This week YA Author Andrew Joseph White took over our Twitter as a part of our weekly Thursday Twitter Takeover. Andrew Joseph White is the author of Hell Followed with Us (See YEM’s interview of Andrew Joseph White here.) See highlights from the takeover below.
hey y'all!! this is Andrew Joseph White (@AJWhiteAuthor), author of HELL FOLLOWED WITH US, here for today's #YAauthorTakeover! I write about queer, trans, & autistic kids surviving by any means necessary – I promise, the vibes are rancid. you should get a copy for the holidays 💕 pic.twitter.com/5Ly9Jy11T3
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 15, 2022
it's WILD to think about HELL FOLLOWED WITH US being out in the world for 6 whole months – in elementary school, I was stapling together booklets to write my stories in. Look at these two next to each other! my first book vs my most recent 😌 #YAauthorTakeover pic.twitter.com/OMGug2qKzZ
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 15, 2022
And now I get to write more of them! Remember that I have two more books coming out – and they're both about autistic trans people dealing with a world that hates them!! I can’t wait to share them with you <3 #YAauthorTakeoverhttps://t.co/sDkMe5h7hf
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 15, 2022
by the way, here's a cool interview I did with @YoungEntmag – check it out 😌 #YAauthorTakeover https://t.co/JgJl08sfiE
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 15, 2022
Alright, here's the official AMA post for @AJWhiteAuthor's #YAauthorTakeover! If you have any questions, go ahead and chuck 'em below – I'll do my best to answer. It can be about HELL FOLLOWED WITH US, any of my upcoming work, or anything else you want to talk about 🧐
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 15, 2022
You know what, how about another: I've been asked a few times, why is this book YA? All I can say is that HFWU was a young adult book from the start, it would have failed if it wasn't meant for teens, and I'm lucky to have a publisher that shares that vision. #YAauthorTakeover
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 15, 2022
First off, we have FAR CRY 5. This game about a fundamentalist cult taking over a rural Montana town is probably one of my favorite games ever made, and if you've played it, you'll recognize its influence immediately. If you're not a gamer, watch a play-through! #YAauthorTakeover pic.twitter.com/6pJgWzBeCU
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 15, 2022
Why not talk about music? Bring Me The Horizon's EP POST HUMAN: SURVIVAL HORROR was integral to the editing process. If you're a fan of alt metal, I can't recommend the album enough. Parasite Eve makes me think of HFWU every time I listen :') #YAauthorTakeover pic.twitter.com/GqggNss6Ru
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 15, 2022
With all this inspiration though, let's not forget why I really wrote the book: because I was a newly-out trans person, in a world that dislikes people like me, and I had no other way to express my anger and fear. I'm so proud of what this book has become. #YAauthorTakeover
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 16, 2022
Did you know that at least two editors read the book and ended up turning it down because, despite how much they loved it, they couldn't emotionally handle the virus element? I couldn't even be upset; I hope those editors are doing well! #YAauthorTakeover
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 16, 2022
Did you know I was 20 when I started writing HFWU, but I wrote my first full-length novel at 11? That HFWU was my seventh book? That it was two years between starting that first draft and selling it, and four years until it released? #YAauthorTakeover
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 16, 2022
Did you know that I consider myself to be so, so lucky to make it? Publishing has a lot of biases, and it can be difficult to convince it to see you as you are. I can't wait to write more books about trans and disabled kids who are angry, messy, and real. #YAauthorTakeover
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 16, 2022
mm, no, that isn't quite right. i rewrote 90,000 words in six WEEKS. which was a significantly worse thing for me to do. https://t.co/v0cg227Dpj
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 16, 2022
I always recommend that you write what you love. I made the mistake of trying to write for the market once, and even I can look back at the abandoned draft and say that it came out soulless. The market is fickle, and nobody REALLY knows what it wants anyway #YAauthorTakeover
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 16, 2022
Above all, find who you're writing for, and write for them. I write for the teenager I was years ago – confused by my identity, and with no stories to help me figure it out. That gives my stories more life than anything else. #YAauthorTakeover
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 16, 2022
It's 8pm, which means we're wrapping up. Remember, you can follow me at @AJWhiteAuthor, buy my book in hardback for the holidays, or pre-order the May 2023 paperback, which will have a sneak peak of THE SPIRIT BARES ITS TEETH! Thank you all!! #YAauthorTakeover
— xoxo Gossip Girl – Teen Wolf 🐺 (@YoungEntmag) December 16, 2022
