Diversity

WNDMG Author Interview with Meg Eden Kuyatt

WNDMG Author Interview with Meg Eden Kuyatt

When I fell in love with the prose in Meg Eden Kuyatt’s first novel, Good Different, then learned she was writing a ghost story of sorts, I. COULD. NOT. WAIT!
I had the esteemed pleasure of sitting down to interview Meg. Here’s the inside scoop on both the author and her book…

KATE: Our Mixed-Up-Files readers would love the inside scoop on your latest novel-in-verse, The Girl in the Walls. Can you tell us a bit about where the idea for this story came from?

MEG: I tend to start my stories in a feeling. This one started when I saw something very upsetting happen to someone I cared about. I tried to write about it directly, but when that didn’t work and felt a little too real, I knew I needed to try another angle (like Emily Dickinson, to tell it slant). I started asking what if questions, like: what if V could time travel? What if she met a ghost? The ghost helped bring this magic wonderland world of the walls, giving me distance. It also gave me an outlet for me to process all my feelings, giving an option for what I could be like if I held onto them forever and didn’t try to work through them. That warning made me really want to work through my feelings all the more and find healing on the other end.

KATE: I love that you write books which make me cry (I’m looking at you too, Good Different). And by this, I don’t mean you write emotional books, I mean you write books with big emotions. How easy is it for you to tap into a young character’s emotions while creating universal connections to your readers?

MEG: Thank you so much, Kate! That’s the part I feel like is my strength. As an autistic person, I feel things so big, and so channeling those feelings into my characters is easy. I just write what I’m feeling now, and what I felt at that age (often they’re very similar things, just maybe wearing different outfits). When I ask things like: what am I struggling with now? What did I struggle with then?, I try to be as specific as possible, and ironically, the more specific we are, the more universal we get because we’re tapping into the human experience.

KATE: In discussing some of those emotions just a bit further, I think many readers will be able to relate to Valeria, a girl who has been hurt by the actions and comments of others. Afterall, who hasn’t wished someone else a taste of their own medicine? How did you decide this would be her driving force?

MEG: I write what I’m feeling and struggling with in the moment. I knew I needed to write this book when, like V, I was hurt and angry at someone else. I knew I needed to try to see them with more empathy. But to get there, I knew I needed to be honest with where I was in my feelings and let that fuel the story.

KATE: You have two characters giving Valeria art guidance – one who says to draw art as you see it. Another who says to draw art as you feel it. When you write, which advice registers closest for you?

MEG: I think there’s truth to both, for V and for my writing. We need to be informed by what we feel, but also what is true. Sometimes these intersect, but sometimes feelings are unreliable narrators, so we need to open our eyes to get perspective and ask, what is true?

KATE: There’s a great parallel in your novel between ghosting someone and being a ghost oneself. Talk to us about how you wove in the concept of being seen.

MEG: I think as the story progresses, V realizes she’s been holding in feelings, but so has the house—to embody how the family has been holding in hurt from generational trauma and ableism. When we’re ghosted, it hurts, and if we don’t acknowledge those feelings, if we don’t move forward, we can become ghosts in a sense, trapped in a cul de sac of looping feelings. We can also give that as an inheritance to the next generation. And if we don’t acknowledge those feelings, they build and fester and get worse. They wound, and can create really malignant patterns for the generations to come. In a few ways, this becomes a literal threat V has to deal with, because as things escalate, they can become real obstacles. I wanted V to break those generational patterns and pave forward another option.

KATE: We often hear about family curses. How important was it for you to make this story generational?

MEG: That was the main thing I wanted to explore here: generations. What do we inherit from our families? The people who dig at us the most, is it in part because we see ourselves in them? What legacy do we want to leave forward? How can we take the good and oppose the evil in the legacies we inherit?

KATE: It’s often fun to read about the baddies of a book, and your baddie is certainly up there on that list! How fun was it for you to write this antagonist?

MEG: Not fun! 😉 But very healing. Sometimes you have to write very real things, that aren’t necessarily fun, because they hit a little too close to home. But it’s really important. It was fun, in a sense, exploring the complexities of the antagonist: the yes, but what if…?

KATE: You and Valeria share many things in common, I’m sure, one in particular is being neurodivergent. Can you tell MUF readers about neurodivergence and how this connection to Valeria helped you in your story development?

