YA novelist's response to critical comment spurs social media firestorm

Think before you tweet.

YA author Sarah Dessen tweeted the following, along with a screen shot of comments from someone opposing her inclusion in Northern State University’s Common Read course:

Authors are real people. We put our heart and soul into the stories we write often because it is literally how we survive in this world. I’m having a really hard time right now and this is just mean and cruel. I hope it made you feel good.

The result? According to the Guardian, while Dessen hid her critic’s name in the screen shot, her followers quickly figured out the speaker’s identity and, the critic says, attacked her on social media.

Several of Dessen’s fellow authors came to her defense online as well, while the journalist who reported the critical comment apologized for including it and the university issued a statement praising YA novels in general.

But not everyone rushed to console her.

Other authors and journalists expressed their dismay that prominent authors like Angie Thomas, Roxane Gay, Jodi Picoult, and Jennifer Weiner had joined Dessen in using a huge platform like Twitter to complain about the comments.

Read the whole story in the Guardian and share your thoughts with us (under an alias, if you so choose).