Today is the last day of our two weeks of celebrating YA and to wrap it up, we have a special treat. The lovely Melissa Keil - author of The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl and the Ampersand Project winning Life in Outer Space - agreed to answer some of our nosy questions about her writing and her thoughts on YA.
What made you want to write YA?
Many moons ago, when I started training to be an editor, my first job was working with children’s and YA books. I was pretty amazed to discover this whole hidden part of the bookstore that I hadn’t visited since I was a kid, and I just fell in love with Young Adult - the huge breadth of genres and genre mash ups and themes, and these wonderful stories about an intense life phase that still feels really raw and relatable to me.
What is the best part of being a YA author?
Meeting young readers, and having my characters being on the receiving end of so much warmth and affection. Being part of an awesome community of other YA writers – Aussie young adult authors are some of the coolest, most supportive people in the world. And having a convenient excuse to buy loads of young adult books for ‘research’ is nice too.
Not sure there is a worst part! Possibly having to answer the ubiquitous question of ‘when are you going to write a book for grown ups.’
Both of your novels, but particularly Life in Outer Space, are awesomely nerdy. Is this a trait you share with your characters?
Ha, yes, though I think the nerd-quotient of my character does exceed my own. I’ve always had a soft spot for people who are a little left of centre (and they’re incredibly fun to write about too). It’s also wonderful to have a job where I can indulge in all my geeky obsessions, and where I can discover new ones.
What plans do you have for future novels?
It feels like bad luck to talk about a half formed manuscript, but I am in the early stages of my next book now. I’ve been doing lots of research on card tricks. There are a lot of other ideas floating around!
Who are your favourite YA authors? What are your most highly recommended YA books?
Oh, way too many highly recommended to narrow down! But off the top of my head - Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson. I know I’ve shoved Patrick Ness’s Chaos Walking series into the hands of lots friends. Ellie Marney’s Every Breath and Every Word are recent awesome Australian favourites.
