“Writing is what you do, not who you are…Writing is what I do. Here is one last haunting takeaway from Jason Reynolds: Don’t let your creative life define your self-worth, or become too conflated with your identity. Stone and Reynolds also discussed how to handle criticism in a healthy way, which led to this excellent advice from Reynolds’s own mother: “Nobody remembers a bad review. And that’s literally the plot structure of a contemporary novel.” In order for us to move forward, we’ve got to figure out a way to manage the conflict that has formed a fissure in our relationship…That’s just human. Then he introduces a conflict to tear those relationships apart and explores the results. He explained how he comes to his novels through the slow excavation of his protagonist, surrounding them by secondary characters who “are tributaries pouring back into ocean”, building context for who that character is. I was the kid in class who, when they told me I’d have to do an outline was like, You’re telling me I have to do work before I do work? ” Jason Reynolds, on the other hand, explained, “I wish I had the discipline and developed the muscle to be an outliner. Nic Stone is a planner, with detailed outlines and character templates. While Reynolds and Stone may work in the same genre, they come from opposite ends of the process spectrum. Put them in an environment with challenges.” “Create a protagonist and spend time with them. Nic Stone asked Reynolds how he created his unique tone and how he got comfortable with his voice. Joining this duo in the second half was Caitlyn Dlouhy, Vice President & Editorial Director of Atheneum books, who has been Reynolds editor on books like Look Both Ways and Long Way Down. Nic Stone, the best-selling author lauded for her debut YA novel Dear Martin, voiced her admiration for National Book Award Finalist, Coretta Scott King Award winner, and National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature in 2020 Jason Reynolds. The only thing that can make a conversation between two iconic writers more exhilarating is if those writers are fans of each other.

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