teen authors Harvard University sophomore Kaavya Viswanathan [left] received a $500,000 advance for her novel "How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life," which she wrote at 17. Her book, with comic echoes of "Mean Girls" and "Bend It Like Beckham," tells the story of a brainy Indian American girl who is convinced she can't get into Harvard unless she develops a personality and has a good time in high school. DreamWorks just bought film rights. >> NOTE - The novel has been pulled from the market because it contains material “borrowed” from books by Megan McCafferty. "I don't see a huge talent difference between one age group or another," said Viswanathan, who finished her novel while she was taking five courses at Harvard and studying for finals. "It all comes down to who has the dedication to sit down every day and put something on paper. It all starts from there." "The Notebook Girls" is a real-life account written by four teenagers. "We wanted to tell our story in our own words," said Julia Baskin, one of the authors. "We lived through it."   These teen authors are not the first to find their way to publication, of course. Mary Shelley famously wrote "Frankenstein" in 1816 when she was 19; Maureen Daly began writing "Seventeenth Summer," a 1942 title that many consider the forerunner of the modern YA novel, when she was 17; S.E. Hinton wrote "The Outsiders," a 1967 novel that became a cult classic and later a movie, at 16. Christopher Paolini began work on the fantasy novel "Eragon" — which has sold more than 1.5 million copies — when he was 15. Amelia Atwater-Rhodes is the author of a series of popular fantasy novels, beginning with "In the Forests of the Night," which she wrote when she was 14. Nick McDonell produced "Twelve," a well-reviewed first novel, when he was 17. ~ ~ ~ > From “Why let adults tell them how their life is? Teen authors are writing it as they live it.” By Josh Getlin, Los Angeles Times April 5, 2006 > photo of Kaavya Viswanathan by Deborah Feingold ~ ~ ~ ~ Amber Benson on using multiple talents [on writing, directing her movie Chance (2002) [site]: “The film was a while in coming. I spent a lot of time in my trailer on "Buffy" because they do so many stunts and CGI effects, so I'd just sit and write.  I was tired of playing the love interest roles, but that's all that's written for women usually. "Buffy"'s the exception to that, but those kind of characters are few and far between, so I thought I'd better write one for myself."    [Irish News, 27 January 2003] > her novel: Ghosts of Albion: Accursed     > related page : filmmaking  ~ ~ ~ ~ I fall into the sea of poetry which drags me to the forgotten archipelagos of my Being. ... To my great surprise I find myself in a country full of wizardry and dreams. There I go into the mine of images and linger there. Then I return to planet earth where I write a poem. Ekiwah Adler Belendez - from his site  > also see Dateline NBC story about his corrective surgery for  a life-threatening neuro-muscular disorder

I write when I feel lonely, hopeless or discouraged. I feel real when I am writing. You have to watch what you say when you talk to someone, but when  you are writing, you can say anything and be accepted. Celeste Marie Davis - 14-year-old screenwriter of the feature film Purgatory House.  [about.com interview by Christie Yao, August 3, 2001] photo from film site: Purgatory House more about the movie on filmmaking: teen/young adult

Helen Oyeyemi's remarkable first novel, ''The Icarus Girl," was written when the author was only 18 years old and should have been studying for her A-level exams in England. It reflects the Nigerian-born Oyeyemi's own troubled childhood growing up in Great Britain, clinically depressed, misunderstood at school, socially outcast, and suicidal by the age of 15.

When a psychiatrist suggested to Oyeyemi's parents that they take her back to Nigeria for a long holiday.. the sojourn proved immensely therapeutic and restorative. Oyeyemi maintains that it ''fixed her up," and it helped plant the seeds for the novel that has turned her into a literary sensation in Britain. > from review by Karen Campbell, The Boston Globe boston.com June 20, 2005

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If teens want to write, they should write! I often speak to school groups and some kids always come up and say "I want to be a writer too." When I ask if they've written any stories or articles they usually say no. Kids can write for their school newspaper or write a short article for the church bulletin. There are many writing opportunities on the web that look for kids to submit material. This summer I actually completed my 6th book.

