Garth Nix: I
don't think teen readers want advice and nor should they get it, at least not overtly.
This harks back to Victorian-era instructional readers for children, like 'Why Amelia was
a Good Girl' or awful stuff like that. Once again, teenagers may find advice or
encouragement or reassurance in books, but they will find it in all sorts of books and if
it is overt, they will probably not finish the book. In this respect they are exactly the
same as a reader of any age. If they want advice they'll get a self-help book, not a
novel.
I don't really get letters from teens about their daily problems, probably because I write
fantasy and science fiction. Sometimes readers tell me that my books have been helpful in
some way, but they do not want advice, apart from the beginning writers who may have
questions about writing.
On the very rare occasions I do get correspondence about actual problems I advise them to
talk to someone, whether it be a friend, parent, teacher, school counselor or even an
anonymous help line. I also try to be encouraging and tell them that everything and
anything can be overcome, that they will get through whatever it is.
Meg Cabot: I don't know about there being an
expectation about delivering advice. Certainly no editor has ever mentioned that to me.
But it is AMAZING to me how many of my readers write to me asking for just that ---
advice. Kids write asking if I believe in God, heaven, hell, if such and such a character
is Jewish, do I believe in reincarnation, do I think cutting or suicide is morally wrong,
etc. A lot of kids have read stuff online that has upset them and they come to me --- ME,
an author they do not know --- to ask my advice. When I tell them to go ask their parents,
they say they can't, as they have removed the parental V-chip Mom installed on their
computer, and if they ask her about the website they saw, she will know.
Special message to parents: Warning! Your kids are smarter than you are. They have you
surrounded. Surrender now, before someone gets hurt.
Walter Dean Myers: I get GOBS of letters asking for
advice. The only advice I ever give is that young people believe in themselves and their
ability to do well, to seek advice from people they admire, and to think of their lives in
a longer time frame than most teenagers do. When I was a kid I thought it incomprehensible
that I would ever be twenty. If I knew I would one day reach SIXTY I would have been a lot
more laid back.
Sarah Dessen: I have been amazed, at times, with
the way girls respond to my books. I've gotten letters where they tell me about their own
problems, their own issues with self-esteem (something I write about quite a bit), and
with Dreamland, I've gotten more than one letter detailing an experience in an abusive
relationship. I would never be comfortable giving advice, per se, but I do remember what
it was like to read a book and feel like on the page was exactly what I was going through
at that moment. It's an amazing thing, and I think the older you get, and the more you
read of books good and bad, you lose that a little bit. So mostly, I thank them for
writing and try to let them know that over time, things get better.
Chris
Crutcher:I don't know whether teen books are expected to deliver advice.
I hope not. That cheapens them. Good literature reflects, it doesn't moralize. I do
get letters from teens asking for help with problems. I address any letters I get, being
sure to let them know there is a lot I don't know about the circumstances. But I separate
that from fiction writing.
Laurie Halse Anderson: I hope not. I think advice
books are an important sub-genre in teen nonfiction, much as self-help books are a
significant portion of adult nonfiction. My readers don't ask me for advice.
