How to Write Young Adult (with Wattpad's Finest)

A Guide to an Escape - misswarrenwrites

A Guide to an Escape

misswarrenwrites

I started reading Young Adult fiction when technically I was anything but a young adult - that is at least according to society. One, which tells me I'm now able to do lots of 'fun' legal stuff. Like spending an hours wage on a lack lustre glass of alcohol or ploughing my life savings into 'responsible' adult things like mortgages and pensions.

I love reading and writing Young Adult stories because they've allowed me an escape all that. It's why I've devoured so many over the years. Because a great YA can take me back in an instant to moments I've lived through and lost or never had the chance to experience. I get to wander vicariously though the lives of characters I would have given an arm, leg and my whole CD collection just to be friends with. It allows me to sink back into a unique type of nostalgia for days gone by all too quickly.

In YA fiction so many firsts are born or taken. Adventure can spring up from the mundane, and the future feels infinite. Summers long and sprawling. There's so much talk about freedom and youth and possibility and breaking free. And the mess of feelings too of course, because what is great YA without those? All the confusion, the heartache, and the inconceivable notion that it'll all feel better in the morning because it really does feel like the end of the world.

There are also all the questions, - so many, none of which have a one-size fits all answer. Like the age-old - where do I belong? What will happen next? Why does that boy/girl make my knees feel weaker than most every time they look at me? Will I ever fall in love? Will anyone ever love me back? What if I really don't know what I want to do with my much talked about future life or whom I want to be when the time comes?

What is the point in it all?

It's why I've always been so drawn to YA stories that border on the inescapable, dark apprehension, the mystery and the sheer uncertainty that comes as part and parcel of being thrust into adulthood.

There have been many that have shaped my own writing - those that deftly convey the gorgeous and sublime, but also the creeping melancholy that's ever present. I am a sucker for tales of long, hot summers spent in suburbia, where everyone is restless and uncertain and bored but also filled with hope that anything's could be possible. How anything could happen or change in a heartbeat.

Like falling love or chasing dreams you've been told not to have or that don't fit the narrative of the adults around you. Or simply experiencing the moment when that enigmatic stranger notices you properly, for the first time and just how truly amazing that feels.

This is why The Virgin Suicides by Jeffery Eugenides has always remained the one I go back too, time and again because however dark it is and how it ends, there is so much bubbling away just below the surface that reminds me of how it once felt to be young.

Which was more often than not the feeling of being so suffocated and isolated, like no one could really ever understand what was going on deep in my head. How I was a walking, talking, half-finished teenage puzzle with many pieces missing, still working out why some when found didn't quite fit right and why some, surprisingly did.

Two other stand-out YA stories that deal with this topic - of feeling out of place, and how to at least begin to solve the mystery of 'you', are The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Looking For Alaska.

Both left a lasting impression, just like the brooding, sulky boys I lusted after in my teens did. Because no matter how hard you try to shake them away they'll always be there, lingering, etched forever into the folds of your memory.

It's from these stories that my affinity for YA grew, and why it still does to this day.

I like YA that confidently shows just how intelligent, whip smart, tough and mature teens can really be and are. That they should be trusted when it comes to feelings and thoughts, that they're really no different to those of us who have willingly or unwillingly set up shop for the next phrase of life.

At the end of the day we're all just trying to find our way, how best we can.

And that's why YA shall always have a special place in my heart.

Because being young is surreal. It's weird. It's down right confusing. It's the best of times and the worst. But a great YA story can lift your spirits; make you feel a little less alone. And even though it can't make any promises that it'll get better, it can at least offer a glimmer of hope that, one day it just might.

A few personal YA writing tips:

Write from the heart. Trust it, often it knows best.Don't be afraid to tackle the difficult topics. Likely there's someone out there who's going through them too. Create and grow characters that aren't perfect. Who have flaws and make mistakes. We all do. It's what shapes us.Don't get wrapped up in trying to write like others. Take inspiration but let your own ideas lead the way.

Question: Which YA stories/novels do you love? Which have hitched a lift in your heart and never left?

J.E.Warren, who also goes by the Wattpad pseudonym Jpy-sofine is a Young Adult and Romance writer with a penchant for milky tea, travel, small dogs and witty, wonderful women positive TV shows. She currently lives in a somewhat sleepy seaside town nicknamed God's waiting room and speaks with a British accent.

Constantly inspired by music of all kinds, flawed characters and the raw nature of life and love, she loves to write and create new stories for readers to escape into.