I signed a contract with my mom to write every morning from 9-noon during July. It was hard because I wanted to sleep in, but I kept at it. On July 31 my book was done and now my agent will submit it. It takes time management also. If my friends wanted to do something in the morning, I told them I could come after noon. It feels good to look back and see that my book is done (except for some editing) because I worked during July. Sondra Clark, 14 .. (daretobelieve.org Oct 2004) > photo from her site > Sondra Clark books

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.. .. ....Like the Red Panda - by Andrea Seigel Astute, confident and keenly articulated, 24-year-old Seigel's debut about the life and times of an intelligent, disaffected teen is bleak but sharply humorous, and even redemptive.  It's the last two weeks of high school for Stella Parrish... at 17 she is trying to decide between Princeton and oblivion.... [Publishers Weekly]

Stella Parrish is seventeen, attractive, smart, deeply alienated, and unable to countenance life's absurdities.  She is not nihilistic; she is prematurely exhausted. Since her parents OD'd on designer drugs when she was eleven, she has lived with well-meaning but inexperienced foster parents, while her grandfather, her only living relative, tries ever more ingenious ways of committing suicide in his retirement home.  Here are the last two weeks of Stella's senior year in Orange County, California: the intensive AP final exams; the childish, celebratory trips; the totemic importance attached to graduation.  Beneath Stella's mordantly funny take on her life is the decisiveness with which she disengages from it, planting clues and providing explanations for those who will try to understand the act she is about to commit.  With perfect pitch, remarkable wit, and a spare, vivid prose, Stella turns her farewell to suburbia into a wry philosophical inquiry. [from amazon.com summary]

>>related pages :**depression:: teen/young adult

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Christopher Paolini was 15, had just graduated from high school (he was home-schooled all his life) and was "bored out of my mind" at home in Paradise Valley, Mont.  He plotted out Eragon, the adventure fantasy of a boy and his dragon. He showed his parents the second draft ("they were extremely curious about it"), and they loved it. They put the family business.. behind it. .... These days, Paolini [now almost 20] has breakfast and goes to work on his second book, Eldest -- he signed a contract for a trilogy -- and emerges for dinner.  His sister Angela, 18, is writing a novel called Isin. His parents.. are working on a series of children's educational books. .... The mountains near home inspire Paolini to create his magical world where good combats evil and the hero Eragon learns to fight with the help of his dragon, Saphira.  Eragon is seeking revenge for his uncle's death and has to overcome obstacles, mainly masterminded by King Galbatorix, his minions and the horrible Shade. "Good stories always demand great villains," he says. He invented three languages for the books: the Ancient Language (based on Old Norse), the Urgal and the Dwarf.

.. .. So far, there are 168 named characters, 93 places and 57 animals and things. "When I was growing up I didn't want a regular job. ... I wanted to hang around with Tarzan in the jungle and daydream." [from Life is proving fantastic for young author -  by Jacqueline Blais, USA TODAY, Nov 13 2003] ....Eragon  - by Christopher Paolini

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.. .. "Write what you know," journalism scholar Julia Carney remembers her mentor repeatedly telling her when she began writing an essay for the Pinnacle Project, an American Psychological Foundation-funded program that teamed high school students with experts in the students' fields of interest. Carney used this advice from her mentor -- Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Alex Jones -- to write an op-ed article drawing on her experiences working at a women's homeless shelter when she was a high school student in Boston.  In the article, she encouraged her fellow teenagers to recognize intolerance that can spur racism, homophobia and anti-Semitism, and challenge it in their communities.

