Looking for Alaska Five Years After the Printz Award

2011-01-21 · story · John · 3:32 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Books & writing (also: Nerdfighteria) · mode: Personal essay · tags: timely hook

Five years after Looking for Alaska won the Printz Award, John argues that the lone-writer story of the book is too simple: many people wrote parts of it, and the real business of books is done by readers.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Greeting (Friday, January 21, 2011): continuing the 'truth resists simplicity' discussion via narrative complexity

★★ John continues the brothers' discussion of how the truth resists simplicity by talking about narrative complexity, starting with himself. — 00:00:00 · the truth resists simplicity
★★ John calls the Printz Award the biggest award in young adult literature, showing how it looks on a book and how it looks 'in a basement'. — 00:00:06

00:00:07 — The Printz Award, John's win five years ago, his Booklist temp job, and the tidy 'good narrative' of his success

★★★ The most important moment of John's professional life came five years ago, almost to the day: the call saying Looking for Alaska, his first novel, had won the Printz Award. — 00:00:16 · Looking for Alaska (novel)
★★ It meant more because John's first job after college was as a temp at Booklist, where on his first day he retyped the speeches from the first Printz Award reception. — 00:00:24
★★ The 'good narrative' is a young data-entry temp writing alone at night, rejected until a publisher takes a chance, then winning the award whose speeches he typed; the real story is different and more complicated. — 00:00:39

00:01:07 — The actual story: Ilene Cooper's help, Keir Graff's title, Penguin's demand for revisions; many people wrote parts of Looking for Alaska

★★ John wrote the book at night and on weekends for three years with constant help from his friend Ilene Cooper, one of his bosses at Booklist and an author, who read about a dozen drafts. — 00:01:07 · Looking for Alaska (novel)
★★ The book wasn't called Looking for Alaska until John's friend Keir Graff came up with the title, for which John says he paid him two dollars. (playful) — 00:01:14 · Looking for Alaska (novel)
★★ Ilene and John sent the manuscript to Penguin, which agreed to publish it provided he revised extensively, more extensively than he imagined. — 00:01:22 · Penguin Books
★★★ When Penguin bought it, the book wasn't about a boy who memorizes famous last words; much of what readers like, from the Great Perhaps to the labyrinth, came out of the revisions. — 00:01:34 · Looking for Alaska (novel), Penguin Books
★★★ About four years in, John had a finished manuscript, but it would be wrong to say he wrote the book: Ilene, his editor Julie Strauss-Gabel, his wife and others all wrote parts of it. — 00:01:52 · Julie Strauss-Gabel, Sarah Urist Green, Looking for Alaska (novel)

00:02:11 — The truth resists that simplicity: Sagan's apple pie; the real business of books is done by readers

★★★ We like the idea that a book is made by one person for one reader because it is a narrative that makes sense, but the truth resists that simplicity. — 00:02:11 · the truth resists simplicity

“the truth resists that simplicity”
★★ John cites 'the great Carl Sagan': if you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe. — 00:02:15
★★ After the book came out and twelve people in a room chose it for the award, John was really happy, but part of him thought 'so what?'. — 00:02:24
★★★ The real business of books is not done by award committees, papermakers, editors, agents or even writers, who are all facilitators, but by readers. — 00:02:32

“we're all just facilitators. The real business is done by readers.”
★★ The Looking for Alaska each reader reads is not quite like the one anyone else reads. — 00:02:41 · Looking for Alaska (novel)
★★ John says the hundreds of thousands of Looking for Alaska readers' stories are more than he can hold or get his head around. — 00:02:46 · Looking for Alaska (novel)

00:02:55 — Thanks to Nerdfighters for the conversations; joke top five of what fulfils him

★★ Taking part in big, interesting conversations with Hank and the Nerdfighters through his books is the most fulfilling thing in his life, John says, then jokes that it is really Henry and Sarah, with Nerdfighters close behind. — 00:02:55 · Nerdfighteria, Henry Green, Sarah Urist Green
★ John's joke top five: Sarah and Henry, pizza, the rest of his family, Nerdfighteria, the Mountain Goats. (playful) — 00:03:11 · Sarah Urist Green, Henry Green, Nerdfighteria

00:03:22 — Sign-off: 'I am Freedom in Panem'; John forgets it is already Friday

In the description and comments

★★ In the description John notes that, more than five years after publication, Looking for Alaska had its bestselling week ever two weeks earlier. — video description · Looking for Alaska (novel)

Humor (significant)

To talk about narrative complexity John says he needs to talk about his favorite person. — 00:00:06

“I need to talk about my favorite person: ME!”
John thanks everyone who wrote a bit of Looking for Alaska. — 00:02:07

“although no, they cannot have any of my royalties”
John tells Hank and Nerdfighters that the conversations through his books are the most fulfilling thing in his life. — 00:03:06

“Just kidding! It's Henry and Sarah!”
John signs off 'I will see you Friday', then checks the calendar. — 00:03:28

“It is Friday! I'm so bad at that”

Threads in this video

told · John: how Looking for Alaska was written, revised and won the Printz Award (2006) — John tells how Looking for Alaska came to exist and win the Printz Award: three years of night writing with Ilene Cooper's help, Keir Graff's title, Penguin's demand for extensive revisions, and the award call five years ago. (00:00:58)
first on record · What do editors do, and is a book one person's work? — John says it would be wrong to say he wrote Looking for Alaska: Ilene Cooper, his editor Julie Strauss-Gabel, his wife and others all wrote parts of it. (00:01:55)
restate · Does the author's intent matter to what a work means? — John says writers, editors and agents are all facilitators; the real business of books is done by readers, each of whom reads a different Looking for Alaska. (00:02:41)

Where the stories that moved here went next

John: how Looking for Alaska was written, revised and won the Printz Award (2006) — told 14×; last: mentioned, 2026-02-24

Mentioned

Central: Ilene Cooper · Looking for Alaska (novel) · Michael L. Printz Award · narrative fallacy · reader-response criticism · the truth resists simplicity

Also: Alaska Young · Booklist · Carl Sagan · Henry Green · Miles Halter · Sarah Urist Green · The Mountain Goats · young adult literature

Only in the description or credits: Julie Strauss-Gabel · Keir Graff · Penguin Books

Also centred on Ilene Cooper: How to Become An Adult

Also centred on Michael L. Printz Award: Brotherhood 2.0, January 22, 2007 · Brotherhood 2.0: January 23rd · June 26: The American Library Association Parties

Also centred on narrative fallacy: YOU ARE WRONG! · Influence, Airports, and the Nerdfighter Book Club · Towering Mountains of Ignorance · On Mental Illness (and the end of Pizzamas)

Also centred on reader-response criticism: Zero Severed Hands: On Star Wars and Making Things · On the Death of the Author

Also centred on the truth resists simplicity: YOU ARE WRONG!

Replies to

continues · YOU ARE WRONG! — “I want to continue our discussion about how the truth resists simplicity”

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