Interview with NY Times Bestselling Author, Jay Asher

Jay Asher’s debut novel Thirteen Reasons Why is one of my favorite YA novels. I had the honor of meeting Jay at the 2008 Los Angeles SCBWI conference and heard his talk “No Bookmarks Allowed: How to Inject Suspense into Any Novel.” 

Published by Razorbill (Penguin’s teen imprint) in 2007, Thirteen Reasons Why is a New York Times Bestseller and listed as a Best Book for Young Adults (YALSA), Book Sense Pick Winner and a slew of other awards.

Razorbill’s Synopsis of Thirteen Reasons Why:

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers 13 cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker—his classmate and crush—who committed suicide two weeks earlier. On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out how he made the list. Through Hannah and Clay's dual narratives, debut author Jay Asher weaves an intricate and heartrending story of confusion and desperation that will deeply affect teen readers.

"Thirteen Reasons Why is a mystery, eulogy, and ceremony. I know, in the years to come, I will often return to this book."

--Sherman Alexie, author of the National Book Award Winner, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

"A brilliant and mesmerizing debut from a talented new author."

--Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Breakneck pace and dizzying emotion."

--School Library Journal

"Readers won't be able to pull themselves away . . . "

--Publishers Weekly

"Eerie, beautiful, and devastating."

--The Chicago Tribune

Jay Asher has been featured on many media outlets, and I encourage you to read his other interviews that dive into the more serious issues addressed in the book (such as teen suicide). 

For this interview, I focused on writing-specific questions. 
  
 

 

1. Where did you write most of Thirteen Reasons Why?

I wrote huge chunks of it at a coffee shop called Linnaea’s, the inspiration for Monet’s Garden Café in the book.  The table where Clay sat while listening to one of the tapes is my favorite place to write.  In fact, here’s a newspaper photo taken at that coffee shop.  Who’s that in the background?  Me!  And I’m sitting at Clay’s table.  And I just happen to be doing the final edits of Thirteen Reasons Why.

2. What is your writing process like? Do you follow a specific writing regime (Like you must complete 500 word a day or else….) or is it more organic?

I try to keep it as organic as possible, which is why I try not to outline too heavily.  I usually have an idea where the story is heading, and a few things I want to see happen along the way, but I never force the story in those directions if the characters don’t naturally take it there.

3. The unerring voice of Hannah Baker is a true success story. Hannah comes across as easy to relate to, accurate to a teen’s speech, and easy to identify in a story that changes point of view so frequently. Did you do any “YA Voice” research? (Or watch certain movies, listen to a targeted rock band, read specific books?)

What a compliment!  But her voice was the easiest to capture of any character I’ve ever written.  The moment the idea for the novel came to me, Hannah’s full personality was right there.  I wish every character were that easy to figure out.

4. Did you write any of your personality or teen experiences into Thirteen Reasons Why?

In high school, I was a lot like Clay.  And a few of the scenes were inspired by things that I experienced…but only loosely inspired.  It was more the emotions behind certain situations that I wanted to capture.  I’d write scenes about those feelings rather than about specific events.  But the paper bag scene, with Hannah’s anonymous note, is almost identical to something that happened in one of my classes.

 5. One of Hannah’s teachers receives partial blame for her suicide. What was your reasoning for incorporating an authority figure into the tapes? One of the main things we see Hannah lose throughout the book is hope.  Eventually, she even begins to turn away the hope that is offered to her.  Whether people feel that particular authority figure deserved to be on the tapes or not…to Hannah, he did.  Sometimes people pin too much hope on those we feel should automatically know all the right things to say in any situation.  When that doesn’t happen, it can seem more crushing than a non-authority figure doing the same thing.  Plus, I needed to find thirteen stories to tell, and making one an adult helped add a little twist.

