{"id":61166,"date":"2016-07-05T21:46:41","date_gmt":"2016-07-05T10:46:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.booktopia.com.au\/?p=61166"},"modified":"2016-07-05T21:47:39","modified_gmt":"2016-07-05T10:47:39","slug":"questions-will-kostakis-now-asks-writing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/2016\/07\/05\/questions-will-kostakis-now-asks-writing\/","title":{"rendered":"The questions Will Kostakis now asks himself before writing."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/the-sidekicks-will-kostakis\/prod9780143309031.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-61168 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.booktopia.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Blog-image-Exclusive21.jpg\" alt=\"Blog-image-Exclusive(21)\" width=\"748\" height=\"288\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>By Will Kostakis.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For a writer, staring down the first blank page of a new project is equal parts exciting and terrifying. The possibilities are endless. You could write something that changes the world, or something that makes you change career (or at the very least, change your pen name).<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m sitting opposite that blank page now. I doubt a project before I start it. I interrogate myself for choosing it above the other ideas swimming in my head. An idea is an 18-month commitment; I have to make sure it has legs, and make sure I have the passion to reach the end.<\/p>\n<p>I ask myself about the characters, the plot, the setting \u2013 if I can fall out of love with the germ of the idea, it doesn\u2019t bode well for the finished product. But there\u2019s a question I\u2019ve been asking myself this time around that I never have before: Is it Young Adult (YA)? Does it have to be?<\/p>\n<p>I became a young-adult writer because I was a young adult. I was 17 when I signed my first book deal, and I wanted to write the kinds of books I read, the kinds of books that spoke to me. Now, I\u2019m 27. If something speaks to me enough that I will live and breathe it as a 27-year-old, then surely, it isn\u2019t YA?<\/p>\n<p>A lot has been made recently of the fact that most YA fiction reads and sells like\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/books\/booksblog\/2016\/jun\/09\/most-ya-fiction-is-grown-up-fiction-in-disguise\" target=\"_blank\">grown-up fiction in disguise<\/a>,\u00a0and I\u2019ve begun to wonder if I should try courting more mature, older readers. I mean, they are my readers already. For every teenager who tells me they\u2019ve enjoyed <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/the-sidekicks-will-kostakis\/prod9780143309031.html\" target=\"_blank\">The Sidekicks<\/a><\/em>, there\u2019s an adult who\u2019ll say the same.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 33%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-61166 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-medium'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/sidekickscover.jpg'><img width=\"195\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/sidekickscover.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Will-Kostakis-4.jpg'><img width=\"244\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Will-Kostakis-4.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-61177\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-61177'>\n\t\t\t\tWill Kostakis with Booktopian, Emily Meredith\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/stuff-happens-sean.jpg'><img width=\"191\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/stuff-happens-sean.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>My transition to adult lit should be easy, but \u2026 every time I consider using all fifty shades, I hesitate. I\u2019m drawn back to my Dropbox folder filled with novels I attempted and abandoned as a teenager. Yes, the stories I write now are very different, but \u2026 I still recognise the terror and excitement on the first pages. It is still my experience.<\/p>\n<p>As a teenager, you\u2019re taking control of the story of your life. You\u2019re filling in that blank page with firsts. It\u2019s as exciting as it is terrifying. There is so much potential, and so much time to change who you are, and where you\u2019ll end up. A story isn\u2019t just one blank page, though. Yes, the more blank pages you fill, the less firsts there are, but there\u2019s still just as much blankness, just as much potential to change to trajectory of your story.<\/p>\n<p>Young-adult books are about figuring out who you want to be. I don\u2019t think adults are reading young-adult stories because authors are writing for grownups, I think it\u2019s because young-adult literature brims with hope, with potential. Adults see who we were, and it reminds us of the power we still have.<\/p>\n<p>But as much as adults might enjoy my work, its themes are for young adults first. I might be getting older, but I haven\u2019t yet forgotten how transformative reading the right book at the right age can be. I am the person I am today because I read <a href=\"http:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/girl-defective-simmone-howell\/prod9780330426176.html\" target=\"_blank\">Simmone Howell <\/a>and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/game-theory-barry-jonsberg\/prod9781760290153.html\" target=\"_blank\">Barry Jonsberg<\/a> when I did. They spoke to my teen self as an equal, and gave me words to drop into my own blank page.<\/p>\n<p>I want to be that for someone else.<\/p>\n<p>So when that voice in my head asks, \u201cIs it YA? Does it have to be?\u201d I say, \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">Order<a href=\"http:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/the-sidekicks-will-kostakis\/prod9780143309031.html\"><span class=\"s2\"><i>The Sidekicks<\/i><\/span><\/a>\u00a0before July 15, 2016, and email a copy or photo of the receipt to will@willkostakis.com before July 30, 2016, and you\u2019ll get a FREE signed copy of\u00a0<span class=\"s2\"><i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/stuff-happens-sean-will-kostakis\/prod9780143308119.html\">Stuff Happens: Sean<\/a>!<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Will Kostakis. For a writer, staring down the first blank page of a new project is equal parts exciting and terrifying. The possibilities are endless. You could write something that changes the world, or something that makes you change career (or at the very least, change your pen name). I\u2019m sitting opposite that blank page now. I doubt a project before I start it. I interrogate myself for choosing it above the other ideas swimming in my head. An idea is an 18-month commitment; I have to make sure it has legs, and make sure I have the passion to reach the end. I ask myself about the characters, the plot, the setting \u2013 if I can fall out of love with the germ of the idea, it doesn\u2019t bode well for the finished product. But there\u2019s a question I\u2019ve been asking myself this time around that I never have before: Is it Young Adult (YA)? Does it have to be? I became a young-adult writer because I was a young adult. I was 17 when I signed my first book deal, and I wanted to write the kinds of books I read, the kinds of books that spoke&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":61170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[4,24,73],"tags":[6863,6862,6864,6861,6644],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/SocialMediaImage43.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61166"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61166"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61217,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61166\/revisions\/61217"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}