Why do you write YA?

Well, for starters, being 20 it's probably the only genre I really have the life experience to qualify for (and where my age is actually an advantage). But, beyond that, YA stories are just more fun to write, to me. More stuff happens to your characters--they go through so many important changes, learn so many new things about themselves. It just has so many opportunity to tell stories.

I write YA, not only because I am a young adult, but because I feel connected to the genre. Also, I don't think the adults in the world understand what teenagers/young adults go through. They say "Oh we were teenagers once, so we know" But they don't really know, because times have changed, and since I am sixteen, I'm at an age where I can embody the voice, the struggles of peer-pressure, coming-of-age, and any other struggle that comes with becoming an young adult.

Also, the young adult genre in and of itself is an adventure. You can write about so many things: drugs, abusive relationships, whatever, and it can still be fresh and people of all ages can relate to it.

YA is also just really fun to write, and even when I'm not a young adult anymore, I have a feeling I would still write the genre because like I said, I feel connected to it.

I write YA because I like to read YA.

It's the same reason why I write fantasy (or sci fi or vampires or faeries or whatever other thing people have jumped on that day): I like reading them, have liked reading them for years, and like coming up with ideas for them.

Like Disdain, I much prefer reading YA, so it's only natural that I write what I love. I don't feel like I'm old enough to be able to write for adults yet, either. It would be like me guessing. I've still got a lot of adult experiences to get through being 22. So I stick to what I've recently been through!

Chanelley said:

Like Disdain, I much prefer reading YA, so it's only natural that I write what I love. I don't feel like I'm old enough to be able to write for adults yet, either. It would be like me guessing. I've still got a lot of adult experiences to get through being 22. So I stick to what I've recently been through!

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Yeah, my youth is another reason why I'm not writing any adult stuff yet. I am outlining an adult series and doing some prep work, but my rule there is "not until you're older than the MC". So... about four years to go. XD (If nothing else, it helps cut out a few instances of "shiny new idea syndrome")

YA is just more fun. To write and to read. That's why.

I prefer reading YA, and my story ideas tend to fall into YA-centric ideas. I also find that teens tend to be more in the moment, so you get a better sense of immediacy and stakes with YA stories. Teens also don't have the life baggage adults do, so they don't know "what not to do" in any situation and can make mistakes an adult with more life experience wouldn't. You can be more creative that way without that hanging over you.

YA themes are also timeless and everyone can relate, since we were all teens at some point. So you have that extra and instant connection to your reader.

I think YA is the field that found me rather than vice versa. In the 1980s I wrote a novel with two seventeen-year-olds as protagonists. I just thought of it as "a novel" - I assumed (very naively) that it couldn't be a teen novel because it had sex and swearing in it. Then, around 1990, I had agent representation for this novel - as a YA novel. (It never sold, and I lost representation, but there you go.)

I have always read some YA - the last book I took out of the junior section of the library was Alan Garner's The Owl Service as I specifically wanted to read it. And I have read YAs off and on since then, mostly the ones that crossed over to adult readerships - Garner's Red Shift, Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea trilogy (as it was then - repackaged for adult readers), the Harry Potters, His Dark Materials, The Strange Case of the Dog in the Night-Time, Melvin Burgess's Doing It. In the last few years, when I've been concentrating on writing YA more, I've been reading it more systematically.

I'm in my mid-forties now, and I still find I'm writing much of the time about characters in their sixth-form (age 17/18) or University ages. I've even done this in short stories published in magazines aimed at adult readers. So I guess I have a strong impulse to write about characters of those ages.

Other reasons why I like YA is that you're not as restricted to one genre as you are in adult fiction. As I write short rather than long, I also like the fact that you can sell a novel of 45,000 or 50,000 words if that's what the story needs - you don't have to fill a minimum of 90,000 words as you do in most adult genres. I find that most adult novels are overlong these days. Also, I find the best YA has a freshness that's missing from a lot of adult fiction. Finally, most of the ideas I'm getting these days are for YA novels - I have enough to keep me going for five years at least.

I dunno. How does a 57-year old male who has written hard SF all of his life stumble into YA? Especially when his last agent told him he DID NOT HAVE the voice for it. By accident, that's how. I just happened to write a paranormal fantasy with an 18-year old female MC. My last agent didn't want to rep it, so I sent it out. Boom. An e-publishers gobbled it up. From then on, it's been reviewed multiple times with four and five stars, and tagged YA. I was gob-smacked.