MEG: I’m neurodivergent and I don’t know what it’s like to not be ND. I used to try to write neurotypical leads to satisfy a previous agent, but I learned I’m a bad actor, and don’t know what it’s like to be neurotypical! So I write what I know, and my best writing is what I know. For V, I particularly wanted to channel my insecurities as a neurodivergent person in a neurotypical world, how I have so much joy in who I was created to be until something happens and someone makes me doubt myself.

Especially because in Good Different, Selah grows to love her autism, I wanted to show the other end, because it’s not always that simple. Usually there’s a mix of joy and internalized ableism. I don’t want people to stop at Selah’s story and think we’ve “fixed ableism.” It’s still there, all the more obvious by RFK Jr’s recent disturbing comments. There is joy, but there’s also a lot of hurt, and for kids struggling with that, I wanted them to see themselves in V’s story, and see it doesn’t have to end there.

KATE: Can you describe your writing process and, can you give us an example of something you cut, changed, or reworked from draft to publication?

MEG: Goodness, so much changed. The basic bones of the emotional arc have always been there, but there were pranks that had to get cut, lots of conversations between the ghost and V, a lot of internal poems..I was really challenged by my editor to focus, to escalate, and keep things active, since I can get so lost in my head sometimes.

KATE: Thank you for taking the time to share the inside scoop on The Girl in the Walls. Is there something beyond Valeria’s world you can hint at? Perhaps a new project in the works?

MEG: I’m so excited to have a Good Different companion novel in the works currently called PERFECT ENOUGH, and a YA with two autistic leads (that I’ve been working on for over ten years now, so it’s such a joy to know it’s coming out into the world)! Being undiagnosed for most of my life, I’m really enjoying exploring what it means to be autistic and how to be a healthy autistic person in a neurotypical, often ableist world. So we’ll see where that leads me as I play with future ideas!

KATE: Where can readers best find you if they want to reach out?

MEG: megedenbooks.com! I love hearing from readers!

 

Lightning Round

 

And….no MUF interview is complete without a lightning round, so…

Favorite place to write? – patio, or Chick-fil-a

Dark chocolate or milk chocolate? – dark chocolate all the way

Superpower? – flying! or timetravel.

Rollerblades or bike? – bike!

Dream job when you were a kid? – being an artist or a manga-ka

House pet? – cat

Favorite piece of advice for writers? – persist!

Diversity in MG Lit #51 February 2025

It’s Blue Book Cover Month over here at the Diversity in MG Lit corner. I’m going to open with a book I blurbed this year. It’s a perfect choice for Black History Month by an author I truly admire not just for the quality of her writing by for her advocacy for books and young readers wherever she goes. Here’s the blurb:
book cover of All the Blues in the SkyAll the Blues in the Sky by Renée Watson, Bloomsbury
The truest and kindest and most genuinely accessible grief story I’ve read in years. Teachers if you are looking for a book to open the conversation about loss, All the Blues in the Sky is a beautiful choice.” Rosanne Parry
book cover Safe HarborLike All the Blues in the sky, Safe Harbor by Padma Venkatraman is a novel-in-verse. This one is about a girl reeling from the divorce of her parants and a move from India to California. But on the beach in her new home she finds and injured harbor seal and a new friend. Together they inspire their community to join in beach clean up. Fans of Lindsay Moore’s Yoshi and the Ocean or A Whale of the Wild will enjoy this tale of forging a bond with the wilderness and the healing power of friendship.
book cover As You WishRomance novels are gradually making their way into the middle grade space, and here is a sweet one for young teens just experiencing their first love. As You Wish by Nashae Jones is a charming friend-to-sweetheart story with a dash of magic from the West African Anansi tradition. The trickster grants a wish that backfires in all the most embarrassing ways–great fun! This is a second novel for Nashae Jones.
Books about trans kids are rare and when I come across one by the brilliant Kyle Lukoff, I’m determined to champion it in the bookstore. Now more than ever we need stories of trans children. What I love about this one is the engagement of fantastical elements. There is pain and even cruelty but this story asks it’s young transitioning character to examine the world through a magical lens and decide if the world is worth saving. There’s a lot to love here and a lot to talk about not just for trans kids and their families and allies. A World Worth Saving by Kyle Lukoff is a book worth reading and championing in your own schools and libraries and bookstores.book cover A World Worth Saving
book cover Rick KotaniAnd finally, I’m thrilled to be doing a book event with Waka Brown this week to celebrate her new book Rick Kotani’s 400 Million Dollar Summer. This one struck a chord with me even though my kids were dancers rather than athletes. A move to a small town for the summer throws Japanese-American Rick into the sphere of a high stakes youth baseball team where winning is the centerpiece. The coach ruthlessly organizes his practices and game strategies around the win and not the development of each player’s talents, even coming at the expense of player safety. I think the professionalization of youth sports plays a role in the rise of anxiety among children. I hope this book spurs conversation and change in the family culture that surrounds the ultra competitive sports scene.
If I’ve missed a title coming out in the next month or two, please mention it in the comments.

