Sure, writing your first YA book takes creativity, stamina, and courage. But how about performing an interpretive dance and posting the video online? The Friday the Thirteeners, a group of 13 YA authors debuting in 2013, have been in the business of nervy stunts for a while now: each week the group’s blog features a different author answering a “truth” question and/or performing a “dare,” submitted to the site by a reader.
Now, some other first-timers want in on the action. In celebration of Jeanne Ryan’s September 13 debut, Nerve, about a dangerous game of dares that are broadcast online, the EMU’s Debuts – a revolving community of first-time YA authors represented by the Erin Murphy Literary Agency – officially challenged the Friday the Thirteeners to a Dare-Off. On Friday, September 14, the video results of the competition will be unveiled on the two blogs. While there’s no telling what madness will ensue, featured performances include an author eating an entire cake while reading a scene from Roald Dahl’s Matilda, and another author reenacting her most embarrassing experience at a writers’ conference.
Readers will get the chance to weigh in on which blog’s writers performed the most daring feats, and can enter to win a signed copy of Nerve. Though the contest is mainly for fun, Ryan also describes the Dare-Off as “an example of the camaraderie in the kidslit community.” And if showing off that camaraderie draws attention to the YA authors, so much the better.
