(I am here for a wedding. And now, let us discuss your fascinating questions. And thanks in advance for the questions you will leave in comments to this post; it keeps me from going on ill-advised rants.)

Q. I loved The Babysitters' Club. Who was your favorite babysitter?
A. Stacey. Although I have to say that on some level, the differences among the babysitters seemed sort of superficial and irrelevant to me. The point was that the stakes of kid-sized problems were high for all of them, which made them like me.

Q. What sparked your interest in conjoined twins?
A. I don't know. I have no idea what sparked any of my interests, really. I mean, why do I like soccer? Why do people like ice sculpture? (These are non-rhetorical questions. I really don't get it.)

Q. Have you read The Girls?
A. Yes. You're going to have a hard time finding a conjoined twin book I have not read.

Q. My cousin-in-law Blake says, "OK, you have to explain to me why you liked Song of Solomon."
A. As it happens, I already answered this question over Fritos and salsa yesterday, because the wedding that has brought me to Minneapolis features his sister in a starring role. But broadly speaking, Blake dislikes Song of Solomon because the story is exceptionally slow and no one really changes. (I would argue that Milkman changes, but overall, fair criticism.) I don't love the book narratively; I love it for its rich and fully realized symbolic world. I love it as a work of art that you can keep going back to. If you study literature, at some point you find a book with a symbolic world that engages you emotionally. That's sort of life-changing for a reader. Song of Solomon was that book for me.

Q. What were you doing in LA?
A. I hope to be able to tell you in a few days.

Q. If we are aware that fictional characters are truly non-existent, why, in your opinion, do we apply actual human emotions to them?
A. Well, that's the trick novelists try to play, to make you believe in something that isn't real. And if they pull the trick effectively, it works. I think the reason it works is because we are always in the business of imagining how others are feeling.

Q. How do you keep writing when you feel unencouraged?
A. In those times (and they are legion), I find it very helpful to read a book or two, and to remind myself that the books I'm reading--no matter how brilliant and wonderful they may be--were written by people.

Q. MJ's Suite Scarlett appeared in stores before its release date. Will that be the case for Paper Towns?
A. Probably not. But you never know these things for sure.

Q. If you could be any fictional literary character, who would you be?
A. Huck Finn.

Q. Have you ever considered writing in a different genre, like mystery or fantasy?
A. Paper Towns is supposed to be kind of a mystery novel.

Q. Why is it so hard to find Katherines in a bookstore right now?
A. As a commenter later pointed out, the paperback for Katherines is (finally) going to come out in August. To prepare for the paperback, stores often pull the hardcover. If you can't wait for the paperback (which by the way will only cost $3.99, thanks to a promotion Penguin is doing that I'm very excited about), you can always order it online.

Q. Do you have dates and cities for your Paper Towns tour?
A. I have dates: October 16th to November 1st. I should have cities in about a month.

Q. While you were writing Looking for Alaska, did you have a movie script in mind?
A. No. (In fact, at the time, I had never read a movie script.) I think it's a huge mistake for authors to make novels that they think will become good movies. If people in Hollywood like my books, that's great. But I write them to be books.

Q. What breed is your puppy Willy?
A. He's a West Highland Terrier.

Q. How many words is Alaska, and how many words should a YA novel manuscript be?
A. Alaska is like 68,000 words or so, but there's no rule. (The Book Thief is, I would imagine, at least 200,000 words--and it's done okay.)

Q. Why is Their Eyes Were Watching God a good book?
A. Well, it has one of the best first lines ever, for starters. (Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board.) Also, I don't know of another book that explores with such emotional power the question of finding one's voice--not just in the sense of one's authentic self, but literally finding a language of one's own, and using that language as a tool of empowerment despite all attempts to silence the voices of the oppressed. Also, I just think the sentences are beautiful. Beautiful sentences are subjective, I guess. Are there any other books I like that other people hate?

Q. what is the *one* thing you would say to someone who trying to break into YA writing?
A. Editors are almost always right.

And lastly, congrats to Brotherhood 2.0 Resident Mathematician Daniel Biss on the birth of Elliot Austin Biss.