They also share a love for Mary MacLane and a memoir she wrote, to the point where they create a secret club called The Plain Bad Heroine Society.

Danforth also derives the book's title from MacLane's memoir, where she states "I wish some one would write a book about a plain, bad heroine so that I might feel in real sympathy with her.”[2] Danforth also stated that she drew upon stories surrounding films such as The Omen, The Exorcist, and Poltergeist, and that "The fire in the costume trailer in Plain Bad Heroines was directly inspired by the prop storage facility burning down during the production of The Possession.

[4] Plain Bad Heroines was released in the United States in hardback and e-book format through William Morrow on October 20, 2020, featuring illustrations by Sara Lautman.

[8][9] Hillary Kelly of The Los Angeles Times stated that "Every major character is a queer woman — every last one — and each of them wears her sexuality differently, an idea that shouldn’t feel revelatory in 2020 but annoyingly does.

"[10] The San Francisco Chronicle's Datebook also cited the characters as a highlight, as they felt that they "are neither plain nor bad, but human: rebellious, insecure, funny, deep with longing and scars still healing".

Plain Bad Heroines was named a Most Anticipated Book by Entertainment Weekly, the Washington Post, USA Today, Time, O, Buzzfeed, Harper's Bazaar, Vulture, Parade, HuffPost, Refinery29, Popsugar, E!