FAQ, Barry Lyga Dot Com

FAQ

The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl

General Questions

1. Where do you live?
Um, why do you want to know?

Seriously, though — I don’t publicize my address.

2. Will you sign my book?
I’ll be happy to sign books at any of my events. There’s really no easy way for me to sign your book from where I am right now, though! If you can’t make it to an event, you can send a SASE (self-addressed, stamped envelope) to the address below and I’ll be happy to send you a signed bookplate. A bookplate is basically a sticker that you can put in your book. Just tell me which book you have and include that SASE and I’ll send it back.

Send your request to:
Barry Lyga
8550 W. Charleston Blvd.
Suite #102-234
Las Vegas, NV 89117

3. Will you come to my town/school/library/commune?
I try to travel as much as possible to meet fans! If you’re interested in having me appear at an event, use the contact page to get in touch with the folks at Houghton Mifflin who organize my tour schedule.

4. Will you read something I’ve written?
Nope! Sorry. But for legal reasons, I just can’t do that. Please don’t send me manuscripts or pitches or ideas or comic books you’ve drawn. They’ll just be thrown away, unread.

5. How do I get in touch with you?
Use the contact form.

6. What advice would you give to new writers?
You’re in luck! I have a whole series of blogs that I’ve been doing on MySpace on this very subject. You can find links to them in the BLog section of this site, under MySpace.

The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl

1. Why does the book end the way it does? Why isn't there a real ending?
I think the ending is a real ending. It just might not be the kind you’re used to. In life, sometimes things aren’t tied up nice and neat. We don’t always know where we stand with people. I wanted to show that in the book. I know that a lot of people wanted Kyra and Fanboy to kiss at the end, but that’s just not how it worked out. They weren’t ready for that.

2. Will there be a sequel?
Yes. It's titled Goth Girl Rising, and it will be out in Fall 2009.

3. Will there be a movie?
Possibly. A director named Jeremiah Chechik has optioned the rights to make the book into a movie. This means that he could decide to make it into a movie. Nothing is guaranteed, though. I talk a little bit more about this in this BLog post.

4. Are you like Fanboy?
Yeah, I’m quite a bit like Fanboy. Or at least, I used to be, when I was his age. I was picked on and made fun of and I used to have pretty violent fantasies about what to do to those kids who made fun of me. I got through it, though. Like Fanboy, I’ve always loved comic books. I never made a graphic novel in high school — I can’t draw! — but I did write a really terrible novel. (And no, you can’t see it!)

5. Who is Kyra based on?
Kyra isn’t based on anyone at all. She’s completely made up. I wish I'd known someone like her when I was that age, though. We could all use someone to kick us in the butt every once in a while.

6. What is Fanboy’s real name?
If you read the book very carefully, you’ll see Fanboy’s real name used one time. It’s just his first name — we never learn his last name.

7. Why didn’t you use Fanboy’s real name in the book?
Because he doesn’t like the sound of it. He mentions this the one time someone calls him by his real name. Since he doesn’t like the sound of it and it’s his story, I figured it was only right to leave it out.

8. What is Fanboy’s “third thing?”
Sorry, I’ll never tell! But there was a contest for people to guess over at FanboyandGothGirl.com. Check it out for some really terrific answers!

Boy Toy
1. Are you like Josh?
A little bit. I was never abused as a child, but I can understand Josh's confusion and anger. His obsession with baseball and his ungodly math abilities, though, come from my father and my younger brother.

2. In both of the “Flashbacks, Not Flickers” sections, why doesn’t Josh say “you” instead of “Rachel?” Isn’t he telling these stories to Rachel?
Why would he? He's not literally telling her every word of those sections. Those are Josh's memories, his recollections. We never actually see or hear him tell the story. He tells the story to you, the reader, and by the time he's done, Rachel knows the story, too. Those sections aren't supposed to be literally everything Josh tells her; they're literally everything he knows.

3. What was your inspiration for the novel?
The original inspiration was a case in the school district where I'd gone to high school, involving a young, pretty teacher and multiple teenage boys. I was fascinated by the case and the more I looked into it, the more I found cases like it all across the country. I realized that I needed to write about this.

4. How long did it take you to write it?
Believe it or not, I wrote the entire first draft of the book in a burst of manic energy that lasted roughly seven weeks. I pretty much wrote all day, every day. By the time I finished, I was exhausted and needed a vacation! That original draft was much longer than the version that finally got published. After that draft, I spent some time tweaking it -- maybe another week -- and then, after my editor read it, I took a couple of months to whittle it down to the size it is now.

You can see some deleted scenes from the book here.

5. Why did you write it?
Well, I mentioned what inspired it above. But as to why I wrote it... I realized that in almost every teacher sex scandal, there's one person we never hear from -- the kid involved. That's because the kids are minors, so they're protected. They don't get their names in the paper or on TV and that's great, but that also means that we never know what their opinions are. So I thought it was time to give a (fictional) voice to those kids.

6. Are you a big baseball fan?
Not really. I love the Red Sox and I like to watch a good baseball game, but I'm nowhere near as crazy about it as Josh is. My father was my baseball expert for the book and he did a great job catching my mistakes (and there were many of them!).