Jay Asher

When I decided I wanted to become an author, I never thought something I wrote would be used as a way to start conversations that are otherwise difficult to begin.

It's important to make teens realize the influence they have over others.

Of course I always like going to bookstores, but at stores, you're mostly meeting kids who are already into reading.

I really love visiting schools - in fact, that's my favorite part of being an author now - even though I still get stage fright! When I visit schools, I know I'm going to be talking to some kids who don't like to read.

I was in Las Vegas, and there was a exhibit of King Tut's tomb, and it was an audio tour. At the very end of that, I just thought it would be a really cool structure for a novel, but I just didn't have a story to go along with it.

There are things that aren't supposed to be comfortable to read, because those situations shouldn't be comfortable to discuss, but they still need to be discussed.

I had written a book that dealt with really serious issues. Was anybody going to want to read a Christmas love story from me?

I miss the newness of Magic Eye posters, which really are amazing.

My favorite aspect of being an author has always been visiting different communities and meeting my readers face to face.

With traditional school visits, I also get to speak with people who haven't read my books and talk about my writing process as well as the serious aspects I write about.

When you're being bullied, it can feel like no one cares, and I'm so excited to tell the teens at the schools I visit that I wouldn't be there if their school didn't care.

Novels are a safe way to talk about things.

Bullying has been around forever, and so it became one of these issues that as an adult we look back on and say, 'Yeah, it's just one of those unfortunate parts of growing up.' You know you're not going to stop it, so it just became easier to call it one of those things that 'just happens.'

Fiction is an easy way to talk about issues: I think it feels less preachy. You can have the students discuss characters in the book as opposed to hypothetical situations, or as opposed to opening up about themselves, unless they really want to.

I think there's always room for humor, especially when you're talking about really serious issues.

There's no way to know exactly what someone's dealing with, no matter how open you are. You're just never going to know everything.

What you hear mostly people gripe about adaptations is, 'They took out this scene,' or, 'They had to condense these characters.' I understand why they have to do that. But if you had a favorite character, and now they've been melded together with another one, it's disappointing.

As an author, I love to know my book sells really well.

I thought I was going to be known for my humor. But then I had an idea for a story, which was absolutely not humorous. But, of course, that's the one that sells and becomes big.

Looking back, I do think one of the reasons 'Thirteen Reasons Why' has been so successful is not because it deals with serious issues but because I had a unique and interesting way to tell that story. I knew the issues were going to be dealt with in the book, but I felt my job was to write the story as entertainingly as possible.

When somebody's face-to-face with you saying, 'I may not have been here had I not read your book,' how do you respond to that? The first several times I traveled, it was almost too much. I was totally grateful, but emotionally, it was really hard.

It's funny: when I go to a school and speak, and when they hear the back story about me, they want to go read the book.

I've always loved brainstorming with other writers, and I consider having my work critiqued a part of that brainstorming.

When you write a book for publication, you're writing it for other people to read.

I miss video games where the jump-kick was the trickiest combo to master.