HOST: Lara Z: Hello, everyone! Welcome to the YA Author's Cafe! Thanks for coming! I am Lara Zeises, the host for tonight's chat. Before I introduce our very fabulous guests, I would like to explain our format. I will be asking our guests a few questions. Before the last question, I will invite the audience to get ready to participate. If you would like to ask a question, when I flash the Bat Signal, type "?" and hit SEND. Then type out your question so it is ready to SEND when I call on you – but please do not press SEND until I call on you. Violators will be asked to clean up the room at the end of the night! ; )

HOST: Lara Z: I will make every effort to call on you in the order that the "?" are posted. I will type: “YOUR NAME” GA when it is your turn. GA stands for GO AHEAD. Let's begin!

HOST: Lara Z: Tonight’s panel features three up-and-coming young adult authors, all of whom are publishing books with Razorbill, a one-year-old imprint of Penguin Putnam. Some interesting facts: all three write in different genres; two are previously published; both male authors wrote books with first-person female protagonists; one has already gained fame (and notoriety) on a controversial NBC Nightly News piece bashing the current state of YA literature.

HOST: Lara Z: (And tell me if I go too fast - I type 85 WPM *and* I read fast - and talk fast ...)

HOST: Lara Z: Without further ado, let me introduce our panelists:

HOST: Lara Z: Ladies first: Melanie Gideon is a fellow Emerson College alumnus. Her first effort, THE MAP THAT BREATHED, is a middle grade fantasy that came out in 2003 to admirable reviews. School Library Journal said, “Readers will be captivated by this book and will long for a sequel.” Her next book, PUCKER, is due out from Razorbill in May 2006.

HOST: Lara Z: Next we have the irreverent Bennett Madison, a self-proclaimed “career receptionist” whose LULU DARK CAN SEE THROUGH WALLS reinvents the Nancy Drew genre with a thoroughly modern heroine who’s as stylish as she is curious. He is currently working on a sequel, LULU DARK AND THE SUMMER OF THE FOX.

HOST: Lara Z: Last, but certainly not least, we have R.A. (Russ) Nelson, author of the controversial first novel TEACH ME, which focuses on the illicit relationship between an 18-year-old girl (Nine) and her Emily Dickinson-obsessed English Teacher. To create Nine, Russ drew on his own interests in astronomy, poetry, and esoteric history factoids.

HOST: Lara Z: But enough from me. I’d like to ask each of these authors to tell you in their own words about their latest projects. Let’s start with Russ. GA

r.a. nelson: Thanks, Lara. Currently I'm working on a follow-up to TEACH ME. It has a title, but I can't let much out of the bag about it

r.a. nelson: or my editor, Liesa Abrams, and her boss, Eloise Flood, will have me drawn and quartered!

HOST: Lara Z: Follow up as in sequel? Companion novel? Or something entirely different.

r.a. nelson: It's something completely different, but another "ripped from headlines" story

r.a. nelson: it basically involves a girl with crippling, almost pathological shyness

r.a. nelson: who experienced a horrific tragedy as a small child, and her learning to get over this and fall in love. GA

HOST: Lara Z: Cool, cool. Bennett, talk to us about the conception of the LULU DARK books. GA

B-Mad: Basically a small, melodious little bird told me that Razorbill was looking for mysteries

B-Mad: And I knew that I liked writing about strident... um...

B-Mad: strident, out-of-control young ladies with bad attitudes

B-Mad: so I decided to transplant my usual characters into a mystery world

B-Mad: along the way things changed

B-Mad: but that's how it started out. GA

HOST: Lara Z: We'll talk more about the "world" of Lulu Dark later ... But first, Melanie, where did you get the idea for PUCKER, and how did you end up part of the Razorbill family? GA

Melanie Gideon: Let's see, the concept for Pucker was actually plucked from an outline for a second book in a trilogy that I was in the process of writing.

Melanie Gideon: I had just switched agents and my new agent sent a copy of my first book to Eloise Flood. Just to put out some feelers.

