The Self-Centered Author, Or Making Fiction Personal
The best way to connect readers to characters, and their stories, is to make your fiction as personal as possible. In this presentation, award-winning author John ‘Corey' Whaley discusses how he has used aspects from his own life, things both great and small, to help develop characters and narratives,while sharing tips for others to do the same!
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John ‘Corey' Whaley grew up in the small town of Springhill, LA, where he sometimes found fiction far better than reality. He taught public middle and high school before publishing his debut, Where Things Come Back, which is the only book to be awarded the Michael L. Printz and William C. Morris Awards in the same year. Whaley is also the only YA author ever named a “5 Under 35" honoree by the National Book Foundation. His sophomore novel, NOGGIN, was subsequently a finalist for the National Book Award in Young People's Literature. Whaley's third book, Highly Illogical Behavior, an exploration of mental illness and friendship, published in May 2016.