 

WNDMG Author Interview with Megan E. Freeman

WNDMG Author Interview with Megan E. Freeman

Globe reading a book being held up by different colored hands representing diversity.

It always amazes me when I can pick up a book and discover something I’ve not been introduced to before. Away by Megan E Freeman is a great example of that! Her story introduces readers to scenarios that get us pondering: what would we do in such a situation?

I had the esteemed pleasure of sitting down to interview Megan. Here’s the inside scoop on both the author and her book…

 

KATE: Our Mixed-Up-Files readers would love the inside scoop on Away – your companion novel to Alone. Can you tell us a bit about the premise?

MEGAN: When an imminent threat alert causes a midnight evacuation in Colorado, four kids relocated to the same shelter become unlikely friends. After they stumble onto evidence casting doubt on the legitimacy of the evacuation, they begin an investigation that causes them to question everything and everyone around them. Through a series of covert and courageous efforts, the friends uncover the facts behind the “imminent threat” and must decide how—and if—they can expose the truth.

 

KATE: This is a multiple POV book – with each of the 4 characters quite literally written differently. Harmony is written in prose, Grandin in verse, Teddy in screenwriter script, and Ashanti in italicized verse. This change in style is new to me and rather exciting to see. How did you come up with this? And how did you know who to bring to page when?

MEGAN: There was a lot of trial and error! I knew I wanted to give each character their own point of view, so I started by thinking about what each of them was passionate about, and I let those interests inform the formatting for their voices. Some days I worked exclusively on one character and then slotted the pages into the manuscript later. Other days I worked on multiple voices in sequence. One nice thing about writing in Scrivener is how easy it is to move and rearrange pages, and I did a lot of rearranging. 

 

KATE: Let’s talk setting. Your characters meet at an evacuation center. I can’t help but think of Covid and being isolated from the world at that time. In Away, however, isolation is an understatement. Talk about some of the creative ways you took to build a somewhat normal life for your characters all the while shutting them off from the outside world.

MEGAN: I read a lot about the Japanese Internment Camps during World War II, and while I was drafting, my local museum had a timely exhibit of Ansel Adams’ photographs from Manzanar. It was extraordinary to see pictures of people holding concerts, playing baseball, and publishing newspapers. The human spirit is resilient, and even when faced with unimaginable injustices, people still find ways to carve out small comforts and little pieces of normalcy.

 

KATE: In the beginning, the 4 characters start off by documenting daily life at the center. As the book progresses, they uncover facts behind the cause of the evacuation and decide to expose the truth. I love how these kids tackle an adult situation. And in doing so, you keep the characters acting and thinking via “kid brain” aka how they interpret what adults have said. How did you nail that MG voice?

MEGAN: Oh gosh, I honestly have no idea. I invented characters, dropped them into a conundrum together, and then listened. I know that sounds kind of woo-woo and I wish I could explain it better than that, but it really is all about listening.

 

KATE: With multiple towns being evacuated, readers meet more than just 4 characters. When choosing who to add to your storyline, were any of them a surprise addition as you fleshed out the plot?

MEGAN: At first, I didn’t see Ashanti as such an immediate presence in the story. I knew she would be an Easter egg for ALONE readers, and in early drafts, she didn’t appear until the other kids arrived at the camp and Teddy’s grandma went to the medical clinic. But some young beta readers told me they wanted more from her, and I did, too. So I revised the early chapters to bring her into the story from the very beginning, and she really stepped into the spotlight. 

 

KATE: It’s often fun to read about the baddies of a book and how they put the protagonist in a corner. But with multiple POVs, Away’s baddie had to be something larger than a singular antagonist. How fun or difficult was it for you to write about a system working against its citizens?