Melanie Gideon: To be honest I wasn't all that crazy in writing two more books in a series. Eloise asked if I'd be willing to write for an older audience and voila, that's how I came to Razorbill. GA

HOST: Lara Z: Since PUCKER isn’t out until May 2006, I haven’t had a chance to read it. But from your description you sent me earlier, it sounds like it contains some elements of fantasy. Does it, and if so, what attracts you to that genre? GA

Melanie Gideon: Yeah, Pucker has some fantasy elements, but I would say the fantasy is a minor player. IN other words there are no wizards or griffins

HOST: Lara Z: Low fantasy versus high fantasy?

HOST: Lara Z: (Is low fantasy even a term?)

Melanie Gideon: or let's see vomit-flavored jelly beans in Pucker. The protagonist Thomas, aka Pucker (named this by his classmates because he is a burn victim

Melanie Gideon: and his skin is puckered) is a typical American teenager, aside from the fact that's he's so scarred. GA

HOST: Lara Z: Bennett, the LULU DARK books are mysteries, but they’re also set in an alternative version of New York City. What inspired you to create this setting, and how does that affect (in your opinion) the tone of the series? GA

B-Mad: Well I wanted to put it in the real New York but they thought people were turned off by New York

B-Mad: NYC is very '90s

B-Mad: so I made a fake version

B-Mad: which is kind of more fun in a way... since it was supposed to be an amped-up, slightly off-kilter NYC to start with

B-Mad: plus, I don't have to keep a subway map tacked to my wall for accuracy

HOST: Lara Z: So it was a marketing decision? I just thought you were being super-cool.

B-Mad: I guess so but I was more than happy to go along with it

HOST: Lara Z: It's really fun.

B-Mad: anyway, I like Halo City

B-Mad: I like that it's not quite reality

HOST: Lara Z: I like it, too. And it suits Lulu, I think.

B-Mad: The only thing that's tricky is when they talk about LA... because LA is real. Which makes you wonder exactly where halo city is

B-Mad: also it's sort of a nod to the fake worlds of other classic YA genre series

B-Mad: River Heights

HOST: Lara Z: The plot isn't convoluted, yet the setting acting as another character makes it feel like there's more going on than there really is - does that make sense?

B-Mad: Stonybrook...

B-Mad: Hmmm... That's an interesting way of looking at it. I like that. Wait till you read the next one though. The plot is so convoluted.

B-Mad: GA

HOST: Lara Z: Right, right. When I was a kid and used to write fake Nancy Drew books, I set them in Delaware and made a fictional city called Cranston Heights, because there was a fire station with that name on Kirkwood Highway and it sounded like River Heights.

B-Mad: hahahaha

B-Mad: i love that

HOST: Lara Z: I’m also curious as to why you and Russ both chose to write first-person female protagonists. It’s much more common to see women writing male characters than vice-versa. What drew you two to write from the female perspective? GA

B-Mad: me first?

r.a. nelson: Go ahead, B

HOST: Lara Z: Sure, why not?

B-Mad: For this project it seemed very natural... I never liked the hardy boys, they always seemed way too dopey

B-Mad: Teen detectives are just supposed to be girls. I don't know why. It just is. Boys play too many video games, they don't have time to solve mysteries.

HOST: Lara Z: *laughing*

B-Mad: I've always written from the perspectives of both boys and girls

B-Mad: and, you know, grown people too

B-Mad: but in terms of the genre stuff, which this is...

HOST: Lara Z: Didn't Chris Lynch do a series in the '90s about a guy who was like a teen detective? Blue-Eyed Son or something?

B-Mad: the classics are the girl ones. at least, those are the ones i was obsessed with as a gender-defying young boy

B-Mad: i even read the b and c-list ones. (anyone remember SLEEPOVER FRIENDS?)

B-Mad: GA

HOST: Lara Z: Russ, what about you?

r.a. nelson: I had just spent the past year writing 150,000 words on various projects and needed a break. So i took a couple of months off and wrote nothing. Then one day the character of Nine just popped into my head. I wanted to follow and see where she took me.

