Balancing the Y and A in “Young Adult” Fiction

I’m a few months into this project, but I think I’ll start by giving a little background on myself and my thoughts on the YA genre. I apologize in advance if I get preachy or long-winded. Feel free to skip ahead.

I’ve wanted to be a writer for a long time, but previous attempts never amounted to much more than overly indulgent memoir pages and a few half-assed, workshop short stories. When the idea for Sightless came to me, I was six months out of grad school and a few months into a job I wasn’t completely crazy about. The Timing Was Perfect, as Jermaine would say.

I’m a big fan of Young Adult literature, especially those novels that push back on the seeming confines of the genre. Harry Potter, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, The Hunger Games, His Dark Materials, Go Ask Alice … all fantastic novels that need not be thought of as specifically for readers “between twelve and eighteen.” Sure, they mostly feature teenagers, and these teenagers are often dealing with school and dating and bullies…but at what age do these things stop being relevant? Replace school with work, dating with marriage, bullies with…well, older bullies.

We watch these characters face obstacles that are often more adult than “real life” challenges (the novels I’ve already mentioned are great examples of this).There’s a reason that so many of these YA books are being made into movies recently, and its not JUST that the plots are exciting, the characters are dynamic, and the writing is visual and awesome.For my part, I think the biggest reason is that the themes are more “adult” than “young.” Take The Hunger Games.

But YA fiction doesn’t have to involve caged death matches to be ground breaking or sexually charged. The Disreputable History is probably the least well know of those books, but it’s a great example of how YA characters can engage readers without resorting to the use of sparkly vampire pedophiles (you know the ones). Frankie, the title character, is a sophomore at a private school, and she’s recently undergone “the change” from Ugly Duckling to Swan Princess. Seemingly: Snore City. But as she becomes part of the in-crowd, she realizes that she’s not content to be another pretty face on the sidelines of the male-dominated superdupersecretsociety known as the Basset Hounds. May sound corny, but her not-exactly-purposefully-feminist agenda and her Oceans Eleven-esq talent for mayhem turn this simple story about a pretty girl in high school into a fast paced, well-written cracker jack of a book. Take that, Bella imgoingtojustlaydownanddie Swan.

So, if their trials and tribulations are so adult, what’s the “young” part all about? I think what makes these books specifically YA novels is more than just the fact that the characters are underage. It’s that their approach to their lives is not that of an adult. They haven’t gone through 19-50 years of bullshit yet, so their identity is still developing. It’s this malleability that makes them relatable to readers of all ages. If you yourself are under 18, you may feel like these characters are just like you. If you’re 45 and you’re reading these books, you might see your young self, your children, or your weird, evil-vanquishing “inner child” in these characters. However you approach the business of reading, YA novels aren’t going to give you an adult’s perspective on life. They’re going to give you a coming-of-age, figuring-this-messy-shit-out perspective. It’s transitional, and that’s exciting and useful.

So! I was reading these books in addition to my usual more “literary” reads, and I realized I wanted to write a Young Adult book more than I wanted to be the next James Joyce. (Actually, I was in the shower, and I suddenly yelled out DEMONS!) I’m a *huge* Buffy fan, so that coupled with my undying dedication to Harry Potter made me wary of going down the path of fantasy fiction…but I couldn’t resist. I won’t give away the plot, but suffice it to say that I wanted to make sure that my book would stand on its own two horned, scaly feet, and not devolve into some sort of spin off. Or worse: fan fiction.

Hence, Men must add healthy foods to keep up their heart cialis 5mg uk http://appalachianmagazine.com/2015/12/26/not-isis-or-global-warming-stupidity-is-americas-greatest-threat/ and sexual health. As the penis get erect with the dosage of Silagra the arteries in best price cialis the penile region gets stiffer. The majority of the time, people is unwilling to talk about it to others yet to bought that viagra best prices doctors. It is only the medication that could be helpful and effective, the physiologic components http://appalachianmagazine.com/2017/02/06/truth-be-told-nothing-humane-about-animal-agriculture/ generic levitra online taking part in the success of the fusion operation. So, I’m writing a novel, and it’s awesome. The writing, not the novel. Or maybe both? We’ll see.  I have a few different resources that I’m relying on for feedback/editing/inspiration, but I’ll discuss those in the days to come. For now, I’m excited to be working on this project, and I’m looking forward to discussing the process here. I promise that I will keep the harping on about the awesomeness of YA to a minimum in the future.

However, if you’re interested in picking up some YA fiction from your local library/Barnes and Noble/computer, here are links to the aforementioned titles. If you have any to add or recommend, I’d be more than happy to hear about them.

Thanks for reading.  Check back soon!

Lauren

1. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
2. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
4. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (Book 1 of His Dark Materials)
5. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
6. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous