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Let’s pay the toll for my dear friend and author, Tanya Lee Stone.

We can’t do anything until we talk about the title of your novel:  A Bad Boy Can Be Good For a Girl.  There has got to be a story behind that title!

There is, actually! The truth is, the thought of writing a novel had never entered my mind until that title came to me. I was listening to Michael Cart talk about the now-defunct journal Rush Hour. One theme was good girls. Another was bad boys. I took out my notebook and wrote: A bad boy can be good for a girl! Apologies to Mr. Cart, but I didn't hear the rest of the lecture. I was consumed by what the words I had just written meant to me, and Josie--the first girl in the book--was already tapping on my brain.

Juno has made consensual sex among young adults mainstream, but in fiction, it’s been in the news for years.  In Bad Boy, sex is more than part of the story.  Sex is really a character.  It’s the core of the novel.  Why is sex novel worthy? 

You're dead-on. Sex is a character in this book. I didn't want to mention it in passing or include a scene or two--I wanted the whole book to be about the choices girls make when it comes to sex. The boy represents sex; it's all he's about, really. He's not a monster or a rapist, though, he's simply an oversexed jerk with one thing on his mind. He stays the same so we can see how three totally different kinds of girls play off of him, so to speak.

Your novel is also told from the points of view of three different young women.  I loved seeing the Bad Boy with each of these girls.  It really illuminated the different emotional responses to sex.  Talk to me about these girls.  Do they represent different kinds of girls in our society? 

I love how the flow of one question leads to the next! I wouldn't say they represent particular types of girls, because I didn't create them that way, and there are infinite types of us out there, but I did want to look at how girls people might not view as particularly vulnerable to this type of guy still can be. That's the particular genius of the bad boy at that age--he's targeting girls who are not yet women, who do not yet know themselves well enough not to be taken in by his wiley ways. But yeah, let's talk about these girls! Although Josie is the youngest, she's the most level-headed. Nicolette doesn't know she's a bit confused about her sexual power, and Aviva is my hippie chick. I think if I were to put myself in the shoes of any of their mothers, I would be most obviously concerned about Nicolette. And of course Nicolette is the one who is the most sure she can't be hurt. I worry most about the Nicolette's out there and wish I could protect them all.

What have your readers said? 

Well, a lot of different things, depending upon who they most identify with, and what they've already been through. I was not prepared for the reader feedback, but it's overwhelming. Girls write to me in all kinds of different situations. They say the book helped them avoid a crisis, or they wish they had read it before they were blindsided, or they gave it to a best friend who needs to wake up. That kind of thing. I think when readers feel as though someone has been straight up with them and said, hey, listen up, this is what can happen if you're not paying attention, it's appreciated. Of course, there are others who wish I hadn't written it at all.

Have you received any challenges?  How have you dealt with them?

The most recent challenge was in Missouri and I must say that the system handled it beautifully. A committee was formed, everyone READ the book (how many challenges have you heard of where the challengee does not even bother to read the book?), they discussed it and decided that there was "too much good discussion to be gained" and that they were unwilling to take it off the shelves. Huzzah!! They also told me they would be discussing making it part of the 9th grade Health class. I personally think that's a fantastic idea, and would like to think my feeling on the matter would be the same even if it were someone else's book. 

It's so important to open the lines of communication. Talking is everything. I love one of my amazon customer comments from a Mom who said she has boys and she's planning on leaving it out on the coffee table to get the discussion started! 

Let’s also talk about finding the right book at the right time.  What do you say to people who fear this topic will find its way into the hands of girls not ready to read about sex?  How can parents use this book to discuss sex with their sons and daughters?

I think many of us in this field believe that kids are the best self censors. They don't generally read books they're not ready for. They open them and put them back on the shelves if it's not up their alley. Also, I was extremely careful about my language. There are scenes in which a girl who has not experienced what I'm talking about might miss some of the action, so to speak. That's intentional. The girl who needs to get it, will. And in terms of parents, or any adults trying to broach this subject--the great thing about fiction is that you can hand a book to a reader (or leave it lying around) and let them safely put themselves in someone else's shoes sans risk. They can play things out in their mind without actually having to do anything. Or, if they have already experienced the issue in question, they can reflect on it in a new way, through someone else's eyes.

I noticed that Tami Brown asked me some questions on your blog yesterday, so I thought I'd answer them right off the bat. If anyone else has other questions, fire away!

Tami said: As you wrote BAD BOY (as opposed to revising with your editor) did you consider your audience and their sensibilities or did you just write what you felt and deal with issues of "appropriateness" later?

That second thing you said. I did not think about audience at all when I was writing. For the record, I DO think it mattered that I had never done this before. I was a novel virgin. ;-p  Seriously, though, it might have been harder for me if I wasn't in that ignorance-is-bliss state.

Tami said: Do you believe these days there are any sexual boundaries that can't or shouldn't be crossed in books aimed at teen readers? Is it different for light "pop fiction" as opposed to more serious literary work? When does sex serve the plot and when does it become gratuitous?

