Teen writing for Teens: A dilemma

Firstly, Welcome to the Boards!

There are lots of teens on here that write YA, MG, and everything else. Sure, there are people who will say that you can't write it because you're a teen, but you can't let other people tell you what you can and can't do. That's completely up to you.

If you feel that you can't write about teen issues, then you shouldn't. You should write what you feel comfortable with. But you should also ask yourself why you don't think you can write about said issues. Actually, looking back at your post, maybe you mean that you don't want to write about the stuff because people will assume that you have the issues...

If that's the case, forget them. People will always assume that a writer is writing about themself. It's rarely true (in my opinion). You can write about whatever you want. I've written about the use of cocaine, heroine, and lsd when I've never done anything like that. I've written about two girls that fall in love when I'm a guy and obviously can't do that. I've written about characters with depression, eating disorders, family problems, and tons of other things. I don't personally experience all of this, but I write it because I want to. You should write whatever you want because that's what you want to do.

And who cares what your peers think? You'll be the one laughing at them when you make a name for yourself doing something you love to do while they word some dead-end job they hate.

You can definitely use a pseudonym, if you want to. A lot of writers do it. I'm considering it. But don't think about it too much. Just focus on your writing.

If you feel more comfortable starting off with a safer MG topic, by all means write it. But don't forget that you want to push yourself, since that's the only way you can get better in the long run.

And one last thing...don't worry too much about what people will think if you're a teen writing for teens. As you'll find out when you look around here some more, it can take years to land and agent and then just as long to get an editor. It's quite possible that you won't be a teen anymore when your book hits the market. I'm not saying this is true for everyone. There definitely have been published writers under 18. But don't get ahead of yourself...

Good luck! and keep your head up

Stephen King wrote a really interesting article for EW after the Virginia Tech shooting. It basically says that you write what you have to write, and sometimes people might think you are psycho. He also says that if he were in college today that people might think he was crazy, and that the biggest clue that the Virginia Tech shooter was dangerous is that his writing is without merit. Now back to the topic at hand...

You're going to have to get used to your peers thinking things about you, regardless of what age you are. The part that might be problematic is if adults like your parents and teachers think you are having problems that get reflected in your writing.

Here's an idea, before you write a piece and before you get into the piece, write a disclaimer. Like, hey, I'm not a druggie (anorexic, depressed, whatever) then put it aside and don't think of that when you are "in" the piece.

I'm surprised Shady Lane has been silent on this subject...well, I'd say just write what you want as if no one was going to read it. That's how I started some of my best work...a character I assumed no one would ever see.

althrasher said:

I'm surprised Shady Lane has been silent on this subject...well, I'd say just write what you want as if no one was going to read it. That's how I started some of my best work...a character I assumed no one would ever see.

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Shady Lane is never silent for long.



Welcome to AW, Whisper_willow. Feel free to consider me your tour guide into the teens writing for teens world.


If you don't mind my asking, how old are you? I'm sixteen, meself.

It does help to have some distance; I'm not going to lie. This is ironic coming from me, because, like reenkam said, I write about a lot of shit I haven't experienced. And my MCs tend to be older than be, because I write for people my age, and people my age read about seventeen, eighteen, nineteen year olds.

But if you really feel you have a strong hold on your material, and the only thing holding you back are the opinions of the people around you...screw em! If you get published, do you know what a small percentage of your reading crowd these people will be? Here's the thing about friends and families--they're great when you need a shoulder to cry on, they're possibly the worst people to listen to when it comes to your writing.

If you know it, write it. If you don't know it, fake it. Then write it.

Let me know if you need anything. It's a crazy world for us.

Write what makes you feel good, disregarding what the people around you think. Just keep it to yourself until you've seen it through to the end...your friends don't need to know what you're writing about. Neither do your parents.

If writing MG (middle-grade) feels good to you, by all means write MG. But if you've got a YA building in you and it deals with heavy stuff that you don't want your peers to see....just write it, and don't let them see it. Most people don't really care what you're writing, even if they ask.

