Today is a very exciting day here on The Back of the Box as we have the honor of hosting the one and only Brooding YA Hero! You might have seen him in any number of your favorite YA books, sulking in a corner and staring at you with his icy blue eyes that sparkle like a thousand stars in a midnight sky - or perhaps on Twitter where his beloved account has been bringing the lols (and cutting commentary on the genre) for some time, courtesy of writer Carrie Ann DiRisio. Because Ms. DiRisio just so happens to be a friend and loved one of Serial Box, and because when a Hero steps off the page and offers you the chance for an interview, you say "yes", we have the legend himself here to answer a few questions! (Art by Vicki Sigh.)
Can you describe your most recent project in one sentence?"I, in all my magnificence, choose to bestow the reader with all the advice they'll ever need to achieve main character status and win my heart."...In other words, that's Brooding Young Adult Hero's Guide to Achieving Main Character Status, out this coming spring from Sky Pony Press!Where are you a local? Everywhere. I can be found in the most generic high school, and the most wildly imaginative space opera. I've lived in wondrous castles and in log cabins.I am large. I contain multitudes.And I am really good at quoting over-used lines of poetry from high school English Lit Classes. If you could live in one fictional world, which would it be?See above.Are you even listening to my answers, or have you already swooned from prolonged peering into my luminous gemstone-colored orbs?Who would be the 5 people (alive, dead, or fictional) at your dream dinner party?Don't tempt me like this, Serial Box! Do you know *how* many beloved fictional friends, parents, mentors (man, especially mentors. Those guys always kick the bucket before the end of the book) and even some love interests have passed away before my eyes?Look, let's keep this simple. At my dinner party, there's two rules.1. No Other-Guys-in-Love-Triangel allowed. I don't care how dramatically they died or if they saved the universe with their love. They kissed my love interest, and I'm bitter.2. Please keep all of my love interests in separate rooms of this party. (you may need a large house.) I know they're all bland and probably won't start trouble, but they really seem to HATE other girls, especially because they each are quite certain that they aren't like the other girls... so, best to keep them all apart.Cool. Let me know when that party is planned.Who is the author or book you will always recommend?Ugh. Authors are the worst. Did you know they CUT characters sometimes? And refuse to give us all the adjectives and adverbs we so rightfully deserve for our swoony good looks and blazing glares?That being said, my author Carrie Ann DiRisio is pretty cool.First Love: Book edition. What was it and when? (i.e. what book made you love reading?)The Monster at the End of This Book: Starring Lovable, Furry Old GroverNot only is this lovely book at my current reading level, it also features a totally misunderstood, lovable protagonist, and you know, digs into all that meta-meta stuff that makes me... exist. Yeah. Good stuff.Where is your happy place?I... I cannot recall the last time I was truly, utterly happy. Perhaps when I was a child, and had yet to learn of my family's cursed existence as were-lemurs.Last thing you read that made you think, “Well damn, that was cool…”Uh, IDK probably my last fifty tweets or so. I'm pretty proud of my own writing, you know? So why would I bother reading other people's works, when there's no way they're as good-looking as me? If your soul was manifested outside of your body in the form of an animal (like in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series), what would it be?Probably a dragon-stallion-wolf-hawk hybrid, you know? I'm just that multifaceted.... Or a lemur. Damn were-lemur curse ruins everything.Thank you so much, oh Hero of our Hearts, for taking the time from your busy brooding day to chat with us! And don't forget, dear readers, to keep an eye out for Brooding Young Adult Hero's Guide to Achieving Main Character Status, available next year from Sky Pony Press!
Carrie Ann DiRisio is a YA writer and creator of @BroodingYAHero. She lives in Pittsburgh, PA, and is currently pursuing her masters in Digital Marketing, although her true dream is to become a Disney Villainess, complete with a really snazzy gown.Art by Vicki Sigh.
