Punk Rock Writing At Its Most Awesome
Stephanie Kuehnert (pronounced Key-nert) is the amazing author of punk music infused books: I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone (2008) and Ballads of Suburbia (2009). She uses her roots in the Chicago suburbs and her love of punk rock music to write these heartfelt stories.
Read more about Stephanie here.
Also, check out her blog: Life, Words, & Rock 'n' Roll.
I emailed her a few questions to show how absolutely fascinating she is. She has some interesting things to say...
What messages do you feel are the most important to show teenagers through your writing?
That they aren't alone and that when they are hurting they should give voice to their pain, not let themselves self destruct. That is why I write the stories I do. I write the stories I was seeking as a teenager, the tales that I thought were missing, the voices that weren't allowed to speak because maybe they were too raw, but they are very real. I don't write to send say a specific moral message. I just want to give readers the sense that they aren't alone and that they should find a way to express what they are going through. I survived my teenage years by writing and reading stories where I saw characters that I related to surviving. There is hope and strength, you just have to find it within yourself.
Do you think these ballads will inspire teens to write their own?
I hope so! I do a workshop with teens to write their own ballads. Like I said, I feel like expressing your pain--or not even pain, but whatever you are coping with in life in some way is essential.
How did "My So Called Life" influence you? I loved that show!!!
I did too. I was the same age as Angela when it aired and dealing with a lot of the same things. My mom would watch it with me and it was one of the few ways we could discuss the more taboo subjects that become hard for parent and teenager to discuss. It was one of the most real shows I'd ever seen. No wonder it was canceled. Sigh. But it inspired me to be real, to write about the serious stuff that teenagers dealt with, that they often hid from each other and especially their parents. I only hope my book can be a discussion started the way that show was for me.
How did Joe Meno influence you to use music in your writing? (Note: Joe Meno is the author of a few books including the amazing, Hairstyles of the Dammed. He teaches fiction writing at Columbia, where Stephanie received her Masters.)
He literally brought a boombox to class one day and played a bunch of Johnny Cash and June Carter songs and talked about how ballads were one of the original storytelling forms. And I sat there, listening and thinking about how honest those songs were, how they pulled no punches and told it how it is just like some of the punk songs I adored by bands like Social Distortion and the Distillers. I had this book in my head, set where I grew up, dealing with some of the issues I'd dealt with growing up and my first draft had been way too autobiographical. I wanted to get away with it. When I started thinking of the book as a ballad and developing all of the characters' ballads, they really became characters and the story just opened up for me. So that little class exercise gave me the structure for my book. And Joe is just an amazing mentor in general. That man is so unbelievably encouraging and has so much wisdom to share. I'm very grateful to have learned from him.
Click on the books below to get them. Go devour them! Go now! Now!
Read more about Stephanie here.
Also, check out her blog: Life, Words, & Rock 'n' Roll.
I emailed her a few questions to show how absolutely fascinating she is. She has some interesting things to say...
What messages do you feel are the most important to show teenagers through your writing?
That they aren't alone and that when they are hurting they should give voice to their pain, not let themselves self destruct. That is why I write the stories I do. I write the stories I was seeking as a teenager, the tales that I thought were missing, the voices that weren't allowed to speak because maybe they were too raw, but they are very real. I don't write to send say a specific moral message. I just want to give readers the sense that they aren't alone and that they should find a way to express what they are going through. I survived my teenage years by writing and reading stories where I saw characters that I related to surviving. There is hope and strength, you just have to find it within yourself.
Do you think these ballads will inspire teens to write their own?
I hope so! I do a workshop with teens to write their own ballads. Like I said, I feel like expressing your pain--or not even pain, but whatever you are coping with in life in some way is essential.
How did "My So Called Life" influence you? I loved that show!!!
I did too. I was the same age as Angela when it aired and dealing with a lot of the same things. My mom would watch it with me and it was one of the few ways we could discuss the more taboo subjects that become hard for parent and teenager to discuss. It was one of the most real shows I'd ever seen. No wonder it was canceled. Sigh. But it inspired me to be real, to write about the serious stuff that teenagers dealt with, that they often hid from each other and especially their parents. I only hope my book can be a discussion started the way that show was for me.
How did Joe Meno influence you to use music in your writing? (Note: Joe Meno is the author of a few books including the amazing, Hairstyles of the Dammed. He teaches fiction writing at Columbia, where Stephanie received her Masters.)
He literally brought a boombox to class one day and played a bunch of Johnny Cash and June Carter songs and talked about how ballads were one of the original storytelling forms. And I sat there, listening and thinking about how honest those songs were, how they pulled no punches and told it how it is just like some of the punk songs I adored by bands like Social Distortion and the Distillers. I had this book in my head, set where I grew up, dealing with some of the issues I'd dealt with growing up and my first draft had been way too autobiographical. I wanted to get away with it. When I started thinking of the book as a ballad and developing all of the characters' ballads, they really became characters and the story just opened up for me. So that little class exercise gave me the structure for my book. And Joe is just an amazing mentor in general. That man is so unbelievably encouraging and has so much wisdom to share. I'm very grateful to have learned from him.
Click on the books below to get them. Go devour them! Go now! Now!