Jay Asher: Thirteen Reasons Why

Details:

Title: Thirteen Reasons Why (Amazon | B&N)
Author: Jay Asher (http://www.thirteenreasonswhy.com)
Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
ISBN: 978-1595141712

The Interview:

1. First off, congratulations on the big novel sale! Give us the elevator pitch. What’s your book about?

Okay, but this isn’t an elevator going up just one story, is it? Let’s start in the lobby and go to…say…the fourth floor.

It’s about this high school student, Clay Jensen, who comes home from school to find an anonymous package full of cassette tapes resting on his doorstep. He finds a tape player, drops in the first tape, presses play, and out comes the voice of Hannah Baker–his classmate and crush–who committed suicide two weeks earlier. She says there are thirteen reasons why she ended her life; each side of each tape explaining one of those reasons. And if you received the package of tapes, you’re one of the reasons why.

2. Most new novelists have an interesting story to tell about their journey to publication. What’s yours? Did you use an agent? Make sure to tell us about the day you found out you’d sold a book.

It took me about twelve years to sell my first book, but that was twelve years of trying to write humorous books for younger children.

Thirteen Reasons Why was the first non-humorous book I attempted, as well as my first book for teens. But the entire time I was working on it, it felt like such a natural fit. I tried not to kick myself too many times for not exploring this market earlier.

After I finished the manuscript, I found an agent…which was a good move because it ended up selling in a three-house auction. The first person I told when my agent informed me of the first two offers (which came on the same day) was my wife. I took her out to our wedding spot, which made it a very beautiful moment for both of us. In fact, you can see photos of it on my blog. Then we went and bought three bouquetes of flowers to surprise my parents and my two writing partners (and co-bloggers). It was an amazing experience because all of them were just as emotional as me.

3. Do you have another book in the pipeline? What are you working on now?

I’m working on my next novel for teens, which will be a little less heavy. And then I’d like to rework some of my humorous manuscripts, bringing their quality of writing up to where I am now. I’d love to see some of the books out there!

4. What’s your writing process like? Morning writer, night writer, or something in between?

I usually brainstorm late at night while my wife sleeps. She’s absolutely wonderful about it. Since we both have to wake up at the same time, she lets me stay in bed for a few more minutes while she makes the coffee. But when I’m actually writing, I go to a coffee shop right after work (I work at a public library) and sometimes stay there until they close.

5. There seems to be an unusually high percentage of writers who own cats. Here at the The First Book, we’re doing a study to find out if there’s a direct relationship between writing success and cat ownership. Do you own a cat? If so, tell us about him or her. If not, tell us what you have against cats.

Cats make my eyes water and my nose run. I’m extremely allergic to them, so that’s why I don’t have any. (Although, even without allergies, I’m not sure I’d own a cat. But I would never admit that publicly because cat people are so defensive!)

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