When did you start writing?I've always been writing. Mostly just silly little things that popinto my head that I'd never thought about sharing with other people.But then I started performing poems -- at concerts and bars andopen-mic nights -- and getting asked to perform *more* poems, and thatput the idea into my head that people actually want to hear what Ihave to say.
What do you like most about writing for young adults?
It's the best time in our lives. The worst, too -- but all the thingsthat change us, that really define who we are and put the directioninto the rest of our lives, it all happens at that age. If you look atall the great literature, from Shakespeare to Catcher in the Rye, it'sall about teenagers. I don't really think I've ever left being 17 orso. So it's kind of natural that way, too.
If you could be a character from your books for one day, who would it be?
Without a doubt, Hava from Never Mind the Goldbergs. I'm an Orthodox Jew, and when I wrote the book and I was single, everyone thought that Hava was my ideal girlfriend. The truth was more like, Hava is my ideal for myself. She's weird and awkward and very cool, and everything that she does, she takes the time to think about and she believes in doing it, and she's purposeful about its execution, andshe makes it rock. She's like the person version of Sleater-Kinney, myfavorite band. Even when they cover B-52's songs, they put, like, 110%of themselves into it.
Where did you get the inspiration for the awesome main character, Hava?
When I became Orthodox, I told myself that I was going to try outliving the Orthodox way, but I wasn't going to put up with anything I didn't believe in. Hava is one step further.she believes, and she believes really valiantly and forcefully, that God understands hercompletely, and that they're on the same page. She has the kind of faith that sometimes I feel, but mostly I wish I could feel.
Since you are a YA writer can you tell us what you were like as a teen? Does that influence your characters? How?
I liked to think I was one of the Wild Things. The truth was morelike, my friends were all the Wild Things, and I sort of tagged along.
What where your favorite books as a young adult?
Well, there's one of them. I loved Francesca Lia Block's Weetzie Batbooks, Geek Love by Katherine Dunn, and a lot of comic books. I gotinto Vertigo, which was meant to be for "mature readers," but whatthat meant was mostly that they were more cerebral. Neil Gaiman'sSandman stories and Shade, the Changing Man were my big influences.
What is the first thing you do when beginning on a new book?
I just write. I try to ignore all the static and the what-ifs and justlet the story happen and grow on its own. I write longhand, so it'seasier that way -- you're less able to just highlight and delete, andyou're actually moving forward, filling up the page. It feels likeyou're half reading the story and half helping it create itself.
What's your favorite and least favorite part of being a writer?
My favorite part is the creating. My job is to make up stuff and forceimaginary people to do amazing things. How cool is that?
The hardest part, I think, is the sales. When you're like, I want todo *this,* and the publishers tell you that they aren't buying bookswith male protagonists, or that you haven't sold as many copies asJennifer Weiner -- Not that anything's wrong with Jennifer Weiner.It's just that, once you step into a certain light, selling books isjust like selling breakfast cereal or toilet cleaner. It's our job asauthors to keep reminding ourselves that we're not just creatingtoilet cleaner.
Do you have a dream for the future of your writing, something you love to accomplish?
I think I'm accomplishing it just by writing. Just the idea that I'mtelling stories and that other people, people I've never met, arereading them. I can't really ask for more than that.
That said, though, there's tons of stuff I want to do. I just wrote myfirst screenplay - the film's going to start shooting in November, andI'm helping with that. And my novel Losers came out this year, and thestory ended, but the characters keep on talking. I feel like I can seeJupiter's entire life in front of me. And it still keeps surprisingme. That's pretty much all I could ask for.
**THANKS MATTHUE***
For more about Matthue and books, visit his site here
