It wasn't until I hit 20 that I became an obsessive reader, I think, which feels a little funny considering I was a bookseller for five years and have been reviewing YA novels for four years.

I'm definitely of the 'Harry Potter'-transfigured-me-into-a-reader-and-writer generation. And that's really all I read throughout my teen years, because I really devoted all my time to writing and reading friends' fan-fiction.

The book industry is all about community, and it never really feels like anyone is competing against anyone, thankfully.

There are happy stories out there, but I think some of them may raise false expectations for teens.

When I really want to be comforted myself, what I look for is a story about how somebody could survive something really difficult.

I'm always writing from some difficult place and seeing how the character survives... or doesn't.

I'm building this reputation as YA heartbreaker, I know. Some people like 'happily ever after,' but I don't think that's me.

When you're overthinking a thought like the way I do, I can get completely pulled away from something I'm in the middle of because my thought channel just won't help me get from point A to point B without any difficulty.

For me, I remember being 19 and coming out as bi to all of my friends. I'd had girlfriends, and all of these experiences and such, and then, as I got older, I started identifying as gay.

My first book was on the grittier side of life. A week before being published, I realized all of my main characters come from single households. That was something that, when I lived in South Bronx, that's what it was like.