This autumn, my local Waterstones is hosting various young adult author events. I went to the first of these at the end of September to hear David Levithan speak, in conversation with Keith Gray, about his latest book, Every Day.

Every Day tells the story of A who wakes up in a different body every day of their life. A tries to leave the smallest impact possible on the bodies they inhabit until they wake up in the body of Justin and fall in love with Justin's girlfriend, Rhiannon.

The event started with a reading from Every Day. Without spoiling anything for those who haven't read the book yet, the reading was from a turning point in the book and Levithan's presence during the reading really brought the characters to life. (For those interested the reading was Day 6015). The atmosphere of the entire event was great, kicked off by Keith Gray's question about the driving force behind Every Day. Levithan said he wanted to answer two questions: 'Who would you be if you didn't have a body and therefore no input from outside influences?' and 'If the person you loved changed every day could you still love them?'.

There was also a lot of discussion about the use of gender pronouns by audiences. I thought the question of gender pronouns was especially interesting as one of the central aspects of the book is that A considers themselves to be genderless. Levithan made the observation that most readers he speaks to default to the pronoun 'he' for A, either because the author is male or because the first body A is seen in is male. One audience member asked if anyone defaulted to 'she' and Levithan revealed that because the audiobook is narrated by a woman he had met one reader who defaulted to 'she'.

Levithan and Gray then talked more deeply about A's character and the motivations for their actions both before and after they meet Rhiannon, before talking more generally about how Levithan went about writing the book, writing each body point of view in a day and then moving on the next day. As a writer myself, I enjoyed this insight into another writer's process especially for a book with such a unique plot and style.

The floor was quickly opened to questions and some focused on the pros and cons of writing collaboratively (Levithan co-wrote the novel Will Grayson, Will Grayson with John Green). Finding out how Levithan worked on this and some tips for people thinking about trying it, was, from a writing standpoint, extremely helpful and interesting.

At the end there was a signing session and the queue was phenomenal - it was great to see so many people not just coming to hear an author speak but also willing to wait around to get things signed. While we waited, I chatted to Keith Gray about his book The Ostrich Boys, anthologies he has edited and his own writing process. We talked a lot about National Novel Writing Month (November, for those who don't know!), and after the event I was lucky enough to get a chance to ask David a few questions about his books, his creative process and writing in general.

What was your favourite part of writing Every Day?

I really enjoyed getting to inhabit a character without a body. Writing A was a new experience because I had to write A on A's terms - I couldn't change him to fit into a different mould.

Was it harder to write from a female perspective than from a male?

It was a lot easier than I expected it to be because A filtered things for me. No matter the body it was still A who I was writing. And I had help from my US editor who made sure I balanced A out and didn't make them too masculine or feminine. But A was helpful to the writing, definitely.

Which of the bodies A inhabited was your favourite to write?

The second chapter was really fun to write because it had a complete tonal shift from the first chapter.

And which characters were difficult for you to write?

The girl dealing with suicidal thoughts and depression was a hard one because it's the first time A has to deal with the question of whether it's their place to intervene in someone else's life. Even if they should do something, is it their right to?

Every Day is out now and How They Met and Other Stories will be published for Valentine's Day 2014 but are there any other up and coming publications for UK readers to look forward to?

Egmont have recently acquired the rights for two of my collaborations with Rachel Cohn - Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and Naomi and Ely's No-Kiss List - and Two Boys Kissing, my newest book, will be coming to the UK soon as well.

Egmont announced that you're writing a sequel of sorts to Every Day told from Rhiannon's point of view - do you know what your next project after that will be?

Not yet - I have a lot of ideas in my head but I like to focus on one at a time.

What advice would you give to teenagers who want to pursue a career in writing?

My main piece of advice would be don't worry about being published - just write a really good book, but also don't be afraid to write a bad book. Give yourself permission to fail and don't be afraid.

You've collaborated on YA books and edited books for other young adult authors but what are some of your favourite YA books that you haven't worked on?

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater is definitely up there. It's got action, suspense and romance - everything you could need in a book. I also really liked Feed by M. T. Anderson because it's about having the internet in our brains and it was written before the internet really took over in the way it is now and that I found really amazing.

My last question was asked by a friend while we got our books signed. She asked, if you could have a jelly-bean named after you, what flavour would it be?

Definitely watermelon because I used to be obsessed with watermelon jelly-beans!