Carney, now a 17-year-old freshman at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., won first place for her essay this summer in the Spirit of Daniel Pearl Youth Writing Contest, which honors the late Wall Street Journal reporter who was murdered in Pakistan last year... Carney says that she also drew on her own creative processes in writing the essay for the contest.  "Journalists use creativity in thinking of an interesting idea to catch a reader," she explains.  In her essay, Carney, for example, linked two seemingly unrelated situations -- one involving scribbled swastikas on a high school bathroom stall and another with her homeless shelter work -- to illustrate her thesis about intolerance.  These two experiences show the prevalence of disrespect, ignorance and hate in society, she argued, urging teenagers to address intolerance by getting involved in their communities so they can witness and respond to such acts.  from article: A creative young mind, a budding writer,  APA Monitor, November 2003

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.. .. What I learned was that there are many ways to be a writer.  I stopped worrying about my future because I was hearing the same things from all my Pinnacle mentors: Don't break your head trying to decide where you'll be in 30 years -- most likely, there's no foreseeing where life will take you.  So don't worry. Do what you love. Read eclectically and voluminously. Live fully.  Someone who truly loves to write is going to keep doing it. It was that last bit that got me thinking the most.

Jonathan [one of her mentors, writer Jonathan Kellerman] hadn't been able to sell his writing until he was on his ninth novel or so.  He would come home late from work and write for 2 hours on a typewriter in a poorly ventilated garage-turned-office. In the mornings, Faye [Faye Kellerman] said, he'd smell like liquid paper.  Faye used to hire babysitters for a few hours every afternoon and drive around to the other side of the block where she would park and secretly write in a loose-leaf notebook.  During the Pinnacle summit, I met kids who chose to work and study, whether in music or mathematics or psychology, for love of these disciplines themselves.  Intellectual passion is a heartening thing, regardless of where it is applied. Rachel Emery from article: Through another's eyes: the pinnacle project.  (Project for gifted children) - by Rena Subotnik,  Gifted Child Today Magazine, Spring, 2003 Rachel Emery was a 2001 Davidson Institute Fellow [age 16] Jonathan Kellerman books / Faye Kellerman books

*related interview :**Faye Kellerman

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.. .. When I decided I wanted to write comics in 1985 I went out and bought Will Eisner's Comics and Sequential Art.  If I were doing it now I'd also buy Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics. I'd look at some comics scripts (there's one reprinted in the back of Dream Country, although there are an almost infinite number of ways to write a comics script, and that's only one.) And then I'd read a lot of comics and try to work out what works and what doesn't and why. And then I'd start drawing some comics for myself, not for people to see, just to figure out how to get from one panel to the next, one page to the next.  If you're going to work with an artist, now's a good time to go and meet artists.

.. .. You'll do best if you realise that there is a lot to know. Most bad comics are written by people who don't know that there is anything to learn... (Many of them were written by writers who are successful in other fields.)  Having something to say is fairly essential, too. Good luck. Write good comics. Neil Gaiman- from faq page on neilgaiman.com cover image from new graphic novel: The Sandman: Endless Nights characters in the book include Dream, Death, Destiny, Destruction, Desire, Despair and Delirium - related pages: mythology.......the shadow self

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.. .. I think the best advice for anyone who wants to be a writer is to get used to being disciplined and just do it.  I've met so many people who can talk for hours about the novel they're going to write, exactly how it's going to be and what will happen, but they just can't bring themselves to actually sit down and WRITE it.  My boyfriend's favorite expression is "Do It, then Talk About It" and I think that pretty much sums things up for me. If you want to be a writer, it should be a main and basic part of your daily life. Take it seriously and do the work.  And don't get discouraged if you have a lousy day or lose confidence. It will come back. Take a walk, go to the movies, and somehow your brain will fix it itself.  And finally, never stop reading. There's not enough that can be said about seeing how other writers handle voice, character, and plot. It's the only real way you can learn besides doing it yourself.  Sarah Dessen - from Dream/Girl mag. interview

