Laurie Faria Stolarz (on Writing Teen Novels)

I wrote a novel for my teen-self. Blue is for Nightmares was the product; it was my graduate thesis, and so far it’s been my best seller, spawning a five-book series, a publishing imprint, and a potential TV series. It’s also been translated into numerous different languages and has appeared on many different award lists, including the Top Ten Teen Pick List and the Quick Pick List for Reluctant Readers, both through the American Library Association. But, even after all of the novel’s success, the thing that excites me most is when a young person writes to me saying that he or she used to hate reading, but that my work has since inspired him or her to read, because that is exactly what I set out to do. I feel so grateful to be able to do this for work.
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New York Times bestselling novelist Laurie Faria Stolarz at http://writingteennovels.com/2013/01/10/why-i-write-for-young-adults-by-laurie-faria-stolarz