“Inspirations and Influences” is a series of articles in which we invite authors to write guest posts talking about their…well, Inspirations and Influences. The cool thing is that the writers are given free reign so they can go wild and write about anything they want. It can be about their new book, series or about their career as a whole.
I am rolling out the red carpet today for our guest author is no other than John Green: Contemporary YA author extraordinaire, winner of many awards (including the prestigious Michael L. Printz Award ) and YouTube vlogger behind the infamous Brotherhood 2.0 with his brother Hank. I started reading his books this year and fell in love with them completely: Looking For Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, Will Grayson, Will Grayson and Paper Towns have been reviewed recently. In celebration of the release of Paper Towns in the UK, we invited John Green to write a piece for this feature and to our utmost delight, he said yes.
From Wikipedia
Here is what John Green has to say about writing Paper Towns:
Although my books are printed on thinly sliced pieces of trees, they would be utterly impossible without the Internet, which probably inspires my writing at least as much as books do. My books would be impossible without the Internet. Paper Towns, for instance, is built around this weird cartographic phenomenon wherein mapmakers intentionally put fake places on their maps–which incidentally is common practice in maps of London, much to the confusion of tourists and locals alike. There was some research into this kind of thing before the Internet, but it took the crowdsourcing talents of the Internet to show how widespread and weird this practice was.
But I rely on the Internet not only for information but also for inspiration. Here’s what I find inspiring about the Internet:
At its best, the Internet makes stuff not for glory or profit or fame but because making things for people is valuable and beautiful even if no one ever sees the thing you make. There’s something very beautiful to me about the sheer amount of stuff that people create on the Internet, the endless collection of blogs and facebook fan pages and twitter updates and deviantart sites: All of us making stuff for each other, and trying to make the stuff as good and finished as possible. A really good example of this that has absolutely nothing to do with Paper Towns or anything else I’ve ever written is this:
That picture is known online as “Gary Busey Family Portrait.” (Gary Busey is an American film actor who is insane and drug-addled. He is our Pete Doherty.) The person who made Gary Busey Family Photo–s/he is anonymous–must have worked for many hours on this, because it is so beautifully photoshopped that your eyes believe initially that this really IS a family portrait, which is absolutely vital to the joke. The hours of pixel-by-pixel editing was motivated not by some desire to become rich or famous or beloved but because this person wanted to make something that would make us laugh–and also maybe something that would make Gary Busey question whether, you know, he should maybe sober up.
The best stories come from the same place as Gary Busey Family Portrait: They are books that exist because someone wanted to tell us a story, wanted–as William Faulkner once said–”to create out of the material of the human spirit something which did not exist before.” (Faulkner, who like me was from the American South, is another big inspiration for me.) This is why I spent three years writing Paper Towns: I wanted to try to get each pixel right in the picture. To this end, I am inspired not only by photoshopped images but also by the novelists whose precision and dedication I have admired over the years. The list of writers who are better than I am is, I’m afraid, a very long one–from Toni Morrison to M. T. Anderson, from Markus Zusak to Jane Austen–but it is through marveling at their dedication to craft and respect for their readers that I am able to get up every morning and work on my writing.
About the author: John Green is the New York Times bestselling author of Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, and Paper Towns. He is also the coauthor, with David Levithan, of Will Grayson, Will Grayson. He was 2006 recipient of the Michael L. Printz Award, a 2009 Edgar Award winner, and has twice been a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Green’s books have been published in more than a dozen languages.
In 2007, Green and his brother Hank ceased textual communication and began to talk primarily through videoblogs posted to youtube. The videos spawned a community of people called nerdfighters who fight for intellectualism and to decrease the overall worldwide level of suck. (Decreasing suck takes many forms: Nerdfighters have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight poverty in the developing world; they also planted thousands of trees around the world in May of 2010 to celebrate Hank’s 30th birthday.) Although they have long since resumed textual communication, John and Hank continue to upload three videos a week to their youtube channel, vlogbrothers. Their videos have been viewed more than 75 million times, and their channel is one of the most popular in the history of online video. He is also an active (if reluctant) Twitter user with more than 1.1 million followers.