HOST: Lara Z: Had you written from the female perspective before?

r.a. nelson: I also had had an idea for flipping the usual stalking situation, making it a girl stalking a man

r.a. nelson: I wrote a book called THE HOUSE OF NOVEMBERS from a female perspective

r.a. nelson: but it was third person, past tense POV. I felt like I was doing something very experimental with Nine

r.a. nelson: which was fun. I like to inhabit the MC's head, play it like an actor playing a role. It was very refreshing.

r.a. nelson: GA

HOST: Lara Z: Russ, I want to ask you about the NBC thing, but first, I have to ask you about a comment you made recently on Cynthia Leitich-Smith's blog.

HOST: Lara Z: You said (and I quote): “I was intrigued with this character because Nine cuts against the grain of so many characters you see in YA fiction – bored, angsty kids who come from dysfunctional families, broken homes, and/or who are simply mad at the world, sometimes for no discernible reason. It really interested me to write about a character who is EXCITED about life, passionate about her pursuits, a dreamer with her head in the clouds, but feet planted firmly on the earth.”

r.a. nelson: Sure

HOST: Lara Z: I was a little surprised to hear you say this, because even though Nine comes from an UNbroken home, her parents have very little presence in the novel. Plus, to me Nine DID seem bored, angsty, and mad at the world – or at the very least, she and Sky felt like they were above everyone else. It’s apparent in everything they say – even in her narrative voice, Nine can’t help using fifty-cent words at least once per paragraph. So how is she radically different from the other super-intelligent narrators we see in YA? GA

r.a. nelson: Maybe I just haven't been reading enough YA...the kind of character I DIDN'T want to write about is the kind you see in so many books

r.a. nelson: where they are so pi$$ed at the world, often for no discernible reason

HOST: Lara Z: Like ...?

r.a. nelson: they are just bored...hate life, hate their teachers, etc.

HOST: Lara Z: I don't mean to press you, or make you name names ...

r.a. nelson: hate their parents, the whole thing

r.a. nelson: I'm not saying this is necessarily a BAD thing, just that I didn't want to write about kids like that.

HOST: Lara Z: I'm just curious, because it seemed like kind of a slam - like other authors aren't conscious of alternative narrators.

r.a. nelson: No, not at all, really

r.a. nelson: I just think there is such a spectrum of personality

HOST: Lara Z: Nine is smart and driven, but I don't see her excitement for life as you called it. I don't know. I think I felt like she and Sky lived in a little bubble - a secret club no one else was allowed to enter.

r.a. nelson: I was very excited about life when I was that age, and so were my friends. We only got really angry when we had a really good reason to do so.

r.a. nelson: She

r.a. nelson: oops...she's excited, but very asocial...

HOST: Lara Z: Right. And that, to me, seems evocative of a lot of YA narrators - nothing anti-angsty about that. That's all I mean.

r.a. nelson: she has big dreams and doesn't want anybody messing them up

r.a. nelson: even to the point of cutting herself off from others....we were a lot like that....I didn't fit in so well even with the misfits!

r.a. nelson: Hmmm....as far as naming names, the most recent one I can remember is SWEETBLOOD by Pete H.,

HOST: Lara Z: Oh, but I loved that book. I loved that narrator!

r.a. nelson: a wonderful book with a VERY angry MC who didn't seem to have any dreams at all. I wanted to write about a kid with a lot of dreams

HOST: Lara Z: We can talk about this some other time, though. And I do want to hear your side of the NBC thing, but I feel like I'm ignoring Melanie. Mel - in PUCKER you write from a boy's perspective, right? So, how did that feel to you? I know there are authors like Nancy Werlin who can slip back and forth like nothing, but I find writing a boy's voice VERY challenging.

r.a. nelson: GA

Melanie Gideon: Yeah, I"m not sure how that happened. Accidental to some degree. Also I have a son. Granted he's much younger than Pucker: he's seven

HOST: Lara Z: Does that make you feel more in-tune with the male perspective?

Melanie Gideon: but it wasn't all that hard. I hope I was successful in getting his voice. GA

HOST: Lara Z: I'm looking forward to reading it!

Melanie Gideon: I think it does.

Melanie Gideon: GA

HOST: Lara Z: Okay, most of you probably know what I mean when I refer to the NBC thing. But I want Russ to tell us his side of it, because he was kind of "tricked" - or at the very least, misled - as to how the story would play.

