Aaron Starmer: On Speculative Fiction for Middle-Grade Readers
In this interview, author Aaron Starmer discusses connecting the different stories in his mind to write his new middle-grade novel, You Are Now Old Enough to Hear This.
Aaron Starmer is the author of more than a dozen novels for young readers, including Night Swimming, A Million Views, Spontaneous, The Only Ones, and the Locker 37 series. He lives in Vermont with his wife and two children. Follow him on Facebook, Instagram, and Bluesky.
In this interview, Aaron discusses connecting the different stories in his mind to write his new middle-grade novel, You Are Now Old Enough to Hear This, the importance of writing the right ending for the story, and more.
Name: Aaron Starmer
Literary agent: Michael Bourret at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret
Book title: You Are Now Old Enough to Hear This
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Release date: March 24, 2026
Genre/category: Middle-grade speculative
Previous titles: DWEEB, The Only Ones, The Riverman, The Whisper, The Storyteller, Spontaneous, Meme, Locker 37 (Books 1-4), A Million Views, Math Mysteries (Books 1 & 2), Night Swimming
Elevator pitch: When 12-year-old Roman Barnes is tasked with cleaning out his recently deceased grandfather’s house, he discovers some strange and unsettling objects, including an old mason jar full of formaldehyde, a mysterious handwritten book about a girl and a pack of dogs, and a rusty metal bucket with peculiar abilities. They all tie back to a piece of family lore about a monster called “The Toe Beast,” and it’s up to Roman to decide if he’s brave enough to face the truth about who he is and where he came from.
What prompted you to write this book?
I had all these stories tumbling around in my head about long-buried secrets and eerie, possibly magical objects, and I knew they were connected somehow. It wasn’t until I started writing about a nervous boy who loses his grandfather that I realized that these were the stories that made up the boy’s family history. Everything gelled at that moment, and the writing came naturally.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
Honestly? About 10 years. Back in 2016, I started writing one of the stories (“A Girl and Her Dogs”), envisioning it as a standalone piece. But I set it aside when I realized there was something missing. It was too detached from an emotional center. Years later, I came up with another story, one about “The Toe Beast,” which I won’t spoil here. But I will share that I saw tonal parallels between the two stories and realized that they might be the key to explaining a family’s odd and uncomfortable history. More stories followed, but I knew I needed a character to be the one that discovers the stories and ties them together, and that’s how I ended up with Roman, our protagonist who’s at a crossroads of adolescence.
The actual act of writing didn’t take very long—maybe no more than seven or eight months. But it was spread out, and there was a fair amount of revision when I was working with my editors, because it’s a complicated story that we also needed to make clear and accessible for young readers.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
I’ve written and published a lot of books, and each process has a unique learning moment. For this one, it was realizing that just because an ending works logically and emotionally, it doesn’t mean it’s the right ending for the reader. In the revision process, my editors and I put in the most work on the ending and making sure it served not just the story, but the reader. By that, I mean the reader who makes it to the end of the book has given me a lot of trust, and the ending needs to reward their trust. It has to feel both unexpected and inevitable, and since the book presents so many mysteries, it has to either deliver satisfactory explanations or leave the reader with the types of questions they want to continue to ask. A tricky balance, so we’ll see if I actually pulled it off.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
Since I started and stopped a few times, I was surprised at how easily I could fall back into the narrative. And those gaps in writing helped the book because it jumps through time and narrators and having a fresh perspective makes the book (I hope) feel fresh throughout.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
Surprises. In the form of laughs and head-scratching, and I hope a few gasps. Fun, in other words. But I also hope it leads them on an emotional path that they don’t necessarily anticipate. My favorite books are the page-turners that sneak up and make me a little weepy when I haven’t bargained on such feelings.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
The things you’ve written and abandoned may come back to haunt you…in a good way. Just give them time.
