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| Me at HS graduation |
From that post:
Recently, my middle sister and I were talking about my choice to write young adult characters. She was wondering how I connected to being a teenager and wrote them so beautifully (thanks, sis!), because she she felt removed from that time in her life.
Upon further reflection, I realized another reason I love to write about young adult females and why I can relate to it: I'm still finding myself. As silly as it sounds, I still have one foot in childhood/naiveté and one in adult responsibility.
As life helps me open my eyes and formulate who I want to be, I wonder how someone younger would handle the same situations. My sister is one of those people who decided who she wanted to be and never strayed. I admire her for that, but it's so not me. I love the fluidity of learning, even if it scares the crap out of me.
Also, since I continue to move every two to three years, I have the opportunity to leave behind people's opinions of me and change things. That can be both a blessing and a curse--it leaves me good at inventing, but not so good at finding the true definition of self. I've been able to play the part of many characters over my lifetime. However, since I have been able to start over, I'm still playing around with the real me.
I'm fascinated with what molds us and makes us who we are, so writing young adult paranormal opens up some amazing topics. Now, I can explore how a teenager would handle normal coming-of-age issues like body image, love, parental relationships, etc., while also dealing with the challenges of becoming a vampire, werewolf, fairy, zombie, and so on.
Please share why you love (or don't love) reading young adult characters? If you do love more adult books, why?
1 comment:
LOVE that picture of you! :)
You don't sound silly at all. I think all authors have a bit of one foot in the door of adulthood. If we were all grown up, our imaginations would be gone. It's a sad result of thinking "older."
WRITE ON!
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