Green’s book reviews have appeared in The New York Times Book Review and Booklist, a wonderful book review journal where he worked as a publishing assistant and production editor while writing Looking for Alaska. Green grew up in Orlando, Florida before attending Indian Springs School and then Kenyon College.
You can read more about the author at his (brand-new) Website.
GIVEAWAY DETAILS
We are giving away 15 COPIES of Paper Towns, courtesy of Bloomsbury PLC. The contest is open to ALL and will run until June 12 at 11:59 PM (PST). To enter, leave a comment here answering what is your favourite John Green book (or if you haven’t read any, tell us about a fave contemporary YA author). Only one entry per person please! Good luck!
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197 Responses to Guest Author & Giveaway: John Green on Inspirations and Influences
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I have only read Abundance of Katherines and picked it up becaused of the math plot, which was cute.
My favorite John Green book is PAPER TOWNS!
I ran to the library to borrow it the moment the library had it and read it non-stop! Amazing stuff.
Thank you for this giveaway!
I haven’t read any of John’s books yet but a contemporary author I discovered recently is Lauren Oliver.
This is a great contest! Please enter me. My favorite John Green book is An Abundance of Katherines. His writing style is so witty and sarcastic. He tells an awesome story, so I would love to read Paper Towns as well. Thanks for hosting
Oh man, I think I’d have to say An Abundance of Katherines is my favorite John Green book so far. Looking for Alaska really hit me like a punch in the gut, but it felt like my heart would burst from too much love for the characters and friendship in An Abundance of Katherines!
my favourite is looking for alaska, its perfect. i’m excited about paper towns being released here!
I´ve only read “Looking for Alaska” yet, but I absolutly loved that one. If the others are anything like it, they have to be awesome.
Thanks for this amazing giveaway!
I have many John Green novels on my TBR list and I actually have a copy of An Abundance of Katherine’s waiting on my shelf to be read. I’ve heard amazing things about his work, especially Paper Towns so I’m very excited to read some of his books.
As for my fave contemporary YA author I would have to say Sarah Dessen although I don’t have many YA authors of any genre under my belt. But I enjoy the way she writes her stories and portrays her characters.
Wonderful post! I enjoyed it very much =)
John Green is my favorite YA author and my favorits of his books is currently Will Grayson, Will Grayson, I guess that is only half his but close enough irght? Anyway, it is very difficult to choose only one favorite so it tends to change depending on my mood!
I have not read John Green yet, but I have a couple of his books in my to be read pile and I am bumping Looking for Alaska up now!! Especially after reading your review…I am definitely intrigued. I would love to be entered for a chance to win Paper Towns!
My favorite series right now is The Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead and I, also, love Elizabeth Scott.
I haven’t read John Green, but have seen Paper Towns mentioned/reviewed on quite a few YA blogs. I have a few favorite YA authors – Eoin Cowlfer who write the Artemis Fowl series and DJ McHale who wrote the Pendragon series. I couldn’t stop reading (and/or listening to the audiobooks)!
yes please – count me in
Hi! Thank you SO much for this giveaway. I’ve only read “Looking for Alaska” thus far and the book totally took me by surprise. I love every single thing about it and the fact that it made me think way after I finished reading it does tell a lot. I am wishing I’d get a chance to read more of his works!
I haven’t read any book by him yet. The thing is, I haven’t read much contemporary YA at all, but of the few I’ve read, my favourite author has to be Simone Elkeles.
I desperately want to read some of his books but so far havn’t had a chance. Melina Marchetta would be one of my (many) favourite contemporary YA authors…
Hi there,
I haven’t read any of John Green’s book – but the cover of this book really caught my eye.
My favourite YA authors are Jasper Fforde, who writes the Thursday Next series, and Marcus Zusak, who wrote The Book Thief
I haven’t read any of John Green’s books yet. I also haven’t read many YA books yet, so I have to agree with what Amanda before me said, Marcus Zusak for The Book Thief. That was a great book.
I absolutely adore An Abundance of Katherines. I can read that book over and over. But, of course, I love all of John’s books. His voice is fantastic and his characters are so relatable
I have not read John Green yet….. I know, I know…. where have I been?
