The Art of Writing

Simone Elkeles: YA Fiction

I am pleased to be joined by Simone Elkeles, a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of ten stories. Simone is also the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions, including the coveted RITA Award presented by the Romance Writers of America. An expert in teen romance novels, Simone discusses her strategy for developing memorable characters, creating strong dialogue, and navigating the publishing world among various topics.

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Brandon Wong: You have a few series (How to Ruin, Leaving Paradise, Perfect Chemistry, Wild Cards) to your name. Of the four, which is your favorite and why?

Simone Elkeles: All of my books are a piece of me. All of my characters are a part of me, whether they are male or female. I would say that there's always the book of your heart—the one that came right out of your heart and is stuck in your heart—and I would say that would be the Perfect Chemistry series. If I had to pick. It's like picking your favorite children.

BW: It's tough!

SE: I would say that there's just something about the love stories in the Perfect Chemistry series that makes it the book of my heart. But looking at the How to Ruin series, Amy is me. All of her stupid thoughts are my stupid thoughts. She does stupid things. I do stupid things. I appreciate Amy because I am Amy. Still, the book of my heart would be the Perfect Chemistry series.

BW: From a reader perspective, that would also be my favorite! It was a lot of fun to see the brothers individually and then together in Chain Reaction for one final happy ending.

SE: Fun for you, hard for me!

BW: On that note, which of your books would you say was the hardest to write?

SE: I would say the Leaving Paradise series because I did not relate to Maggie. Maggie feels sorry for herself and is a woe-is-me kind of person, and I'm not like that. Even when life is really crappy, I try to pick myself up. Sometimes when my daughter says things that are negative, I'm like "Tell me something positive. I just need to hear something positive." I thrive off of the positive. So the Leaving Paradise series was hard just because Maggie was a hard character for me to write.

BW: What's your research process like to make sure you portray characters that you don't relate to in an authentic way, considering that you can't speak from experience?

SE: I've also written about cultures aside from my own, and I had to do a lot of research on that. I hung around people of that culture and asked them lots of question. All the nuances, and even swear words and slang. I'm going to get things wrong, but I have to show the respect and try not to get things wrong. Research is really, really important.

In the Leaving Paradise series, Caleb is in juvenile detention center. I went to the juvenile detention center, and I got locked in a cell so I knew what it was like there. Do they get to keep their own underwear? No. They get issued underwear by the state of Illinois, with big letters on the back. IDOC. Illinois Department of Corrections. These underwear are not cute. They are like these tight, white, ugly underwear. We take for granted the underwear that are in our drawer, but it's different for someone coming back from the juvenile detention center like Caleb. It's a big difference from the issued underwear at the front of their cell every morning. Another thing about the detention center was that there was a metal sink, metal toilet, and a metal mirror, but no toilet paper. They had to buzz for toilet paper because it could have been considered a weapon. When you've had to buzz for toilet paper, and there's a roll of toilet paper in the bathroom, it's a big deal. We take these thing for granted. I didn't know all these little things until I went to the juvenile detention center, and then I realized how different it is. By doing research, I get these little nuggets that I can take to my book.