I'm 31 and my mother knows perfectly well I had a happy childhood. However, when my first YA (about depression and self-harm) was published, she took quite a lot of convincing that it wasn't autobiographical *rolls eyes*

What I'm trying to say is that if you write about issues, it doesn't matter WHAT age you are, people will assume that you're writing from your own experience. They are ignorant - tell them they are wrong and just carry on doing what you do.

If you get picked up by a publisher then you can consider having a pseudonym if you're really worried about it - but I would suggest that publishers wouldn't like that because what they would be trying to sell to the public is YOU - your age, the fact that you've got published - and you would HAVE to answer all sorts of questions in interviews about whether it's based on your life or not.

However, I am assuming that's a long way down the road? Don't count your chickens before they're hatched. Write what you like and don't let other people's asusmptions stop you.

I suddenly realized how far removed from this I feel reading this thread...I'm only twenty, writing for teens. It's amazing, the difference between high school and college.

Now, my one WIP that's set in a college...I still feel a bit weird about that (particularly since it involves a shooting spree...ah well.)

whisper_willow said:

However, I feel that I cannot write about issues facing teenagers, such as depression, peer pressure, etc. as adults assume I have said problems and/or my peers assume I'm quote-on-quote "emo".

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Why do you have to tell them?

Yeah, okay, this is a very odd question, but honestly: if these people are so judgemental as to assume that you've got these serious issues, then obviously they're not people that you want to associate with. If they're your parents, calmly explain to them that you're not having any issues right now, but your characters are. If they're your friends, they should know you better than that.

Are you getting published in the next year? Will you still be in high school when you get published? If the answers to these questions are 'no,' then it doesn't matter. Write whatever you want.

Welcome to the boards!

I'm a teen and I write about things that I've never experienced, just like everyone else that's posted up there. Surviving under dictators, starvation, drugs, alcohol, abusive parents, and psychopaths - the only place I experience things like that is in my imagination. But that's what makes us writers.

I personally write under a pseudonym, but that's for privacy issues. I don't care what my peers think of me (they think I'm an insane freak of nature because I know where Darfur is).

The reason I go under a pseudonym is my name is completely unique. I'm the only one out there with my name, and if you type my actual name into Google, my age, address, phone number, picture, grades, after school activities, family history, closest friends, and directions to my house pop up. Darned tennis center and their directory.

And if the adults think you have problems, tell them the truth. You don't have problems, the other yahoos out there have problems.^

^for legal purposes, 'yahoos' can be whosoever you wish. I'm not calling you a yahoo! I swear! Don't sue me!

I'll play devil's advocate, if I may and explain the adult point of view. I know it's frustrating when you write about drugs and people start checking your arms for needle tracks or something, and for god's sake, Poe might've been a raging drunk, but he wasn't burying people in his floorboards or cellar walls, right? You have artistic license. Just because you write about someone who cheats doesn't mean your boyfriend needs to spy on you. Just because you write about someone who had an abortion doesn't mean you had one. For some reason I always write about teens with siblings, and I was an only child! Writing is creativity and imagination, I know that....

BUT, you have to understand how often students who write about certain issues may be thinking or even obsessing about them. I recently attended a seminar on suicide prevention, and it's scary stuff.

As a writing teacher I become very involved in the education, and after reading their journals, I often develop an understanding of certain students, and many kids are dealing with some level of depression. I want my students to be able to express themselves, I want them to write about what they feel like writing about.

But what if 10 kids write about cutting themselves. Out of those 10 students, what if one is trying to tell me something. One of them is handing me their paper and hoping that I read it and see into them and ask them about it monday, because they are going through something that they can't handle on their own, and they don't know how to bring it up with anyone. If I ignore that because of their right to be creative, what am I doing? sacrificing emotional well being to my beliefs about creativity?

