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Angsty, literary teens grow up

The Village Voice features a story about the perils of experiencing book success at an early age. Ned Vizzini, the 25-year-old author of three books who broke into the publishing world at 19 with Teen Angst? Nah…: A Quasi-Autobiography, found the pressure and stress of his subsequent two-book deal to be overwhelming and suffered a nervous breakdown.

As the Voice points out, “it’s perhaps easier for lesser-known young authors to handle their accomplishments.” Caroline Woods, now 23, was 16 when she wrote, self-published, and self-promoted a book of ghost stories, Haunted Delaware.

Woods is now an assistant to a Manhattan agent, and has just finished writing a novel, Influence, which she is currently submitting to publishers.

Vizzini, on the other hand, “has recovered from his breakdown but is still very aware of what he has achieved at such a young age and how that sets a high standard for everything else he does.”

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Click here for The Village Voice story

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