Got a new agent, and tried a brand new YA on her. She loved it. Said I had the voice down in spades--it popped. Said I should be writing YA from here on out. What?

That's how it happened. Total accident. I'm on my third YA distopian SF. I still think it's a fluke. Until somebody sticks a pin in me and the whole things goes pop.

Tri

I am primarily a horror writer. I have read YA and enjoyed it. What really got me started was listening to my teen-age cousins and their friends complaints about the genre. They really wanted some paranormal romance YA that was diverse. They didn't identify whatsoever with the popular books in the genre.

Though I didn't think I could write the genre(I write very vivid horror),I decided to try. What started as a side project became so much fun that I kept going! YA is is my relaxing genre. When I work on it,the words just flow and it's addictive. Now I'm working on another series. I write it in the hopes that my cousins and girls like them will one day have a series they identify with. Plus,it's just so darn fun!

I write YA because it's where my stories are. It's where the ideas jump from, it's where the voice decides to settle, and it's a large part of my library. There's something very freeing about writing YA though, because of the coming-of-age/growing up nature of it. Teen MCs are allowed to be flexible, they're allowed to evolve much more quickly because most of them don't know who they are yet. There's something very refreshing about being able to discover that without the baggage that comes with twice as much life experience.

Because I can

I can get away with alot more in YA than I can anywhere else.

Because I enjoy reading YA and I think it appeals to a wider audience, both children and adults.

Harry Potter got me reading. Harry Potter fanfiction got me writing. The characters were all my age at the time so when I started my own novel, it felt natural to have my cast the same age. All my ideas are for YA, and it's what I love to read.

Because after 6 years of working with teenagers and living in their world (I teach in a girls' school), I thought it would be interesting to see if I could. My girls are just so larger than life - so passionate, so beautiful, so bloody difficult - that it feels like the sky is the limit when it comes to writing for them.

That, and I promised my recently-departed tutor group (mine for 5 years) that I would write a book for them, so...

I write it because I live it.

Well, I would have to say for being in my 30's and writing YA stories I feel I am in another world like I am young again. So, I want my reader to feel the same know matter how old they are.
But I also write harder stuff and that is not for YA readers.
I am also unsure what made me want to write YA stuff but it's fun.

linfred4 said:

Well, I would have to say for being in my 30's and writing YA stories I feel I am in another world like I am young again. So, I want my reader to feel the same know matter how old they are.
But I also write harder stuff and that is not for YA readers.
I am also unsure what made me want to write YA stuff but it's fun.

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I can empathise with this one - although I am in my 30's, being allowed to live through my 17 year old MC kind of allows me to be 17 again... it might be a bit sad, but hey, it keeps me happy!

I also write adult stuff too, but I keep coming back to YA. It helps keep me young at heart.

Danthia said:

I prefer reading YA, and my story ideas tend to fall into YA-centric ideas. I also find that teens tend to be more in the moment, so you get a better sense of immediacy and stakes with YA stories. Teens also don't have the life baggage adults do, so they don't know "what not to do" in any situation and can make mistakes an adult with more life experience wouldn't. You can be more creative that way without that hanging over you.

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I think this is a great way of looking at it!

For me, it has something to do with the intensity of emotion that teens experience. First kisses are way more exciting than later ones; first heartbreak much more painful. That sort of sharpness and depth of feeling makes it really fun to write/write for teenagers.

I feel I can flourish in this genre. I also think that a good book has no real age...you see adults reading YA books now. The barriers are down. There's a huge audience to play for!

The drama!

There was constant conflict when I was a teen. As a grown-up my life is pretty boring and the hard and tough parts aren't anything worth reading about.

Also, I teach high school. I steal my students' lives for my characters.

Danthia said:

I prefer reading YA, and my story ideas tend to fall into YA-centric ideas. I also find that teens tend to be more in the moment, so you get a better sense of immediacy and stakes with YA stories. Teens also don't have the life baggage adults do, so they don't know "what not to do" in any situation and can make mistakes an adult with more life experience wouldn't. You can be more creative that way without that hanging over you.

YA themes are also timeless and everyone can relate, since we were all teens at some point. So you have that extra and instant connection to your reader.

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I just want to get all fangirly on you and say, I loved The Shifter and can't wait for Blue Fire!

It's what I know best and it's what I like the best. I love adult books too but I read more YA and am around more Young Adults (as I'm still a YA myself) so it feels more real to me. I like writing it, it's interesting. Things are new and fun and tragic and just interesting!!