Why do you think “Butter” does/will appeal to young readers. People have shared stories about their struggles with weight or bullying, and I am so honored to have them confide in me and so impressed by their journeys. But the most incredible and humbling part has been the direct and personal feedback from readers who reach out to me privately. Even the few negative comments I’ve seen on the internet here and there seem to spark discussion and debate, which is a thrill for me. Also, the voices in my head tend to be modern teens – not heroic or super-powered, but relatable and flawed. I LOVE fantastical stories – dystopian YA is my favorite genre to read – but when I think of the books that left a lasting impact on me and even shaped who I am today, they are always contemporary stories, and those are the kind of stories I want to tell. In a time when the fantastical, fairy tale and other worldly is so popular, why do you write contemporary fiction?

I love that Butter is a funny and sarcastic character, but I had to work to make sure I was true to his struggle and his pain as well – and that meant going to a slightly darker place sometimes in the rewrites. But revising it was a bit more emotional. This was one of those stories that came out fast, demanding to get onto the page. Surprisingly, no - at least, not the first draft. His story grew from there.īecause of the subject matter, “Butter” is at times a very hard book to read. Those stories collected in the back of my mind until one day, they poured out in a flash of an idea about this boy, Butter. Where did the idea for “Butter” come from?Īs mentioned above, much of BUTTER came from what I see in the newsroom – almost daily stories of childhood obesity, teen suicide and internet bullying.

So many of the big issues we see in the news impact the entire family, but we rarely get to explore specifically how they affect the lives of teens, so that’s something I try to do in my writing. Inspiration is everywhere, but my work as a journalist really influences what I write. To me, there is no more interesting age to write about. It’s such a short but critical time in our lives that shapes who we are forever. I believe YA books are not just for teens but also for anyone who remembers what it was like to be a teen.

I feel like I write about young people more than for young people. I still wrote in journals, and I write facts every day working in TV news, but I think I let the dream of being a writer lapse for awhile until I really got serious about it again. But the truth is, I took almost a decade off from writing fiction after college. I have a box full of “books” I wrote as a kid that would seem to indicate yes, I have always wanted to be a writer. Erin Jade Lange is the author of “Butter.” The following is a complete transcript of her interview with Cracking the Cover.

Erin lange books