When you write books marketed for anyone under eighteen you have to deal with a whole set of bullshit that adult authors don't have to face, namely, WRITING RESPONSIBLY.

Certain people say things like "you can't write about sex and drugs because, if you do, you're PROMOTING that behavior." Those people expect YA authors to write about what teens go through, just not in a graphic or offensive or, you know, honest way. We have to make the good guys good and the bad guys bad, and anytime anyone does anything morally or socially objectionable, they have to be punished. Preferably by lightning so that we all understand that God is punishing them for being bad.

All I can say is screw that. The only thing I'm responsible for is telling a kickass story. All that moralizing and crap, that's not my job. I'm neither a preacher nor a parent and have no interest in teaching the youth of the world how to be or not be stupid.

I'm not saying that books can't open kids' eyes and put all sorts of new ideas into their heads. I read A Clockwork Orange when I was in high school and it blew my hair back. Did I go out and starting raping and killing people? No. Did I reevaluate my ideas about the importance of free will to every individual, even murdering rapists? You bet.

Not saying that I've written anything as powerful as A Clockwork Orange, but I'd say any book has the potential to make you think. But once thought becomes action, well, my responsibility as a kickass author ends and your responsiblity as a reader with free will begins.