Question of the Day: Why do YOU write (or read) YA?
Day 24: What are five things you like about yourself?
1) I am extremely compassionate and empathetic towards people who are struggling through difficult situations, especially if they are health-related.
2) I like having a quirky obsession with Smallville, Superman, and comics in general; I actually don’t know many girls who enjoy comics and superheroes.
3) My love for writing makes me feel happy and purposeful every single day; why wouldn’t I like a trait that makes me happy?
4) I think that my ability to be extremely self-aware prevents me from going insane on a daily basis; I’m glad that I can keep up with my thoughts and feelings, compartmentalize them in my mind, and take control over them before they take over me
5) Family and the people I care about are number one. Because I have met some extremely appalling people in my life who don’t really practice the good habit of putting themselves in others’ shoes, the kind and genuine individuals whom have I had the good fortune to meet, befriend and now love are very important to me. I do and would do anything for them.
Today, Gabi at Iggi and Gabi is hosting a really neat blogfest as part of the YA Cafe Friday Specials. The reason I decided to participate is because YA literature is increasingly becoming prevalent in today’s society and it’s not a topic I have touched base with before on my blog. Also, despite the fact that YA is one of my favorite genres to read and write, when I first read the blogfest name my answer was blank, which really puzzled me since I would’ve thought it’d come to me immediately, being the YA lover I am.
So after pondering all day (hence, the reason why I am late in writing my entry–sorry about that! Better be fashionably late than never show up, eh?), I decided on my answer:
The reason I write Young Adult is because…
1) The age of adolescence/young adulthood is one of the most transforming stages in a lifetime. Think about it, a lot happens–the want and need for independence, struggle to maintain healthy relationships with significant others/friends/family, the search for one’s place in a social setting as well as in the world, and the beginning of the search for one’s identity. It’s a time of trial and error. There are the most physical, mental and emotional changes in this period, which makes it so darn intriguing to write about.
2) Young adulthood is linked with so many experimental firsts, such as first love, first taste of rebellion, first change in physicality, and first brush with the bitter truths about responsibility and mistakes. All young adults go through these, but every young adult experiences these things differently. In observing adolescents that I interact with or pass by down the street, I see the way young adults react and the affects that certain situations have on them–and something about those observations compel me to create characters based on them. If I take these characters and put them in, say, a motorcycle accident (which was brought upon from that first taste of rebellion), how would they react? How would this affect every single aspect of their lives as young adults?
3) Young adulthood is controversial and paradoxical. As a young adult, you get to be risky and wild, but you also understand what it means to be serious and in what circumstances is it essential to behave seriously. You have the ability to appreciate even life’s littlest things, but you also capture the big picture as well. You have enough intelligence to understand even the most complicated and abstract concepts, and yet you still have so, so much to learn. You are teeming with emotions and adrenaline (thanks, hormones!) and passion and overwhelming thoughts and experiences from a unique perspective. That makes for a zesty, identifiable character and one hell of a fascinating story.
Thanks Gabi for hosting such a great blogfest! Be sure to check out the rest of the entries here.
Those are exactly the reasons I wrote YA too!
Yup, you nailed all the reasons I love it too! I love the paradoxes that exist, because it makes for such great stories. And I love the emotion of the characters, because it’s often so much more potent.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
You put it all very well. It’s a fascinating time of life, but one riddled with an odd combination of freedoms and suppression, adulthood and childhood, knowledge and naivety. Great post!
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I never thought of young adulthood as controversial and paradoxical, but you are so right! Great examples. I knew hearing other writers’ persepctives on writing YA would be fascinating.
Interesting! I don’t write YA but I’ve written an MG. I love reading YA, too! :) I find YA novels very fascinating and very creative. Great reasons you have here for writing YA! :)
Great post! I think it lines up with most of what I liked too (transformation and paradoxical things), but I really liked how you pointed out firsts, because those are so exciting!
Great reasons for writing YA! I definitely agree with you about all the “firsts.” I think it’s because teens are dealing with all these things for the first time that adolescence is so fraught with angst and conflict.
Great post!
yes socks are what i usually end up buying… this year he’s got jeans!
and i suppose i’m trying things from a new aspect, appeal to more readers, that sort of thing :) it’s soon after fathers day in britain!
thanks for the comment on my blog :)
XOXO, BECCA
http://www.fashion-train.co.uk
I was a middle school teacher,a high school teacher, and a middle school principal for decades. I agree with you, completely, adolescence is a wonderful age, and YA fiction rocks.
I love and totally agree with all of your reasons for writing YA. You’ve really nailed down what makes it so great and why I’ll continue writing it. :)
(Sorry for the late comment! I was away from my computer all weekend. Thanks for participating in our blog fest!)
I like reading why you write YA books. You have nailed all the reasons accurately.
fringed bags are great aren’t they!
thanks for the comment on my blog :)
XOXO, BECCA
http://www.fashion-train.co.uk