Pitch Boy21 in 140 characters.
It’s about the Irish mob, outer space, and basketball. (It’s also about friendship, love, choice, and the power to break a bad cycle.)

What inspired Boy21?
Playing street ball as a kid with brother-like friends. Losing touch with those people, because of the very different choices we made.

What should readers walk away with from Boy21?
I think all good stories help us to be better people. I hope (trust?) readers will find BOY21 to be a worthy story.

The stars play a big role in Boy21. Do you have a favorite constellation? Or maybe one that inspired your story a bit?
Used to look up at stars with a high school friend. Didn’t know the names of constellations back then. Didn’t matter, though. Helped a lot.

In Boy21 and Sorta Like a Rockstar, you write the voice of both genders authentically. Do you find one harder/easier/more interesting to write?
All characters–male and female–are hard to figure out. All people are complex. Writing in the female voice feels safer. Better mask.

I always ask this of male Twitterview victims — what’s your take on the notion that guys “don’t read?”
I read! I’m a guy! I read in high school too. And this former English teacher taught many girl non-readers. #GuyReadersRepresent

You wrote a novel for adults before SLARS and Boy21. Why did you shift focus?
My first adult novel has a YA feel. Most of my characters struggle with the inevitability of adulthood. I still struggle too.

Speaking of the Silver Linings Playbook, it’s being made into a film. What’s the experiencing of seeing your story on screen?
Surreal. Amazing. Mostly surreal. (Felt very unsexy standing on the movie set next to People’s Sexiest Man Alive Bradley Cooper.)

While it’s unfair to play favorites, I’m going to make you. Which character among all your books is the one who speaks to you most? Why?
1-3 Is it unfair to say all of them? 2-3 I’d like to do therapy with Dr. Cliff Patel, sip green tea with Private Jackson, and stargaze with Russ and Finley. 3-3 Sometimes I wish Amber Appleton were my daughter.

Who or what do you write for?
For who: My wife. For what: Hoping to be the man she admires.

What was your most influential read as a teenager?
THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA? (Maybe the first book I felt I ‘got’ completely.)

Who are your top three writing influences?
Vonnegut. Hemingway. Camus. (Gao Xingjian, Murakami, so many more.)

Who do you believe is breaking ground in YA right now?
I hope I am! (Sara Zarr and A.S. King are my Little, Brown buddies. I respect their work much.)

What’s the best writing advice you ever received?
Relax. Your best efforts can get in the way. Also, be the leaf in the stream.

What’s your best writing advice to give?
Be authentically you. Figure out who you are and then be that person on the page no matter what anyone says.

What is your writing routine?
It’s ever evolving. Work in progress. (Trying to get back to routine at the moment.) In two words: whatever works.

What gets you jazzed to write?
Whenever I can believe that writing truly makes a difference. That art saves the writer and the reader alike.

Do you have a writing soundtrack? Care to share a bit?
Can only write to instrumental. Paganini’s Violin Concertos, Keith Jarrett’s The Koln Concert, Yusef Lateef’s Eastern Sounds, and many more.

What’s next for you?
Just sold another (very different) (edgy) YA to my editor Alvina Ling at Little, Brown. I’m also writing an adult novel.

Favorite ice cream?
Ginger. (I like old-people ice cream. Pistachio. Coffee. Reminds me of eating dessert with my grandparents.)