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When I left school I was full of angst, like any teenager, and I channeled it all into comedy.

I watch a lot of teen TV and read a lot of YA novels. I also talk to teens whenever I can. There are cultural differences between when I was a teen and now, but emotions - anger, angst, love - are the same.

I've always enjoyed teen characters, and kids as well. For whatever reason, I seem to have an ability to do it sort of well, and I enjoy doing it.

I have a fondness for writing about precocious, troubled teenagers, who are alienating, but kind of endearing. It's from remembering so clearly that time in my own life. I experienced myself as more dramatically troubled than I was, but I just remember how it felt.

I think every teenager goes through their angst. People who are like, 'No, I had a perfect adolescence,' make me wonder how that is possible.

I'm glad I went through all the normal teenage dramas that a lot of people go through. I can really relate to 'Secret Life' because I witnessed those similar struggles.

Books for teens are amazing and compelling, I think, because they're generally set in a time in people's lives when they are uncertain about who they are and who they love and what the right thing is to do.

I've always found teenagers really interesting. I think they've got so much going on in their lives, so that lends itself really well to fiction because there's so much drama, so much activity, so much growth.

The teenage years are such a great subject because everything is heightened and on the surface, and it deals with universal emotions that we face even as we get older.

I actually love writing for teens best. I had such an awful time in my own teen years - I love having the chance to relive them through my fiction.