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

Changing the World with YA - BrianMcBride

Changing the World with YA

BrianMcBride

If there's one thing I've discovered in the wake of winning a Wattys Award it's that people are desperate and looking for something real to hold onto. I've received countless messages and comments from readers who tell me how my story has changed their life, has transformed their perspective, has helped them hope again. I never would've thought when I was writing that novel that it would touch peoples' lives the way it has.

It's for that reason that I say this: when you write YA, you aren't just writing for yourself. Well, yes, you are. But you're also not. Me? When I wrote Love and the Sea and Everything in Between I wrote it as a means of coping with a difficult season in my life. Every word in that book is as real to me as anything I could hold in my hands. Perhaps even moreso. People are amazed at how real Love and the Sea feels. And there's a reason for that. The story behind Love and the Sea is a mere portion of my own life story. It feels real because, give or take a few plot points, it is real.

That being said, when you write YA – especially when those young adults you're writing for are modern-day 12-to-20-year-olds – you're writing for a generation of young adults who are lost, confused, broken, hurting, depressed, scared, broken-hearted, and so much more. I know I'm not the only one who's noticed statistics on suicide, depression, self-harm, and substance abuse among this generation of YA's have skyrocketed in the last decade.

And those same broken, hurting, lost people are the people to whom you're writing when you write YA. That doesn't mean you have to write only contemporary or literary fiction. When there's a story inside you that needs to be told, trust its depth. Don't confine it to what you think it should look like. Let it breathe. Get creative. Write a story about drug abuse and dragons. Write a story about rape and zombies. Don't be afraid to go deep because that's where the current is.

So how do you change the world with YA? There's no simple answer. But when I look at all the stories that have changed the world, I see the same thing. They're deep, they're raw, and they're real. They confront stereotypes, they dive into real issues, the go against the grain, they don't bow down to anyone or anything else. Authors like John Green, J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien, Kurt Vonnegut, and Stephen Chbosky have changed the world because they didn't write simple "bad boy meets dream girl" stories. They wrote stories about cancer and death and love and life and friendship and war and loyalty and faith. They got real and they talked about the things that every one of us holds deep inside of us, but we're too afraid to talk about. Thank God for those authors, though, because their books say it for us when we can't find the words.

I don't know about you, but I don't just write stories for the fun of it. Yes, writing is a huge part of my identity. I wouldn't be who I am without it. But I also write stories because I have this ridiculous notion that I could change things if I just speak up and speak out. There's something that burns inside of me that makes me want to take real life struggles and triumphs and put them to paper. I want to write stories that challenge the norm because all you have to do is look out your window to realize that the norm is not working.

How do you do that, though? How do you write YA stories that change the world? Well, I'll tell you one thing I know for sure is that the stories that change the world are the stories that are raw and real and true to the world and the people who live in it.

Ask yourself this question: what is it that burns inside of you right now? Is it first love? Is it heartbreak? Is it insecurity and depression? Loneliness? Wanderlust? Daring and adventure? Faith? Is it questions you carry with you that feel too heavy to talk about – like sexuality, religion, identity, rape, or suicide? Discover what it is that burns inside of you, that won't leave you alone, that makes you feel unsettled and put it to paper. Maybe it starts out as a poem or a song. Maybe you've already got a plot and a world developed. Whatever it looks like, don't doubt it. Because whatever it is that is burning inside of you... it's the fire of humanity.

Think about this: that same fire that burns inside of you burned inside of Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe, Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf, Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and countless others.

So don't let whatever it is that burns inside of you fade. Instead, let it drive you to create something completely new and wonderful. You'd be surprised to see how your fire – your drive, your passion, and your unique perspective – changes the world.

In the end, if there's one thing I want you to take away from this whole article, it's this: capture the fire inside of you. Don't fear it. Instead, learn to understand it. And harness it like a well-practiced magician so you can put it to good use and let it mean something to someone, somewhere.

Because, like Alexander the Great, the fire that's in you has the power to make history.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Brian McBride is a recent winner of the 2016 Wattys with his novel, Love and the Sea and Everything in Between. He's been writing since before he can remember and has written in just about every genre you can imagine. Love and the Sea is Brian's first venture into the world of contemporary, literary fiction. Truth be told, it's partially based off of a difficult season in his own life. Now, Brian shares his story in the hopes that it might help others learn how to live again.