A YA author I really have enjoyed is Suzanne Collins – Hunger Games was incredible!
I haven’t read any John Green yet but I will soon take care of that problem. My favourite YA author this year is Pete Hautman.
my favorite John Green book was Looking for Alaska.
count me in! christina101092@yahoo.com
I haven’t read that many YA books. I’m entering for my daughter.Please count me in. Thanks
shundelt@yahoo.com
I’d have to pick Stephanie Meyer. I’m a huge fan of Twilight!!!
chirth7@yahoo.com
I’ve really only read An Abundance of Katherines, by John Green and I really enjoyed it. Then, seeing this contest I just thought it would be nice to read another one of his books. My favorite YA author is probably Tamora Pierce, but I don’t think that’s contemporary YA, so I’d say I then like Meg Cabot.
I havn’t read any of John Green’s books yet, but there are a few in my to-be-bought list. I have read so many fantastic reviews for them. Please enter me for the contest.
Faulkner is one of my favorite author’s too. I’ve recommended his books to several people but they didn’t like him.
I haven’t read any John Green, but currently my favorite YA author is Suzanne Collins…
I have not read his books yet. Sure would love to. The only YA books I have read so far are all the Twilight books.
i haven’t read any john green yet, but he’s been on my TBR list for some time now. as for contemporary YA, i’ve really been enjoying jennifer echols. she can do comedy and drama very well.
An Abundance of Katherines is my favorite. I would love to read this one, too!
I’ve read both Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns. Paper Towns is my fave!
I finished this book on holiday in Berlin. I thought it was great, and gave it away to another geek I met. I kind of regret this now. Send me a replacement?
I’ve only read John’s story in Let It Snow, but it was my favourite by far. I’m cash-strapped at the moment and haven’t been able to buy it yet, but I’ve been planning on getting myself a copy of Looking for Alaska since Nathan Bransford wrote about it. And now I want to read Paper Towns, too – I had no idea that cartographers did that, and it sounds awesome. In a strange way. But still awesome!
i’ve only read Looking for Alaska, but it was excellent. i’m definitely interested in picking up more of his books in the future.
thanks for the opportunity to win his book!
I haven’t read any John Green books (yet) but my favorite Ya contemporary author is probably the lovely Jennifer Echols!
Thanks for the oppurtunity!
I haven’t read any of John Greens books but do look forward to adding them to my TBR pile. Favorite YA contemporary writer would be Susan Beth Pfeffer.
Thanks for the chance at “Paper Towns”
My favorite of his books so far is Looking For Alaska. Love to read Paper Towns. Please enter me. Thanks!
I haven’t read any of this author’s books, but your review sounds like a book that I would take pleasure in reading. Thanks you so much for hosting this giveaway.
steven(dot)capell(at)gmail(dot)com
I’ve only read Looking for Alaska but I LOVED it. I really want to read his other books but haven’t found the time to purchase them because of all the other unread books in my house. o.O
I would love to read Paper Towns.
P.S. – DFTBA
I really enjoyed Will Grayson, Will Grayson, but it’s the only one of his books I’ve read. I’d love to read more!
My favourite John Green book is LOOKING FOR ALASKA.
I have been an avid follower of John on youtube for years yet have not read a single book. As a teenager with no real source of income, the library was my only bet, and as often as I visit, it is always lacking in having ANY John Green books. An outrage. So this opportunity to finally see what everyone’s raving about, would greatly be appreciated.
I guess I would have to say Gabrielle Zevin is my favourite YA author. Elsewhere and Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac are two brilliant books that have had me laughing and crying. They are beautifully thought out and I would recommend them to anyone!
Looking for Alaska, thanks
Definitely Paper Towns. Though they’re all quite amazing books, I have to say.
My favorite John Green book actually is Paper Towns, although I do love all of them and I’ve really enjoyed Will Grayson Will Grayson, which I just finished recently. If I won, I’d give this copy to my friend’s sister, who has just started to read John Green’s books. I hope lots more become interested in his work!
While I relate to Margo and many of the events that take place in Paper Towns I have to say that Looking for Alaska is my favorite of John’s books.
:o)
j