John Michael Green

What is your first name and your girlfriend's first name? I will cue you at the appropriate moment. I am not going to tell you in advance what the moment is because that would make it TOO EASY.

THIS IS HAPPENING.

I could've, but it would not have been as fun or as comfortable. Here's my reasoning:

1. Early in my career, I missed three very important events because of canceled or delayed flights. I understand of course that road traffic can also be a problem, and all kinds of unfortunate things might befall anyone at any time, but so far I have never missed an event while driving from place to place.

2. When you take 19 airplane flights in 19 days, you spend a lot of time in airports. I like airports, but they're public(ish) spaces, so you can't totally relax in them. (Or I can't, anyway.) The bus is (so far anyway) super relaxing.

3. There is no Super Nintendo on airplanes.

4. I've always liked road trips. Some critics of my books might argue that I like them a bit too much.

That's awesome! Are you ready to propose now? Have you talked about getting married? Have you discussed your plans for the future when it comes to things like career, children, and so on? I NEED MORE INFO.

If you're ready, I'm ready. Let's get this done in Cincinnati next week.

Hi hi! John Green, author of The Fault in Our Stars here. Signed copies of all my books headed your way!

EDIT: Jeez, thanks for all the replies, but if I were really a good guy, I would've sent the books quietly instead of posting for all that sweet, sweet karma.

(Willy is my dog.) Willy has cancer, and has for almost a year, but he is doing well. He has a great dog life--we live in a wooded area and Willy has a great time chasing after small woodland creatures and barking at the neighbors.

I loved both those trips to Scotland! Hope to be back soon.

I don't know what I'll write in the future. Or if I'll write in the future, for that matter. Writing this book over the last six years was really challenging for me, and I sort of made a deal with myself that I'd take a break once I finished.

As for why I like publishing YA: There are several reasons. One is that I like sharing a shelf with so many writers I admire, from M. T. Anderson to Angie Thomas to Jacqueline Woodson. I love that YA includes scifi AND mystery AND romance AND 'literary fiction' AND everything else.

Another reason is that I like teenage characters and teen readers. Teenagers are doing so many things for the first time--like, they're often falling in love for the first time, but they're also asking the big questions of human existence for the first time as entities separate from their parents. They're thinking about whether there is inherent meaning to human life or whether we have to construct meaning (and what meaning we should construct). They're thinking about the role suffering plays in human life. They're thinking about free will and selfhood and how we establish and confer personhood.

And they're doing it all with unironized emotion and enthusiasm that I find incredibly compelling. Like, I think sincerity is maybe the most underrated feeling of contemporary life. I understand that overly sincere people and sentiments feel cringey to us, but to me sincerity is really lovely, and worth celebrating.

Most of TFIOS's readers are adults, and most of TATWD's probably will be, too. And that's awesome. I want to write books that stand up to critical reading but that also appeal to a broad audience. But I really like being read by teenagers. It's an incredible privilege to have a seat at the table in someone's life when they're asking those big questions for the first time.

"Stop trying to show me how good a writer you are and just tell me a fucking story." -P F Kluge, my college writing professor

It takes more than all of the turtles.

I use reddit search.

Speaking of which, we should all buy each other reddit gold so that someday we might live in a world in which reddit search is not completely shit. I'll start by buying you gold.