Jody Gehrman doesn't pull any punches when it comes to painting a true picture of today's average high school junior. In Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty, parents repeatedly disappoint, the charming star-jock is really a jerk and the seemingly promiscuous "town-bike" character is actually still a virgin. There's a lot of discussion of sex, partying, and overall bad behavior too. Initially I was a little bummed out at some of the language. I know, I know, I sound like a total prude but there are a lot of "hos, bimbos … and beeatches." As I continued to read, though, I began to think about the audience and slowly came around. The language here reflects the real atmosphere in which girls live today. The book is for them and that's how a lot of teens talk. (Ultimately, that's what made me sort of sad.) In the end, I concluded Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty had an honest tone and actually offered some good insight and a funny story focused on girl-power and friendship.

Ypulse readers, the first three of you to share a personal girl-power story will win a free copy of Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty.

YPulse Books: Confessions of a Triple-Shot Betty is based on William Shakespeare's 'Much Ado About Nothing', what are some of the challenges of reworking such a classic? What made you decide to form your story in this way?

Jody Gerhman: Plot has always been my Achilles heel, and I find tremendous comfort in reworking old stories. Shakespeare is particularly fun to work with, since most of his plays are based on even older legends and tales–I figured if he did it, there's no shame in trying it myself. Much Ado seemed very appropriate for a book about teenagers, what with all the romantic deception and reputation-ruining scandals running through it. But it wasn't easy. In many places I had to work hard to modernize and update, since our values and everyday lives have changed so much in the last 400 years.

YPB:You discuss class a lot and the main characters also seem very aware of their soci-economic standing. Now, I'm not super familiar with the town, Sonoma (California), and I haven't read 'Much Ado About Nothing' since high school, but how much did one or the other inform your choice to make that an issue in Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty?

JG: I grew up very near Sonoma, in a town called Healdsburg. When I lived there it was a small, modest, fairly unremarkable place, but since then it's become extremely posh and touristy.
I did have a friend in high school whose family made a lot less than mine, and she was painfully aware of that. It helped me see that when you have what you need as a kid money might not seem like an issue, but when you have noticeably less than your friends, it can be very embarrassing and isolating. These days I think that's much more apparent in Sonoma County, because the rich there are very rich and those whose families are barely scraping by no doubt feel the gap between themselves and their wealthy peers.

YPB: My experience with teens today is that the "f" word (feminist) is not very well liked. Amidst a lot of misogeny there is a feminist message, a few actually, in this book. You even made one of the secondary characters a women's studies major. (Gasp!) Can you talk a little bit about how you arrived at the decision to incorporate that in Geena's world?

JG: Well, I know what you mean about the f word, so maybe it was dangerous, but mainly I find it's a semantic issue more than anything. The teen and twenty-something students at the college where I teach generally believe in women's rights, and they're all for women having a wide range of choices; I think the word "feminist" just tends to conjure images in their minds of man-hating females their mothers' age with bad haircuts and poor hygiene. I don't think I had this intention as I was writing, but in retrospect I'd like to think that Geena and her friends help to bridge that generation gap somehow and (in some tiny way) can demonstrate that whatever you want to call it, girls' empowerment is a good thing.

YPB: Furthermore, Geena and her friends don't seem to have many good adult role models (men or women) and Geena's own grit seems to come from within. What advice can you give girls who look around and feel discouraged by the adults in their lives?

JG: When I got into Geena's head, many adults started to look sort of inept and out of it. I mean I think her mom and uncle are reasonably cool–even her dad cares about Geena in his own flaky, self-absorbed way–but they're not really the focal point of her world. I didn't try to do this; it's just what sprouted naturally from her POV. If girls are discouraged by the adults in their immediate sphere, I guess I'd say look beyond to the public forum, to writers, teachers, trailblazers, scientists and artists they can admire. Also, I'd say having some compassion for the over-thirty set helps. It's not easy getting old, and many of us lose something along the way. That's part of what the under-thirty crowd does so well — they can inject the older generations with new life.

YPB: You've written a lot for an adult audience and this is your first book for teens. How do the experiences differ? How are they the same?

JG: I just answered a similar question for another interview, and I quoted Sherman Alexie, a little gem I found on your site (I gave you credit, naturally!) Okay, so if it's too much to have this in two places, edit me, but here it is: "Writing for teens involves a stripped-down technique. You tend to write more like Hemingway than Faulkner. More like Emily Dickinson than T.S. Eliot. It's not a matter of more complex thoughts, but the number of adverbs and adjectives. In the adult world, the number of adverbs and adjectives can be confused with great writing." The way I'd put it is that YA tends to be cleaner, and I don't mean that it avoids the f-bomb, I mean it's edited more carefully and doesn't contain as much pretension. Young readers have very little patience with pretension, and that's as it should be. I find writing for this audience wonderfully liberating.

YPB: Additionally, In your opinion, what's the most important thing in developing a "voice" when writing for or about teens?

JG: The big challenge with YA is getting into that 16-year-old perspective again and trying to keep it contemporary without forcing the voice, you know? Sometimes it's tempting to go overboard with slang just to show how "hip" you are, and that's kind of repellant. I think teen readers sense right away how inauthentic that is.

YPB: Tell us a little about what are you working on right now?

JG: The sequel: Triple Shot Bettys in Love. It's loosely based on Cyrano de Bergerac. Amber has a larger role in this; her low self esteem and lack of intellectual identity get fleshed out more. Geena and Ben are still major players, but (as you might guess) the road to love isn't exactly smooth. There are wigs and valentines and lots of coffee, as usual. We're looking at January 09 as a possible pub date. Next I'm working on a YA novel about a girl who goes undercover at a boys' boarding school.

You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.