Author Interview: Amy Kathleen Ryan

What are some of your favorite young adult novels? The first YA novel that I adored was A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle. Since then I've fallen in love with lots of books, including Feed by MT Anderson, Story of a Girl by Sarah Zarr, Once a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough, Refugees by Catherine Stine, The Secret to Lying by Todd Mitchell, The Seer and the Sword, by Victoria Hanley, and Red Glass by Laura Resau.

You've just won a million dollars! What do you plan to do with the money? Wow, THANK YOU! That's very generous. I will probably use it to buy a house in my home town, Jackson Wyoming, the most beautiful place on earth. I can't really afford to live there now because a lot of rich people discovered it twenty years ago and now houses there cost a fortune. Now where can I pick up that prize money?

Did reviews on Glow have any effect on how you wrote Spark? If so, what? Nope. I had written the entire manuscript for SPARK before GLOW even came out. I don't think I'd have much integrity as a writer if I let reviewers dictate to me. 

If you were to go anywhere in the universe, where would you go? Well, since this is a purely fanciful question, I think I would love to visit an alien civilization. I think the idea of intelligent life in the universe outside of Earth is hugely exciting. So long as they're friendly, that is!

How close are you to your characters? I care about all of them, even the baddies, and when I have to do terrible things to them in my stories I feel real sadness. I always want them to be happy, but constant contentment doesn't make for very interesting reading, and it's not a very realistic depiction of life. What I want for my characters more than anything is for them to grow as people, to become a better version of themselves through the story, whatever happens to them in their lives.

What were your thoughts when you first found out Glow was going to be published? I was thrilled. I'd been worried that it was too dark, or too science-fictiony for most publishers. But I found a great publisher at St. Martins who was willing to take a real chance on me, and I hope that I've done them proud. 

*Thanks so much to Amy for visiting:) Look out for my review of both books soon!