HOST: Lara Z: Russ, give us your version of what went down. GA

r.a. nelson: Let's just say, if you are ever asked to do a RECORDED interview for national TV....you might want to consider running in the opposite direction very quickly!

r.a. nelson: She told me the story would not be like the Wall Street J article....that it would focus on my book and that no other books would be mentioned

HOST: Lara Z: So the reporter basically LIED to you, correct?

r.a. nelson: that my part of it would be edited down from 20 minutes to about 2.5 minutes

r.a. nelson: yep

r.a. nelson: She especially mentioned Rainbow Party by name saying, "We want to avoid that one."

HOST: Lara Z: And she misrepresented a novel about incest, right?

r.a. nelson: I knew there would be some tough questions, but she obviously just wanted to catch me at my most awkward moment, snip that, and use it

HOST: Lara Z: To make it sound more scandalous?

r.a. nelson: yeah, said it was a book about a girl who has sex with her father

HOST: Lara Z: I have to say, one of the things I admired about TEACH ME is that the sex is NOT graphic - it's mostly implied and paried with sensual language.

HOST: Lara Z: You could've written bad porn, like my best friend Melvin Burgess. But you didn't. I thought it was tastefully done.

HOST: Lara Z: Melanie and Bennett, what do the two of you make of the recent rash of book challenges and alarmist articles about “racy reads” in YA? GA

r.a. nelson: And she quoted me out of context....the snippet she used was at the end of a long series of questions...the subject was how upper end YA -- the richness of the writing can help readers mature or transition to adult books....not as Ho's!

HOST: Lara Z: Ha!

r.a. nelson: We were very careful about the sex thing. All handled with a soft focus

r.a. nelson: GA

HOST: Lara Z: VERY well done.

r.a. nelson: yes, she wanted to make me sound like s slavering old fool

B-Mad: I am totally jealous that I am not WRITING racy reads! That is totally what I set out to do and I got sidetracked by chick lit mystery!

r.a. nelson: thanks!

HOST: Lara Z: Yeah, LULU is fairly g-rated.

Melanie Gideon: I have to admit I'm not all that up on the politics of what's happening in YA. What I feel is that as a writer you are in service to the story.

HOST: Lara Z: But you are still a part of the YA community, Bennett. You must have SOME feeling about how the media is trying to trash the genre.

HOST: Lara Z: I agree, Melanie, but it's getting uglier and uglier out there.

B-Mad: I think the genre likes being trashed

B-Mad: it sounds like you had a crappy experience with teach me, russ

Melanie Gideon: If the story requires sex, or swearing or whatever that thing is that might be coined racy, well then you've got to do it. As long as you're judicious and it's not gratuitous. GA

HOST: Lara Z: The good news is that when things like Russ's NBC bit go down, we've got an army of librarians lining up to defend a teen's right to read.

r.a. nelson: it has been a really emotional roller coaster ride, Bennett....

B-Mad: but I think it's a good thing that people are talking about YA

B-Mad: it does seem a little absurd though

HOST: Lara Z: But you have to admit, Russ - you got every freaking vocal librarian in the US springing to your defense.

r.a. nelson: yes indeed, Lara!

r.a. nelson: It has been wonderful!

HOST: Lara Z: So even if the piece was unflattering in general, it has helped raise consciousness of the book. In a positive way.

B-Mad: i mean, has YA really gotten any racier?

B-Mad: hello, Judy Blume is like a hundred now

B-Mad: it seems like this should be old news

r.a. nelson: And it certainly must help sales....

HOST: Lara Z: Bennett - I think so. I think there are authors who are pushing the limits of good taste (Melvin Burgess *cough*)

B-Mad: um YEAH!

B-Mad: i don't believe in good taste

r.a. nelson: Ha!!

HOST: Lara Z: Don't go trashin' Judy Blume while I'm hosting!

B-Mad: i love judy! i am just saying!

r.a. nelson: Also, must put in a plug for Gigi Amateu

HOST: Lara Z: Where do we draw the line?

HOST: Lara Z: That's a question that I think most of us who write for an upper-level audience ask ourselves constantly.

