Interview with author Stacey Jay
Hello girls,
I have answers below. Please let me know if you need anything else. Best!
1) Do you have to limit yourself on the amount of "inappropriate" content you put into your book?
I like that you put "inappropriate" in quotes! It can be such a hard thing to pin down. What is inappropriate to one person may be something that holds little shock value for another. I, for example, am not upset by profanity unless that profanity is used to hurt another person. Words aren't "bad" or "good" or "appropriate" or "inappropriate." It's the way we use words that give them the power to be evil, and you don't have to cuss to destroy someone with the words you speak.
As for the other reasons books are considered "inappropriate" I don't worry about limiting that sort of content. I try to stay true to my characters and tell the best story I can. Young adults are young adults, after all, not overgrown children. I think my readers have the intelligence to handle a variety of content and the maturity to stop reading if something makes them uncomfortable or feels like content they aren't ready for just yet.
2) How do you handle books that are being threatened to be banned and someone contacts you about it?
My zombie Settler series was banned in Tennessee junior high school libraries because it features a homosexual relationship between two minor female characters. I didn't know how to respond to that. I was raised in the South and I know how entrenched some of these close-minded beliefs are. I didn't know how to combat that as a teen (except to attend a college as far from the small town where I grew up as possible), and I'm still not sure what to do about it as an adult, except to write stories that refuse to submit to that kind of thinking.
3) What are your thoughts on Young Adult Book censorship and book banning?
I think censorship and book banning are ridiculous and dangerous. Teens today are exposed to far more violence, foul language, objectification of women, and general ugliness on television than in 9 out of 10 books on the shelf. And real life is no picnic for a lot of young adults, either. It's a hard, ugly time to grow up and we need brave, strong, passionate young people to turn our world around.
I think reading brave stories is one of the ways we learn to be tolerant, empathetic, and to have a wider view of the world and our place in it. People who try to ban those stories in the name of protecting our young people are sadly misguided. It's like taking the smoke alarm out of a burning house. The alarm may sound ugly to some, but there's a chance that racket will wake a few people up and allow them to make it out of the house alive.
Thanks so much, ya'll. Good luck with your project,
Stacey Jay
I have answers below. Please let me know if you need anything else. Best!
1) Do you have to limit yourself on the amount of "inappropriate" content you put into your book?
I like that you put "inappropriate" in quotes! It can be such a hard thing to pin down. What is inappropriate to one person may be something that holds little shock value for another. I, for example, am not upset by profanity unless that profanity is used to hurt another person. Words aren't "bad" or "good" or "appropriate" or "inappropriate." It's the way we use words that give them the power to be evil, and you don't have to cuss to destroy someone with the words you speak.
As for the other reasons books are considered "inappropriate" I don't worry about limiting that sort of content. I try to stay true to my characters and tell the best story I can. Young adults are young adults, after all, not overgrown children. I think my readers have the intelligence to handle a variety of content and the maturity to stop reading if something makes them uncomfortable or feels like content they aren't ready for just yet.
2) How do you handle books that are being threatened to be banned and someone contacts you about it?
My zombie Settler series was banned in Tennessee junior high school libraries because it features a homosexual relationship between two minor female characters. I didn't know how to respond to that. I was raised in the South and I know how entrenched some of these close-minded beliefs are. I didn't know how to combat that as a teen (except to attend a college as far from the small town where I grew up as possible), and I'm still not sure what to do about it as an adult, except to write stories that refuse to submit to that kind of thinking.
3) What are your thoughts on Young Adult Book censorship and book banning?
I think censorship and book banning are ridiculous and dangerous. Teens today are exposed to far more violence, foul language, objectification of women, and general ugliness on television than in 9 out of 10 books on the shelf. And real life is no picnic for a lot of young adults, either. It's a hard, ugly time to grow up and we need brave, strong, passionate young people to turn our world around.
I think reading brave stories is one of the ways we learn to be tolerant, empathetic, and to have a wider view of the world and our place in it. People who try to ban those stories in the name of protecting our young people are sadly misguided. It's like taking the smoke alarm out of a burning house. The alarm may sound ugly to some, but there's a chance that racket will wake a few people up and allow them to make it out of the house alive.
Thanks so much, ya'll. Good luck with your project,
Stacey Jay