#ryanlovelessbooks

[yaliteraturebookshelf]

ryanlovelessbooks replied to your post “Ooh you can now reply/comment to all text posts on the app! Leave me...”

I'm a YA librarian and I love your blog.

Aw thank you so much! Now I feel all warm and fuzzy inside :) Have a great day!

[harmonyinkpress]

For Johanna P contest: In both Here's To You and Every Inferno, the young characters have experienced the loss of their parents--one pair to death and the other to neglect--how did you determine how you wanted to portray the loss and life reactions both boys have to it? (Possibly too personal here, but I'm wondering how much was it research for you and how much was related to personal experience.)

Dusty and JJ were both heavily influenced by different teenagers I’ve worked with over the years. I certainly had to do additional research to round them out, but their basic outlooks on life were grounded by outlooks of real teenagers I know who’ve gone through similar struggles. 

A lot of adults tend to underestimate teenagers, and I don’t think many adults realize just how many teens essentially navigate the world on their own each day. Sometimes, like in Dusty’s case, that’s because they have no choice. Sometimes, like in JJ’s case, that’s because they’d rather navigate the world alone. Both books were both my shout-out to those teens and my message to them that there might be people out there who can and want to support them. Even if that’s never been the case before.