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I feel a lot of adult fiction looks down on plot as a lesser form of literature.

There's something peculiar about writing fiction. It requires an interesting balance between seeing the world as a child and having the wisdom of a middle-aged person. The further you get from childhood and the experience of the teenage years, the greater the danger of losing that wellspring.

I'd never really considered doing young-adult novels, but one of the things that a friend pointed out to me is that I've actually had a teenage character in almost every adult novel that I've written.

I think so much of young adult literature sort of gets ghettoized - the title 'young adult' makes people immediately discount it. And just like with books that get written for adults, there is plenty of young adult literature that is bad. But there is also plenty of young adult literature that is brilliant.

Teen fiction should be about teenagers - no matter how many arguments there are about what YA lit should be, this seems like the one thing we can all agree on.

I've never read a young adult novel, though. I'm sure I would love it, but I've never read one.

I'd always read omnivorously and often thought much literary fiction is read by young men and women in their 20s as substitutes for experience.

The distinction has blurred between young adult and adult books. Some of the teen books have become more sophisticated.

Why not write a book which is as sophisticated as a book for an adult, but is about the concerns that teenagers actually have?

I'm looking forward to writing more novels for young adults.