Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Why writing books for young adults is so fulfilling

Source: Dwallsdotcom
There are many reasons to write books for young adults. For starters, they’re one of the best-selling genres around at the moment. But beyond commercial purposes, there are a lot of aspects that are extremely fulfilling for writers of all ages.

Writing young adult novels offers you the chance to embrace your inner teenager and make the most of your own immature ways. It provides the opportunity to relive your teens, complete with a happy ending— your own romanticized version of your adolescence as the plot of a series of young adult fantasy novels, with your alter ego as the star. 

You can rewrite your past with the accoutrements you always wanted and dramatize and embellish the facts of what really happened. You can attribute the protagonist with those supernatural powers you always dreamed of or the fairy godmother you coveted when you first read one of the original fairy tales, Cinderella. Or the evil stepmother, your choice.

What’s most fulfilling about writing young adult novels, whether you’re penning dystopian literature or science fiction and fantasy books, is that you have the opportunity to give your audience hope. Young readers savor being able to relate to the situations that many protagonists of young adult novels experience. While Katniss in The Hunger Games exists in a post apocalyptic world that we will hopefully never be able to truly comprehend, we can empathize to her burgeoning feelings for the boy she thought was her best friend, Gale, and understand the confusion she suffers through when she begins to have feelings for another, her partner in the Games, Peeta. Plus, the strength and courage Katniss exudes is inspiring and offers teenage readers the hope that they often seek when reading this multifaceted genre.

Another aspect that is very satisfying to writers of YA, especially those who pen young adult fantasy novels, is that you can create the most imaginative otherworldly settings and then still convey an inspiring message to readers. Whether it’s an elaborate post apocalyptic world such as the radiation-ravaged dystopias of Revealing Eden or Pure, the characters can still be real and embody human characteristics that readers of all ages can relate to and understand, and therefore, take away the message you want to share or the intention behind your writing. Few genres provide such a unique opportunity.

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