B-Mad: it seems to me that the line is drawn by readers, not by writers

r.a. nelson: I haven't read CLAIMING GEORGIA TATE, but the first chapter reads wonderfully...certainly not sensationalistic trash the way it gets painted

HOST: Lara Z: Because you can be criticized for playing it too "safe," too.

B-Mad: i think kids themselves can be pretty prudish... if they're not ready for something

HOST: Lara Z: Okay, I've babbled on long enough. I need to open the floor now to other people.

B-Mad: if i had read weetzie bat when i was 9 i would have been flabbergasted and put it back on the shelf

HOST: Lara Z: Type your "?", and then get your questions ready to send and for me to call on you.

thingschange: ?

HOST: Lara Z: Patrick, GA

thingschange: How did each of you come to writing for the teen audience??

r.a. nelson: Me ! me!

r.a. nelson: can I go first?

Hope: ?

Trix: ?

thingschange: GO

HOST: Lara Z: GA

r.a. nelson: I wrote for many years, SF, then adult stuff, all over the map, but something was missing.

thingschange: <interviews on NBC?>

r.a. nelson: then one day in 1999 I wrote a list of my 50 favorite novels, and 37 of them happened to be kidlit...or books that both could read?

r.a. nelson: So I started writing midgrades...and gradually decided that I liked writing for older teens better -- I liked being able to use more of my "arsenal"

r.a. nelson: but I loved writing for an age that is right on the cusp of so many things. GA

HOST: Lara Z: Melanie, you started in MG, right?

Melanie Gideon: The books I read when I was a kid/young adult really shaped me, changed me, pushed me to the absolute edges of myself. WHat I'm constantly in search of, my holy grail, are stories that make you feel like somebody is peeling off your skin when you read them. Or perhaps crafting you a new one. I frequently had that experience reading literature when I was a kid.

HOST: Lara Z: Yes! Yes!

CathyA: ?

HOST: Lara Z: I used to call it the "overcooked hot dog feeling."

Melanie Gideon: Precisely!

HOST: Lara Z: Like your world is exploding as you read this amazing book!

Melanie Gideon: Yeah. I'm an addict for those kinds of books.

HOST: Lara Z: Bennett - what about you?

B-Mad: It seems natural to me to write about teenagers. I don't feel very comfortable writing about grownups yet. From writing about teenagers, it is not such a big leap to writing for teenagers.

r.a. nelson: oh yeah! That was the feeling I was after, too! Like the top of your head is coming off

B-Mad: In fact, it is probably harder to write books about teenagers for grownups GA

thingschange: <<thanks and congrats to all of you >>

HOST: Lara Z: I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm taking on a mortgage in November and I *still* feel like I haven't reached adulthood. I'm still more comfortable talking about teen things.

HOST: Lara Z: Hope, GA

Hope: Russ: a library colleague brought back from ALA an ARC of TEACH ME. She spoke very positively about it, especially the sympathy she felt for the teacher. Right now a member of our Teen Library Council has the ARC, and the library's copy hasn't arrived yet, so I have not read it myself. But I immediately thought of another book by Robert Westwall ('can't remember the name just now) about a prep school student and his female teacher who had an affair after World War Two. She was so lonely... Why did you decide to write this story as a YA book rather than an adult book?

Hope: And everyone: aren't we all still growing up? so why YA?

Hope: ('SOrry not to be more articulate!)

r.a. nelson: My agent, Rosemary Stimola, says that five or ten years ago, she would have marketed mine as an adult book, Hope.

r.a. nelson: I guess I just wanted to continue in the "kid" vein because it was what finally got me close to being published

HOST: Lara Z: (You're very articulate, Hope!)

r.a. nelson: not to mention, I have 2 teens running around my house, and a teen girl who visits my son so much, she practically lives here

Hope: (thanks, Lara!)

r.a. nelson: I love the "spareness" of YA lit....not that you can't write long stuff -- it's more the pacing and what is left out...adult books tend to bog me down as a reader

r.a. nelson: GA

HOST: Lara Z: The "why YA" thing - I think (and sorry to butt in here) but I think it's safer to not know who you are at 15, 16, 17. You're supposed to know yourself at 30 or whatever. You're not supposed to admit that you feel lost, or scared, or whatever, because then it's just a midlife crisis (which is a totally demoralizing term nowadays.)

