We’ve got an author here today! And I had the esteemed pleasure of sitting down with MG Novel-in-Verse author Meg Eden Kuyatt. So, without further ado…

KATE: Our Mixed-Up-Files readers would love the inside scoop on your latest novel-in-verse, Perfect Enough. With the school year behind her, Selah is looking forward to a drama-free summer. (Spoiler alert – it won’t be as carefree as she’d like). Can you share with readers a bit about what Selah gets up to in summer?

MEG: Selah wants to prove to her mom–and herself–that she’ll be fine at summer camp, that she can do the same as any neurotypical kid if she has her tools. She wants to connect with her new dragon-loving friends. She wants to write, publish in the summer camp journal, and become a “real writer” (spoiler: she’s already a writer). Even though she has fun, that doesn’t mean she won’t have challenges–you’ll have to read more to find out!

KATE: I fell in love with Selah in Good Different and was naturally excited to see you were returning to her world in Perfect Enough. Did you always have plans to extend her story? And if so, in what ways did it shape how you’d end the first story?

MEG: No, actually! It’s funny. I was trying to write this summer camp story about learning to accept your limitations and ableism, but I kept getting stuck. I realized part of that might be that the main character was basically Selah with a different name. So I asked: what if it was Selah’s story? And the pieces began to click together!

KATE: Perfect Enough takes place the summer after book one. Here, we follow Selah at camp. How did you decide upon that timeline vs, say the start of a new school year?

MEG: Part of that is because I want to follow up on a well-meaning but troubling response I’ll get to Good Different that only focuses on Selah’s “superpowers” as an autistic person. I wanted to say, yes, there is great strength and joy in autism, but there are also challenges–let’s not forget both. Argument-wise, that really follows from Good Different. Plus, if I get to tell future stories with Selah, I think we’d need a whole separate book for that transition to public school. I know for me, the transition from private to public school was very hard. 

KATE: I love how you find ways to advocate for readers by giving them diverse characters to fall in love with and see themselves in. Followers of Selah know she is autistic, and we’ve witnessed how she navigates the world. In Perfect Enough we get to see her understanding of how others navigate the world – in particular through the lens of a character with ADHD. What inspired you to bring this storyline into your novel?

MEG: My husband is ADHD (or possibly AuDHD, we’re not sure) and that camp story I mentioned earlier, I knew a big part to me was about this autistic girl and ADHD boy learning to work together on a group project. My husband and I, we make a great team. In many ways we sync well. But in others, we are total opposites, and know how to get on each others’ nerves! We’ve only gotten to see Selah’s perspective so far, so I wanted to show that she’s only one neurodivergent person. In the story, we meet lots of neurodivergent folks, and see how we can have competing access needs–sometimes two people will need the complete opposite things! How do we navigate that? I don’t think there’s a simple answer, but I want all of us to think more about that question, and how we can all bend a little to make room so that everyone feels safe.

KATE: At Writer’s Camp, attendees are invited to team up for group projects. I’m not going to lie – I was reliving every anxiety and stress Selah was, thanks to past projects of my own childhood, lol. What a great universal idea for your school-aged characters to be put through. So, I’m super curious how easy it was for you to write the tension in these scenes? Were you tapping into your own experiences, or was this pure fiction for you?

MEG: Ha! Me too. Group projects can be quite unpleasant. I think that was part of why I wanted to write about it, because I’m so bad at plot, and that would create a great tension-generator! Writing Selah’s stories has been so easy. I know I mined lots of experiences with my husband, as well as roommates with college. 

KATE: Please tell us more about this writer’s camp. Is this something you had once attended, taught at, or always dreamed of being part of?

MEG: In high school, my friend attended Duke’s Young Writers Camp. I was so jealous! That was the starting inspiration. But I also sometimes teach at the Jimenez-Porter Writers House at the University of Maryland College Park, which offers a sort of summer program. Since I know the campus and the dormitories well, I sort of mixed the two in my imagination to make a writer’s camp where I could really feel the space like I was right there as Selah. 

KATE: Your dialogue exercise is one of my favorites. It starts off fun and silly, then Selah reveals how the other character makes her feel. The scene feels so effortless. I’m curious if this is something that got edited and edited, or if it simply wrote itself.

MEG: Nope, this was one of those things that wrote itself! I think that’s why it’s such a good exercise.

KATE: One of the camp teachers, Mr. Yi, discusses with Selah how poems are her voice. Selah responds by answering that poems give her courage to say things off the page too. I have witnessed you teach poetry to students, and love how you make it so easy to understand. What advice do you have for kids inspired by Selah who either currently write poetry or who wish to start writing it?

MEG: Thank you so much for your kind words, Kate! The biggest advice I give is to persist. Write, give yourself permission to take you and your writing seriously (you ARE a writer!), and if you want to, send out your work–but there’ll be rejection, so don’t lose heart! Just keep sending, writing, learning and growing!

KATE: Without revealing spoilers, 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: I’ll say generally, this idea was it’s own summer camp story at first, in dual POV, and more about combating ableism. But I kept getting stuck, until I realized–one of the main characters was basically Selah! So when I put Selah as the MC, everything came together perfectly. I know we did some changes between drafts, but I’m having trouble remembering anything too huge or radical. 

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

MEG: I have a YA with two autistic protagonists coming out from Scholastic in 2027–more soon! I’ve sent in some middle grade proposals to Scholastic, including an idea for a third Selah book. Fingers crossed to see what happens!

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

MEG: I tend to not be on social media much anymore, to be honest. These companies have all proven to be exploitative and gross, and I’m wrestling with: is this edifying? Is it good for me or others? Do I want to be complicit in this system? I still haven’t fully let go, so you might see me occasionally on Instagram or updating my Facebook page, but the best ways to keep in touch with me are through my website and newsletter:

http://eepurl.com/buwBXX

www.megedenbooks.com