Hey girl, I think that's more than one question! I'm not a big fan of literary boundaries, but I suppose there might be some. I guess it depends on how alternative one's imagination might be! I think my own basic rule of thumb is that if it is something that reflects the reality of teenage life, it's appropriate. And in terms of being gratuitous, my hunch is that every writer knows when they're being gratuitous. I personally don't put anything in for shock value. It all serves the plot. I cut a few things that, for me, crossed my own comfort line in terms of audience. In those cases, it wasn't because they were gratuitous, it was more because I forced myself to be a 14 year old and wondered: if I already know this, does it serve the plot/character AND do I not know this and would I like to keep it that way!

How much did writing about sex force you to become a free speech and/or sex ed advocate as opposed to just a YA writer?

Interesting question. Again, this was not something I set out to do. I didn't wake up one day and decide to write about sex. It snuck up on me and evolved very organically. Once I had done it, though, I felt very strongly about having the right to do so, and about defending other people's rights as well. Especially after the continual feedback from readers who crave honest input from sources they can relate to.

Like many writers, Tanya Lee Stone has been making up stories since she was a kid. Her writing improved as she studied English at Oberlin College. After graduation she moved to New York to be an editor and earned a Masters Degree in Education.

After 13 years as an editor, Tanya moved to Vermont and returned to writing. This award-winning author has written more than 80 books for young readers. Her most recent titles are a young adult novel, A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl (Wendy Lamb/Random House, 2006) and Amelia Earhart (DK, 2007). Forthcoming titles include Up Close: Ella Fitzgerald, picture books Elizabeth Leads the Way and Sandy's Circus, and Almost Astronauts: The True Story of the Mercury 13.

Got more questions for Tanya??????

Send them in.  We will post more answers on THURSDAY!

I’m typing on a borrowed laptop at a coffee shop I hadn’t planned on visiting, but it is pouring outside and walking the twelve blocks home would leave me soaked for sure. Walking home now would upgrade my laundry pile from “tonight sometime” to “Jesus, girl, why’d you put it off so long,” which would lead to me putting on PJs as appropriate alternative clothing which would then necessitate a nap.

It’s like giving a mouse a cookie, really. Put a twenty-something in her PJs on a rainy day and she’s going to want to curl up under some blankets to take a nap. It all goes down hill from there. That’s the real reason I’m in this coffee shop, to avoid the napping fate and its ability to wile away my free time, something that has been precious as of late.

In life, it seems, nothing is ever really spread out. Up until last week I was experiencing the paralyzing powers of boredom, and then all of sudden not only had I gotten into the Publishing Institute but the temp company was hooking me up with a job! I went from interviewed to hired in less than an hour and was once again facing a future of forty hours a week, albeit this time taking calls in a cubicle for a job that I would need to get drug tested and licensed for. I wonder if they’ll object to me answering the phones in a faux Brooklyn accent.

Just seems appropriate, if a bit clichéd, for the whole gambling experience. Hopefully being a bookie will be as interesting as it sounds.

Life in the book world continues to go on in interesting and kooky ways. Many thanks to the reader who gave me the heads up on the Newsweek article where John Banville has interviewed his alter-ego Benjamin Black. While it’s no Vonnegut/Kilgore Trout affair it is definitely worth the read if you’re intrigued by the inner going-ons in writers’ minds. One of my favorite customers from the bookstore was so fed up waiting for the Christine Falls to be released in the United States that he just went ahead and ordered a copy on Amazon UK. Unfortunately we closed before I could ask him if it was worth the cost.

Dr. Howard V. Hendrix (the VP of the Science Fiction Writers of America, according to Galleycat) disparages all authors who dare to give books away online. In response many have come forward to disparage Dr. Hendrix in return, and around and around we go. Personally I’m a fan of writers offering up free books, and loved the concepts that David Wellington, Cory Doctorow and others used to gather a wider reading audience. I took an impromptu poll of the my friends when I first read about Hendrix’s comments, and general consensus appears to be if they liked what they read, they would probably buy the book when it was released in print (if not to read again themselves, then to loan to others). It was only after learning about Wellington’s online endeavors with Monster Island that I began stocking it in my store. It became the book we would recommend to our horror fans looking for something new and different, and a title that we continuously sold through.

What I’m saying is that I’m on the side of the free books, and apparently I’m not alone. You can read a free novel, Jumble Pie, on Melanie Lynne Hauser’s site (she of Confessions of a Super Mom and Super Mom Saves the World fame, both titles I’ve heard recommended to people who like Julie Kenner’s Carpe Demon).

Moka wants to help you get in touch with your inner spirit via your cell phone by distilling bestselling self-help/religion/philosophy books down to the essentials and text messaging them to your phone. From what I can tell, you pay month to month for the service, but the current promotion has the first month free. How much inner learning could you pack into that time?

If you’re looking for something to read during the unpredictable weather we’ve all been experiencing lately, I’d suggest checking out “The Killer Genre” on Library Journal. Com (link provided by Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind). Not only does the article outline a bunch of small and upstart mystery publishers putting out some edgy new material, but points out what award winning material it has been. Interviews with the Man in Black’s Jason Pinter and Robert Fate follow.

Now I’m feeling a little linked out, but I would like to hear your thoughts on any or all of these links. While I feel that the “whether or not to give away books for free on the net” debate has been done to death (and the practice should just be accepted), I’m fascinated by the potential parallels to be found in the DRM debates and the pulling of copyrighted material from You Tube. Where does is the line between creating a name for yourself/spreading the word via free material and infringement?