... .. In high school, I was lucky enough to have a big group of girlfriends that have really inspired a lot of the stories in my books.  I’m still close with my friends from that time, so it’s never very hard to put myself back into that place, that voice. ....  It makes it hard to leave high school behind entirely, which is a good or bad thing depending on what day you ask me.  from bio on author site ....books include How to Deal -  basis for the film starring Mandy Moore

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Blue Jean magazine gave me the opportunity to be a part of a publication that revealed that there is so much more to being a girl today. It was incredibly empowering working on a magazine, written and edited by teen girls, that reached subscribers around the world.  Through Blue Jean Online, I, like many girls, am still able to express what is going on in my world, as well as learn about what is going on in other people's lives.  Erica Bryant - from Blue Jean Online page - about her contribution to the book: Blue Jean:  What Young Women Are Thinking, Saying, and Doing - by Sherry S. Handel

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from article: Behind the Zines by Kimra McPherson Initially springing from the Riot Grrrl movement, zines are handmade, self-produced publications that provide their writers with an outlet for creative self-expression.  Though once associated strictly with all things independent and underground -- the stereotypical punk rock crowd, for example -- zines are now making their way across the country and around the world.  As they land in the hands of young women everywhere, zines, regardless of their definition, inspire and empower, encouraging their readers to be free in venting their emotions through writing and art. The expanding zine movement calls girls to react to the world around them and make their voices known.

.. .. from Blue Jean Online page about the book: Blue Jean:  What Young Women Are Thinking, Saying, and Doing by Sherry S. Handel  related book: Francesca Lia Block, Hillary Carlip. Zine Scene:  The Do It Yourself Guide to Zines

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*****JT LeRoy .. .. Closing night of the Cannes Film Festival was a coming out party for an unusual new Hollywood talent, 23-year-old novelist and former truck-stop hustler J.T. Leroy... the extremely reclusive, San Francisco-based boy wonder who wrote the first draft of Gus Van Sant's Palme d'Or winner, "Elephant." "Secretary" director Steven Shainberg is adapting Leroy's first novel, "Sarah" ... And in late August, Muse Prods. will start shooting Asia Argento's adaptation of Leroy's pseudo-autobiographical story collection, "The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things." [image at right] ... Leroy says he suffers from social phobias so paralyzing he doesn't like to leave his house. At a recent reading in Italy, he said, he was so frightened by the audience, he climbed under a table onstage.  When he ventures outdoors, he often wears a wig and enormous sunglasses. Like Andy Warhol and Thomas Pynchon, Leroy has learned that such disguises and evasions are useful tricks for a popular artist; if nothing else, they've fueled a media phenomenon around his work. ... A self-taught writer who began publishing his work as a teenager, Leroy clearly has a natural facility for writing prose fiction. But Hollywood screenwriting tends to be a highly conventional medium with strict rules.

.. .. Diane Keaton's producing partner, Bill Robinson, who developed Leroy's "Elephant" script, twice sent him screenplay-formatting software, and worked with him for months to beat the work into shape. "There was a refreshing simplicity to his screenwriting," Robinson said. "It was not belabored by paragraph description. It was lean, spare and dialogue-driven. In that sense you felt like you were reading one of his stories. You got a sense of pathos really quickly." Leroy's emotionally raw fiction has earned him a devoted following among other writers. ... In the words of "Permanent Midnight" author Jerry Stahl, "LeRoy writes like Flannery O'Connor tied to the bed and plied with angel dust." But Leroy is eager to write more screenplays. "I think I write very cinematically," he said. from "Tyro scribe with storied past has full plate" -  by Jonathan Bing, Variety [variety.com] June 17, 2003