MEGAN: It was so hard! Because—and I know the book will get criticism for this—I had to try to create a massive conspiracy of unprecedented scale while still allowing readers to suspend their disbelief. Not everyone will be able to accept the premise, and I get that. But honestly, all the extraordinary things that happen in AWAY have parallels in historical and current events. And I’m totally sympathetic to readers who will find the conspiracy implausible. It’s hard to conceive of the inconceivable. Until it’s not. 

KATE: I adore how Teddy references movies. As an example, he writes: “How do we expose the wizard? Where’s Toto when you need him?” Such a fun nod to the Wizard of Oz (for more reason than one when readers finish the book). I’m curious if the Wizard of Oz is your favorite book or movie and how other writers have shaped your journey to publication.

MEGAN: My first book, ALONE, was inspired by Scott O’Dell’s book Island of the Blue Dolphins, and throughout that book I enjoyed making allusions to Karana, his main character. For AWAY, I wanted to find another literary classic to weave into the story. Since my characters’ entire goal is to get home again, The Wizard of Oz was perfect. It’s a wonderful book, and the fact that it exists in different formats (book, film, stage play) was helpful in making connections to my different characters. Not to mention that the four characters in The Wizard of Oz become proxies for each of the kids in AWAY, right down to the dog.

 

KATE: What type of research did you have to do when creating the story world and cast of characters? I was super intrigued by Ashanti’s knowledge of mythology and science, mostly because these are not my areas of expertise. Are these aspects of your own interests which you’ve woven into the story?

MEGAN: I spent a lot of time researching, and I definitely wove my own interests into the story, along with the interests of friends and family. My husband grew up on a ranch and informed a lot of Grandin’s scenes, and my brother is a huge film buff who was very helpful with Teddy’s sections. I’ve always loved Greek mythology and I used to teach Ovid, but I had to research many of the goddesses Ashanti references. I watched videos on medical procedures (including how to use a cast saw), and a journalist friend consulted on Harmony’s pages. Another friend who is a former Army officer taught me a lot about military camps and jargon, and I went down the rabbit hole researching state and federal emergency response systems. I learned a lot!

 

KATE: Away is such an amazing companion novel to Alone. Without revealing spoilers, can you describe your writing process: in organizing your books, did you have the ending for book two in mind when you set out to write book one? And, can you give us an example of something you cut, changed, or reworked from draft to publication?

MEGAN: When I wrote ALONE, it never occurred to me that there would be another book. As far as I was concerned, it was a stand-alone story. But at every school visit, readers wanted to know more about the evacuation and the “imminent threat” that caused everyone to leave. After many of these conversations, I knew I needed to write a companion novel, and that’s where the idea for AWAY came from. Originally, I imagined the conspiracy on an even larger scale, involving the federal government and multiple states. But in talking with my editor, we realized it worked better to keep it contained to Colorado, limited to state and local governments. It was also helpful to fictionalize all the locations so that I had the artistic freedom to manipulate the setting. I did the same thing in ALONE, and it made logistics easier to puzzle out.

 

KATE: Thank you for taking the time to share the inside scoop on Away. Is there to be another evacuation you can hint at? Perhaps a new project in the works?

MEGAN: I just sold my first YA novel and it has yet to be officially announced, but I’m really excited about it. It’s completely different from the AWAY and ALONE books, and it’s set both in California and Norway, where I lived as a teen. It’s coming in 2026, and I’ll have more news about that soon. And I’m playing with ideas for a third book in the ALONE/AWAY universe. In ALONE there are three girls, Maddie, Ashanti, and Emma, who are supposed to attend the ill-fated sleepover. Now that Maddie and Ashanti each have their own books, it seems like there may need to be one more for Emma…we’ll see!

 

KATE: Where can readers best find you if they want to reach out?

MEGAN: I’m on lots of socials, and readers can also contact me directly through my website: www.MeganEFreeman.com

 

And….no MUF interview is complete without a lightning round, so…

 

Favorite place to write? my home office in Northern Colorado

Dark chocolate or milk chocolate? dark

Superpower? teaching

Rollerblades or bike? bike

Dream job when you were a kid? author 🙂

House pet? a goofy yellow labrador named Cowboy

Favorite piece of advice for writers? Find a trusted reader who loves everything you write and makes you want to write more!