A Talk with Rick Yancey

Over summer vacation, I attended a talk given by Rick Yancey, author of The 5th Wave, and I recorded it (well, the audio of it)! I had/have been so busy that I’d completely forgotten about sharing it with you. It’s much too long to dictate the entire talk, but I will leave you with a few of his quotes.

He starts off strong:
“You’re here today because you love books. If you loved something else, you probably wouldn’t be here today.”

And then we learn a bit about his early life:
“I tell people that I practically grew up in a library, which is not too far from the truth.”

Supporting us booknerds:
“People like us, who read a lot, we tend to have a problem with our mouths more than our fists, right?…In general, we’re a little bit smarter because we read so much–right?–which expands our worlds, expands our minds, hones and sharpens our intellects.”

And he blows your mind:
“The unique thing about books and readers is that…books are a collaborative art…when you read that book, you are collaborating with the author.”

Why did he become a writer anyway?:
“Einstein said, ‘I went into science because I could not bear, I could not bear the boredom of every day life.'”

Yancey is so wise:
“The teenagers’ years are dystopian; they are apocalyptic…Can you think of any setting more dystopian-like than high school?”

When you’re a writer:
“I spend as much time picking out my theme music than I do the outlining…and I’ll act out scenes while I’m writing.”

He speaks the truth:
“You have a fear… as a writer that you’re never gonna measure up.”

Advice to aspiring writers:
“Read, read, read, read, read, read, read.”

And Yancey leaves us with:
“The great struggle of a writer is finding your own voice.”

And there you have it! I hope Rick Yancey’s words have brightened your day as much as they have mine. Don’t forget to check out my review of The 5th Wave and The Infinite Sea on the blog.