messy, layered, imperfect — like real people are." Over the years, she falls for the wrong people, leans too much on friends, or looks to others for validation, all before realizing that she has to choose herself first. “People treat you the way you treat yourself,” she explains. “By the end, all of Jolie’s adolescent experiences, mistakes, and lessons, lead her to the woman she is becoming. A version of herself she’s proud of.”

The book shows both the shiny side of LA life and the darker, more complicated side, reflecting how growing up rarely follows a straight line. The story is written in a poetic, honest style that Emily compares to “reading someone’s diary,” giving readers a close look at Jolie’s seductive world.

Though written with college-aged readers in mind, Doll Baby expands beyond typical young adult fiction to offer lessons and experiences that resonate with women at any stage of life. Emily points out that even her mother and her friends, far removed from the book’s contemporary setting, couldn’t stop reading it. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a 50-year-old woman, you were once a teenage girl,” she says.

Finding Her Own Voice Through Vulnerability

Emily explains that Doll Baby came together gradually, often written in moments when she felt most emotionally connected to the story rather than through a strict daily routine. She describes the process as intuitive, letting inspiration lead the way instead of forcing herself into a schedule.

She also highlights how allowing herself to be vulnerable at the time of writing was essential. Emily calls the book “a trust fall into myself,” a way to share her voice openly and without apology. Writing from lived experience wasn’t always easy, as some scenes brought up real emotions and memories. But she found that honesty gave the work its shape and power. “When you write from lived experiences, it can be painful,” she says, “but it’s also cathartic and healing.”

That willingness to write with honesty, even when it hurts, has since shaped how she approaches all her creative work. "Life isn’t always going to be an 11 out of 10 — and that’s okay,” she says. “It’s about learning to ride out the highs and the lows and, most importantly, staying true to yourself. I hope people love Doll Baby, but what's really cool is that I love it."

Extending Her Perspective On Girlhood

Doll Baby is now available for preorder through Thought Catalog Books and is set to launch in early winter. Meanwhile, Emily is already developing new projects, including TV and film scripts and additional novels that continue exploring layered female characters and the spaces they inhabit.

For readers, Doll Baby offers both the specificity of one girl’s coming-of-age through trial and tribulation and the broader reminder that it’s not about the destination, but about the journey. And in that sense, Emily Singer has delivered exactly what she set out to write: a portrait of girlhood–messy, honest, heartbreaking, and mischievous all at once.

BDG Media newsroom and editorial staff were not involved in the creation of this content.