HOST: Lara Z: Trix, GA

Trix: Bennett, which Sleepover Friend was your favorite? (Which girl, I mean.)

guest: ?

Hope: ?

B-Mad: omg that is not a fair question

Trix: Sorry!

B-Mad: i totally do not remember their names. those were the ones i read when all the BSC books were checked out!

r.a. nelson: and thanks, Hope!

B-Mad: i am so embarrassed! which was YOUR favorite?!

Trix: Okay, skip it then! Um, maybe Patty, since she was the dorky one.

B-Mad: i liked whichever was the BADASS one

HOST: Lara Z: Bennett, we so have to talk BSC sometime.

B-Mad: that is always my favorite. that badass one.

HOST: Lara Z: Cathy, GA

CathyA: Melanie, I love the description of books you read as a kid. What were some favorites? Russ, Bennett, you guys, too.

Trix: The others were Stephanie, lauren, and Kate.

r.a. nelson: Cathy, I kind of jumped straight from really young books to adult fiction, well, that and SF, which kind of flows in both directions

Melanie Gideon: C.s Lewis, Lloyd Alexander, Natalie Babbitt: all the fantasy masters. I was also a sucker for the LHP books and Caddie Woodlawn was my idol.

thingschange: ?

HOST: Lara Z: Mysterious "guest," GA

r.a. nelson: I was reading Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Ray Bradbury straight after Dr. Seuss, it seems like. I grew up in a house without any books or other readers. Much of the time when I was very young I was reading Vol. A of a lot of freebie encyclopedias we got in the mail!

guest: Hey Russ! (Brudder). This is your sister from yella from waaaaaay back. We lost touch but I've heard about all the wonderful things happening to you and just wanted to say congrats. I'm really happy for you. (Sorry it says 'guest'...I hit enter too quickly and couldn't figure out how to change it.

B-Mad: Stephanie; I was totally going to say stephanie. but then i thought maybe that was maybe the author and not one of the girls. my favorite books growing up, aside from the BSC, were harriet the spy, the OZ books, daniel pinkwater...

HOST: Lara Z: Love Pinkwater's YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

r.a. nelson: Dang! sis, so nice to see you!! Thanks so much

Melanie Gideon: The most amazing book I've read lately is Divided Kingdom by Rupert Thomson. Anyone read it?

guest: My question for all of you is: what is the most surprising thing you've encountered since being published?

HOST: Lara Z: Nope, sorry.

guest: Russ, it's Sue by the way. And you're welcome, you deserve it!

B-Mad: that book is amazing but so are the rest of his books. his books need to be more readily available

r.a. nelson: Guest, that the roller coaster ride is just beginning after you get pubbed....and it can get scary and depressing, even if you get a great send off, etc.

r.a. nelson: Thanks, thought that was you! But I didn't know if you wanted me to let it slip...

CathyA: Melanie, what amazed you about Divided Kingdom--I'm always looking for a good read.

Melanie Gideon: Yeah, I would agree with Russ. Getting published is not all that it's cracked up to be. Exposure can be both positive and negative.

B-Mad: that i'm not rich and famous and my life isn't perfect.

r.a. nelson: I hope I'm not missing anyone's question....

r.a. nelson: Ha! You got that right, Bennett...

r.a. nelson: In December my agent asked me if I would mind having Nine turn 18 before they consummated the relationship....and I said sure

guest: Is there a level of contentment or do you almost feel more pressure? (I'm sure this answer will vary for each individual...I just like hearing other people's stories.)

HOST: Lara Z: The worst is when people tell you that you have no right to complain because you're published.

r.a. nelson: and she said, "My co-agent in Hollywood says is will be a lot easier to sell that way."

B-Mad: DO NOT GET ME STARTED ON THAT

guest: That's what I suspected, Lara...seems like a double0edged sword.

r.a. nelson: And I've heard not one word about that Hollywood jazz since. And i studiously NEVER ASK.....

