As to why I write YA, well, simplest explanation is that YA lit speaks to me in a way other genres or categories or whatever don't. Legally, I am an adult, but I still don't feel like one. When I hear the word "adult," I think of people like my parents, people who've worked jobs that didn't just pay minimum wage, people who have kids and actual responsibilities. The idea that I am an adult by any legal definition of the word, boggles my mind.
As to why I've settled on the particular story I've been hacking out for so long...well that's a long story. Basically, I heard about this kiwi television series called The Tribe and checked it out, because the premise sounded interesting. I was underwhelmed by The Tribe and if you were to ask me how I'd review it, I'd put it in a category I call "Coulda Been Contenders." I reserve this category for forms of entertainment that were almost great, but they fell short for some reason. In spite of this, I don't hate "Coulda Been Contenders"; I have great affection for them because they at least tried, which is more than you can say for a lot of entertainment these days.
Anyway, whenever I see a TV or movie make bad use of an interesting concept, I like to take said concept and see what I can do with it. Usually I don't get too far before I get interested in something else, but the concept behind The Tribe...for some reason, that idea stayed with me. The visual that kept coming to mind was a teenage boy looking out a window while holding a baby. I knew immediately that the baby was a girl, but it took a while for me to work out her relation to the boy, whether she was his sibling, his cousin, his child, or a stranger's kid he rescued.
I did try to write my story without the boy and the baby girl to no avail, but my mind kept coming back to it, so eventually I decided to give it a shot, telling myself I'd just make it fanfiction* for The Tribe in order to take the pressure to create off. Eventually though, I just decided, "Screw it," and wrote it as original fiction.
So that's my story.
*I got my start writing fanfiction so I've always had great affection for it. I understand though that not everyone feels the same, but didn't want to delve too far into because there are already other threads about the subject.