In case you missed the announcement, over the next few months, we’ll be running a Between Two Lockers special series featuring your fave FYA writers and contributors.
FIRST THINGS FIRST
What’s your name?
Where are you from/located?
Houston
What do you do when you’re not writing for FYA?
I'm the managing editor of FYA's brother site Birth.Movies.Death. and its magazine, as well as the Alamo Drafthouse's film festival Fantastic Fest.
What do you look like?
Where can you be found on social media?
THE ACTUAL YA-RELATED QUESTIONS
How long have you been writing for FYA, and how did you start writing for the site?
My first post was in October of 2010. I wanted to gush over my strange and inappropriate childhood hero, Christopher Pike. I've also written about R.L. Stine on the site—I used to only read scary YA as a kid (well, that and Anne Shirley or Judy Blume books), but I've evolved as an adult.
How did you come to read YA as an adult?
Like, I suspect, many people, Harry Potter was my gateway, but FYA had a big hand in that, as well. Years ago, Posh loaned me two books: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks and King Dork. After that, I was hooked.
Why do you think YA is an important genre, for both actual Ys and those of us who are more A?
It's certainly a more woman-friendly genre than much fiction, with a stronger voice for female characters and authors than many other genres offer. And great, or even mediocre, YA is responsible for shaping many a young bookworm, who will then grow into big bookworms and shape other little bookworms.
What are five of your favorite YA books?
The Harry Potter series, the His Dark Materials series, the Anne of Green Gables series, the Chaos Walking series (I am such a cheater) and Jellicoe Road.
Do you have a favorite YA character or couple? If so, who are they, and why are they The Best?
My favorite YA character is Hermione Granger, because she is bossy, brilliant and uncompromising in her principles. Also: frizzy-haired girls unite.
THE YA QUESTIONS
If your real life adolescence was a YA book ... What would you, the main character, be like?
I was a weird and grumpy kid who thought she was too cool for everything even though I was remarkably uncool. I was obsessed with Phantom of the Opera and Gone With the Wind and The Cure, and I had a pretty debilitating yen for Joseph Fiennes as Shakespeare.
Who is your secret crush?
Pacey Witter. Also Joseph Fiennes as Shakespeare.
What is your number #1 source of angst?
Typical small town/big dreams business.
At what point would the reader pump his/her fist in victory?
When I finally broke up with the boy who'd broken up with me SEVEN TIMES previously. I had a scathing speech and everything, and a much cuter boy lined up. It was very YA.
And who would play you in the film adaptation?
Mae Whitman, Perks of Being a Wallflower edition.
THE SLUMBER PARTY QUESTIONS
What is your #1 favorite food?
BURGERS.
Tell me about your area of expertise.
Vic Lit and late '90s to early 2000s WB teen dramas
If you could assemble your own Ocean's 11 of fictional characters, who would you pick?
1) Hermione Granger
2) Leslie Knope
3) Anne Shirley
4) Roland Deschain
5) Samwise Gamgee
6) Elinor Dashwood
7) Chloe Sullivan
8) Flavia de Luce
9) Jonathan Strange
10) Joe Kavalier
11) Buffy Summers
What is your best karaoke song?
"Fancy" by Reba McEntire.
What is your favorite adult beverage?
Champagne with a couple shakes of bitters.
What is the most crucial snack food and/or movie/or anything you'd bring to an FYA slumber party?
I bake a lot of mini-muffins, because they are delicious and adorable. I often bring the 2009 Emma miniseries or 2006 Jane Eyre miniseries to slumber parties, because I believe they are criminally underseen.
What book have you read the most number of times?
Gone With the Wind or The Stand. I used to read both every summer vacation.
YA authors are so cool. Who would you give a BFF charm to?
Judy Blume, no doubt.
Out of all of the characters you’ve read, which one do you most wish you could be?
Frodo. I want a quest, dammit! And I want to take periodic breaks from that quest with lots of wonderfully described food.
AND NOW, MASH
Meredith made three picks for each category, and I added a fourth. The magic number (chosen by a random number generator) was 6.
M A S H
SPOUSE
Neville Longbottom
Pacey Witter
Joseph Fiennes as Shakespeare
Atticus Finch
HONEYMOON
The Shire
District 13
Prince Edward Island
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
# OF KIDS
0
1
2
3
JOB
Playwright
Glamorous spy/assassin
Intrepid detective
YA book blogger
INCOME
Paid in wishes
Paid in champagne
Paid in books
Paid in movies (I've got that one down already!)
HOMETOWN
Whatever town Pemberley's in
Colby, North Carolina
Whatever town Donwell Abbey's in
Hobbiton
PET
A snowy white magical owl
A pudu
A magical talking cat
A miniature donkey
VEHICLE
Gladys, Flavia de Luce's bicycle
Elphaba's flying broom
Dean Winchester's Impala
The Pig from The Raven Cycle
Do you have additional questions for Meredith? Or maybe just want to comment on something particularly awesome that she said? Head to the comments!