B-Mad: anyway, now i am just complaining, really it is wonderful and i am very happy

HOST: Lara Z: Hope, GA

Hope: Bennett, you mentioned Weetzie Bat. Have you read NECKLACE OF KISSES yet, and if so, would you care to comment on it?

Melanie Gideon: No level of contentment. Okay, maybe very very infrequently. If we're being honest to say the experience of writing each book gets more grueling.

Hope: Or anyone care to comment on it?

r.a. nelson: It's nice that people who know me now know that I'm not crazy....only now the people who DIDN'T know me probably think I AM! It has been very hard dealing with this at work...

CathyA: ?

B-Mad: I'm totally afraid to read it. I just have this feeling it's going to suck and depress me.

Trix: I know Lara's opinion on KISSES.

B-Mad: did that just show up? i can't see it

r.a. nelson: Melanie -- you mentioned your book was based on the SECOND book of a trilogy? How did that happen?

B-Mad: oops, there it is

HOST: Lara Z: Patrick, GA.

thingschange: B-Mad: it seems to me that the line is drawn by readers, not by writers: but isn't the first line of "offense" drawn by editors: what was each of your experiences working with editors (or even agents) on your teen novels and is it different than other writing

Melanie Gideon: My first book THe Map that Breathed was supposed to be the first in a trilogy. I'm so glad I"m not writing two more. I have a wonderful agent who got me out of a contract.

thingschange: you have done for other audiences

bethgallaway I found necklace of kisses very satisfying... Weetzie grows up, but is still the Weetzie we know and love.

B-Mad: my editors have been amazing, and have really, really helped get my books in shape-- especially with the mystery, because i suck at that part

B-Mad: but in terms of the racy factor

B-Mad: they totally made me tone it down quite a bit

r.a. nelson: Bennett, your editor is Kirsten, right?

B-Mad: kristen, yeah

r.a. nelson: oops, misspelled it

B-Mad: i think in the end they were right about most things

r.a. nelson: I've heard great things about her

B-Mad: except it still makes my skin crawl when i notice they've changed "pissed" to "peeved"

HOST: Lara Z: You can't drop the f-bomb, that's for sure.

B-Mad: i don't know why i ever agreed to that

r.a. nelson: I'm going to try to meet her in Nashville in a couple of weeks ....except that it coincides with something else I have to do

B-Mad: she is great

HOST: Lara Z: I think we have time for one more question. Cathy, GA.

CathyA: Russ, haven't read Teach Me yet--looking forward to it. Wondering if you see the teacher/student relationship in the book as romantic, predatory or both?

B-Mad: and i LOVE liesa

r.a. nelson: Liesa is a dream, I love her to pieces!

r.a. nelson: Hi Cathy, I loved Jeff and Alt Ed! The teacher, Mr. Mann, is romantic...they really fall in love

r.a. nelson: Nine pursues him, and he gradually weakens. Liesa said this is what she loved about it -- that I was able to make him a sympathetic character instead of a one-dimensional cad

r.a. nelson: GA

HOST: Lara Z: Our "official" time for tonight is up--some of us need to go--but the rest of you are welcome to stay and chat as long as you like. Thank you Bennett, Melanie, and Russ for joining us tonight!

CathyA: Thanks, Russ.

HOST: Lara Z: Join us at the YA Authors Café on September 20th for “Banned Books and the YA Novel,” hosted by D. L. Garfinkle, author of STORKY, and featuring an illustrious panel of guests including A.M. Jenkins (DAMAGE, BEATING HEART); librarian goddess Teri Lesesne; and Dawn Emmerman, the cooler-than-cool author of AVENGING SYBIL, a thought-provoking blog that explores the topic of sexuality in YA fiction.

Hope: Thank you, Lara, for excellent hosting!

Melanie Gideon: Thanks Lara for hosting. Bye all

guest: Thanks guys!

Hope: Thank you, authors, for your books and your comments tonight!

r.a. nelson: Thanks so much for inviting us, Lara! It has been a ball! I can hang around for a while....I feel like I'm alternately hogging the stage or accidentally missing great stuff

CathyA: Thanks, everyone--great chat!

HOST: Lara Z: Thanks, Hope! Good night! Thank you all for coming! See you next week