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[Can you tell us a little bit about your beginnings in writing?] JT LeRoy : I've always read. Always hung out in libraries a lot. But, I really started writing when my therapist, Dr. Owens (head of the Adolescent Unit at St. Mary's Hospital) taught a grad class at USF to folks that wanted to become psychotherapists. He knew how I HATED all those kinds of folks, so he said this was a chance for me to educate them-give them the real deal. ... Dr. Owens told me to write about being on the street, being in treatment, placement, etc. I got off on the idea. I liked the idea that maybe something I'd say would mean maybe one social worker might do something not so retarded... When I started, something in me moved. I wrote by hand, had to copy it to make it legible, get it to Kinko's to copy and get to my shrink in time for the Monday class. Somehow I got addicted to it. My therapist was surprised. I was too: it was something I could do. I really looked forward to hearing what the class thought. It was like entering into a movie I was a part of."                 quotes from his site

>>related pages :**introversion / shyness........abuse & creative expression

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Davidson Fellows are young people under the age of 18 who demonstrate the development of their talents  through the creation of a significant piece of work that has the potential to improve the lives of others. 2002 Davidson Fellows include Britta Redwood and Jennifer Hall photos and profiles from  Davidson Institute for Talent Development

Britta Redwood, 14    Grapevine, Texas Category: Humanities-Literature    Award: $10,000 scholarship Britta composed an extraordinary collection of literary pieces entitled The Singing Earth comprised mostly of poems presenting human life as valuable, intense and beautiful. Demonstrating an astonishing knowledge of history and philosophy, Brittaís work is an argument for the validity of emotion while seeking to reconcile modern man with his humanity. Her project is meant to restore belief in life, and to inspire readers to live more actively during their time on Earth.

Jennifer Hall, 17    Mt. Pleasant, SC Category: Humanities-Literature       Award: $10,000 scholarship Jennifer writes about the ordinary aspects of life in an extraordinary style filled with original plots, intriguing characters and fresh images all focused on the goal of capturing her reader. Using observation as a key component, Jennifer transforms the mundane into the extraordinary, as she did throughout her portfolio entitled Afloat. Jenniferís work is insightful as it leads the reader to experience powerful emotions through her expressive and, oftentimes, surprising descriptions.

 

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I've talked to high school kids who are thinking about trying to become a writer and asking 'What should I major in?', and I tell them, 'History. Anthropology. Something where you get to know the human species a little better, as opposed to something where you learn to arrange words.'  I don't know whether that's good advice or not, but it feels right to me. You don't start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it's good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That's why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence. It's just so easy to give up!  Octavia Butler   ... [Locus Magazine, June 2000] ....books by Octavia E. Butler:***Lilith's Brood****Parable of the Talents

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Nikki Reed, then 13, sat down with a friend to try to write the kind of movie Hollywood thrives on,
a dumb teen comedy. But something unexpected happened.

When Reed.. began dredging up stories from her own life, the dumb teen comedy became a harrowing drama
about a young L.A. girl who grows up too fast and finds her life spiraling out of control, fueled by a volatile
combination of rebellion, anger and a fascination with sex, material goods, self-mutilation and drugs.

As Reed puts it: "All this stuff came out and, call it what you like, it wasn't a dumb teen comedy."
Called "Thirteen," the movie has been filming in Los Angeles for the last month...

Teen confessional books are suddenly hot properties, at least on the cutting edge of the
movie business. According to Variety, Radar Pictures recently bought "Twelve," a grim portrait
of drugs and decadence among upper-crust New York teens by 18-year-old wunderkind Nick McDonell.

"XXX" co-star Asia Argento plans to direct and star in an adaptation of 22-year-old writer J.T. LeRoy's
"The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things," a series of stories about drug abuse and prostitution.

And Miramax is developing "Teen Angst? Naah...," a nonfiction account of teen life by Hunter College
student Ned Vizzini.

[from article by Patrick Goldstein, LA Times, Aug 13 2002]

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*more on page:**filmmaking : teen / young adult

related article:**Gritty kid tomes have H'w'd thinking young by Jonathan Bing
 

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*related pages:.........writing : teen/young adult : page 2 : books  sites

.............writing.........play / screen writing***

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