Something I know we don’t blog a lot about — something I don’t even see much of in the blogging world more broadly — are funny books. So today I thought I’d ask debut author Maurene Goo to stop by and talk about humor in contemporary YA fiction. She keeps it short, sweet, and right to the point of why these books are so important (and awesome).
Maurene Goo was born and raised in Los Angeles, California where she navigated her childhood by practicing extreme bossy lord-dom over her many cousins. She studied communication at the University of California, San Diego, and received a master’s degree in publishing and writing at Emerson College. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and a very old cat.
Why I Need the Lulz
I love comedy. I worship at the feet of comedy writers like Amy Poehler and Mindy Kaling. And it was David Sedaris who first made me fall out of a chair laughing so hard while reading. In fact, he’s the one who made me think, “Maybe all this writing stuff I like to do could turn into a book?” Because I relate to comedy. If you look at who I follow on Twitter, it’s a whole lot of funny people.
But, I don’t just like comic writing because it makes me laugh. I like it because my favorite kinds of comic writing also has heart, it tells an authentic story using humor. And when you write contemporary YA, there’s a whole lot of feelings and emotions you have to communicate. So for me, I need the funny to balance things. I know my most powerful tool when telling a story isn’t that elusive magic that can make people cry (Rainbow Rowell, anyone?)— it’s the ability to make people laugh. (Although, Rainbow Rowell is also hilarious, damn her!)
It’s embarrassing, but I still laugh at the jokes in my book, SINCE YOU ASKED. My husband will occasionally find me standing up in the middle of my office, my book cracked open, chuckling. I love being in my main character’s head, she genuinely cracks me up. And it’s strange to say that, as if her jokes are separate from me, but it really feels that way once it’s written down. And really, that’s how I know that I liked what I wrote—when I’m standing there like a weirdo enjoying my own book.
***
SINCE YOU ASKED… is Maurene’s debut novel, about a fifteen-year-old named Holly Kim who is the copyeditor for her high school’s newspaper. When she accidentally submits an article that rips everyone to shreds, she gets her own column and rants her way through the school year. Can she survive high school embarrassments, all while struggling to balance her family’s traditional Korean values?
