YOUNG ADULTING

You’ve written several YA novels in the past few years. What draws you to write for a young adult audience, and how might your writing be different if it were for adults?

As a teenager, you’re starting to figure out who you are and what kind of life you want to lead in this world—and fiction can be a safe way to explore these questions. That’s why I love writing for a young adult audience: there’s a potential to make a difference in someone’s life as they navigate a seriously complicated time!

When I was a teen in the early 2000s, I was obsessed with reading The Princess Diaries and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. Those amazing books helped me reflect on friendships, family dynamics, and romantic relationships in my own life. And: I wish I’d also had guidance on certain topics that weren’t as well-represented back then as they are now, like feminism, sex positivity, and queerness. In The Revenge Game, I tried to explore some of the concepts I wish I’d been exposed to at an earlier age, and I hope it’s helpful to readers.

Another thing I love about writing a young adult novel is that the core message tends to be hopeful, even if the subject matter is heavy. I think that would be the biggest difference if I were writing for adults: there wouldn’t necessarily be a happy ending.

While reading your most recent book, The Revenge Game, I noticed the story emphasizes a feminist theme through strong, healthy relationships between young women. Why do you think it’s important to highlight the stories and experiences of teenage girls in your books?

When I was a teenage girl and confronting the kind of toxic masculinity I wrote about in The Revenge Game, I didn’t have the knowledge to describe what was happening—let alone understand it myself. When guys acted like the boys in the King’s Cup, I just felt confused and ashamed. I don’t want other teenage girls to feel that way, which is why I emphasized that feminist theme you mentioned. I want to empower teenage girls to love and believe in themselves, and to resist the oppressive forces that are holding us all back.  

Your novels—The Paper Girl of Paris, Don’t Breathe a Word, and The Revenge Game— often jump between two timelines, highlighting both a past and a present that are intertwined. How does the ability to move between time and place impact the development of your plots and characters?

I’ve always loved writing (and reading) stories that jump between multiple timelines and multiple narrators! The dissonance between the various perspectives gives the story tension, which makes for a gripping reading experience. In The Revenge Game, I used alternating timelines to keep the reader invested in the mystery. If the book had opened in September, when Alyson meets her lacrosse star boyfriend, Riggs, and everything between them seems perfect, there would be no tension—no unanswered questions to keep you glued to the story. Instead, The Revenge Game opens with a news story about Riggs’ mysterious disappearance on prom night. Then we go back in time to the beginning of the school year—and hopefully, you’ll want to keep reading to figure out what happened to him.

Aside from writing YA novels, you are also the Executive Digital Editor at Men’s Health magazine and an adjunct professor of journalism at New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. What do you find most rewarding about each of these roles, and do you find they influence the books you write?

My jobs at Men’s Health and as an author have been keeping me very busy, so it’s been a few years since I taught at NYU, but I would absolutely love to teach again in the future. Making a difference in people’s lives is one of my core values, and if I can do that by teaching students about writing—my passion—it’s extra rewarding.

In my role at Men’s Health, I love that I can help guide readers through big changes, including what it means to be a man in today’s world. I believe there are so many well-intentioned men who want to reject outdated gender norms just like the girls in The Revenge Game, but they don’t have the tools and terminology to do it. That’s where we come in.

Whether I’m working with students or seasoned journalists, my work as an editor consistently influences my own writing process, for better and for worse. For better: I’m good at visualizing the end product—the entire beginning, middle, and end of a story—and taking the necessary steps to build it. I also obsess about rhythm and word choice. The downside to having an editor’s brain is that sometimes my urge to self-edit stands in the way of me letting go and seeing what happens. You’re supposed to write first, edit later—and I majorly struggle with that. It’s hard for me to move on unless I feel like what I’ve written so far is perfect (which is nonsense…because whose first draft is ever perfect?).

Since your books focus on young women, my final question is if you could speak to your teenage self, what’s one piece of advice you would give and one question you would ask yourself?

I’d tell myself that feeling accepted by a group of people is never worth compromising your core values or identity, and that the best relationships don’t feel like work.

I’d ask my teenage self to tell me all the story ideas I was dreaming up at the time. As a teenager, I was constantly drawing characters in my sketchbook and making up stories about them, or just telling myself stories as I went about my day. I wish I could remember them and write a story that would make teenage Jordyn proud—although I think my teenage self would be proud of me today, no matter what.

---