And understand that your parents, grandparents and next door neighbors don't even get the creativity part. Remember that as a teen you are an exotic and hard to understand species. Just have a nice smile and say, hey, I wanted to get into the mind of a stripper who's on heroine, do you think I succeeded? and then after they give you the drug test and the std test, and search your closet for sleezy stripper clothes and wads of dollar bills, then you can sit down and laugh about how damn well you got into that sleezy drug adicted stripper's mind.

Shiny, good.

Vampire...bad. How. Many. Times. Do. I. Have. To. Say. The. SAME. THING!


THEY

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LIVING

IMPAIRED!

Oh and I too am a teenager, writing about things far outside of the realm of my experience. Things like cyborgs and aliens with three eyes...and big guns. And lots of romance. And so on and so forth. And if someone calls you Emo, just burst out laughing and tell them what a good joke it is. Seriously, if someone is judgmental and stupid enough to call you emo becuase you wrote a story about a messed up teen, then they don't deserve the energy it takes to push the air through your lungs to talk to them.

As my dad says, Idiots can barely talk as it is, so why bother talking back?

Zoombie is crazy as hell. Just to warn you. We love him, but he takes some getting used to.

And sometimes he'll say something really touching and group hug promoting.

Just be warned.

And then we'll group hug.

It's frightening.

"I'm not drunk, I'm mentally ill, but I like whats what you said"

Objective 1: Punch Christopher Paolini in the face.
Objective 2: Make at least 2 people smile per day
Objective 3: Have people walk away from meeting me, thinking: "What an odd person."

Really, Zoombie? Usually I just go for Objective 3. (Sometimes that includes opera and light sabers, though.) It's nice to see a young man with ambition.

As bethany said, adults have to worry about kids with depression problems who may be trying to tell someone through writing, but since you're not depressed and/or trying to get help from writing, you don't have to worry about it.

More people should got for Objective 2. We'd all be a lot happier.

I'd be a lot happier if someone went for objective no.1.

I second that comment.

And I could say more, but it would be repeating a lot of what has already said. If you look at a broader side and you see all the different types of writing out there, then there's no way that someone can say that you are something just because of what you write. If you write about being black, does that make you black? If you write about living during World War II, well, I think one look at the calender will tell you it's definitely not world war too. If you write about a fantasy land with made up creatures and places, well then you'd have to be a real whack job (or they'd have to be), to say that you can't write that because you've never been there.

In which case, when they begin to claim they have been there (that fantasy world) and could write it better, seek some mental help for them maybe.

I may be a while removed from my teen years, but I'll add one more thought...writing fiction is about experiencing things you probably will never have the chance or inclination to experience in real life (depending on the good or bad of it). It's a way to explore something outside ourselves without actual harm.

On the flip side, bethany has a good point--some writing can be seen as a warning sign. It's all a matter of context--a person has to look at the whole picture to determine whether the writing is a means of exploring unfamiliar territory in a safe way or a sign of some underlying problem.

You can't worry too much about what other people think. Some people are going to make assumptions no matter what you say or do. If it happens, you'll work through it. If not, you worried for nothing. Why waste time worrying?

As someone who has only been a nonteenager for a little over a year, I understand exactly what you're saying. The first novel I wrote, a YA mystery, got put away for the time being because I was writing it "too safe". It's done, it's in a drawer, and someday I'll go back and do a major rewrite and make the main characters as I wanted them, not like I thought people should see them as, if that makes sense.
My best piece of advice I give people about writing is quite simple - "Write like your parents are dead."
Now that I do that (even though my parents are still very much alive), I've realized how much better my writing is and how much more real my characters are. Hope I helped.

That is FANTASTIC advice.

Yeah, honestly if you write wondering what other people think of you, it will never end. There will always be a boyfriend you don't want to freak out, or inlaws, or a boss or something.

I'm over 30 and my mother heartily disaproves of my writing. She's from the writing for kids should teach them stuff camp and I'm from the writing (for any age group) should reflect life/reality. We will never agree, I'm afraid.

I've worried a bit about my brother who's in high school reading some of my stuff, but he already knows I was the bad one, so I don't lose any sleep over it!