6. Originally, you wanted to write humorous middle-grade. How did you end up trying your hand at YA novels?

It does sound odd to go from writing humorous manuscripts for younger children to a very serious novel for teens.  But I simply wrote the most intriguing story ideas as they came to me.  For many years, those were funny stories.  When the idea for Thirteen Reasons Why came, that was the most intriguing story…so I went with it!

7. Many writers get bogged down with word count and/or revisions of their manuscript. How many revisions did Thirteen Reasons Why go through? How aware were you of your word count/page numbers as you wrote?

I heavily revise and polish as I go, so there’s only one true draft when I’m done.  It helps that I do a lot of brainstorming throughout the writing process with my friends, which keeps me from wandering too far away from my original story idea.  And while I don’t generally worry about word count, because Hannah’s portion of the story is told on audiotapes, I kept track of how long her “monologues” were to make sure one tape wasn’t too much longer than another.  But I didn’t keep track of Clay’s portion of the story.

8. You’ve been an active member of SCBWI for a long time. What are some reasons that keep you attending conferences?

One, they’re a lot of fun.  It’s great to catch up with other writers who I sometimes see just once a year.  But they can also be great opportunities to schmooze, allowing face-time with editors and agents who might one day be important in your career.

9. Many writers looking to get published weigh the decision between finding an agent and approaching an editor directly. What’s your advice? Plenty of people sell books without agents, but the right agent can really help on the business end of things.  Thirteen Reasons Why was getting interest from editors before I had an agent because of awards it had won, but I wanted someone to help me find the perfect editor.  And when the book ended up selling in a three-house auction, I was definitely glad I had an agent to help me through that.

10. How has having a critique group helped (or hurt) you as a writer?

It’s done nothing but help me.  I used to be in a large critique group, which I got into shortly after I began writing children’s books.  Everyone in that group was unpublished, but we all went to conferences and read how-to-write books along with plenty of novels, and we shared everything we learned about this creative pursuit of ours.  The writing quality improved so quickly for all of us because we were brutally honest with each other.  By the time I left the group (because I moved away), whenever I sat down to write, I would literally hear Cynthia or Roz point out things I was doing wrong in my writing as I was writing it.  Now I’m in a smaller group, and we mostly just brainstorm together until a full manuscript is done.  Then we critique the entire manuscript.

11.What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received and why?

This question totally has me stumped.  Most of the advice I’ve received consists of little nuggets which, when accumulated, add up to a massive amount of great advice.  Unfortunately, I can’t pick one that’s The Best.  Now, I do know The Worst piece of advice I’ve ever been given.  It was absolutely horrible advice.  Horrible.  Horrible.  Horrible!  Every writer should run away from advice like this.  But that wasn’t the question you asked, so…moving on. [Jodi’s note-- Nope, he’s not gonna share!]

12. You can have lunch with any author you want (dead or alive). Who would you invite?

Stephen King.  I think he’s an amazing storyteller, and I really admire the way he thinks about writing.  Plus, I’m addicted to his column in Entertainment Weekly called The Pop of King.  The guy’s a genius…and hysterical!

13. So, you’ve got a successful, best-selling book. What’s next on the agenda?

Next year, we’ll be releasing a Thirteen Reasons Why pop-up book, which I’m very excited about.  But other than that, I just plan to keep writing books for teens.  I’ve been absolutely honored and amazed that my first novel connected with so many teens on such a deep level.  And if I don’t write anything as successful as that again…fine.  But I won’t stop trying!

Visit Jay's blog.
Buy Thirteen Reasons Why.

Join SCBWI.

Check out some international covers of the book:

 

* © passport in my pocket *

Comments

[Bret]

Great interview!

Linnaea’s is my favorite coffee shop in SLO - and maybe in the world. I've spent many hours writing in there too.

[passport in my pocket]

Bret, I want you guys to become BFFs.

[Bret]

We should be - sounds like we basically are the SAME person...

But seriously, if you ever go there, the Mexican Hot Chocolate is AMAZING.

[Sarah Esther]

is it completely acceptable that I'm an adult yet still enjoy YA novels?

thanks for sharing this!