I got some GREAT comments on the post yesterday. In particular, Lola Sharp gave a very good (and very useful!) in-depth view of what's out there in YA and how kids are reacting. How does she know? Because she's got a 14 year old daughter.
Look, I'm not going to pull the whole "when I was your age we had to walk uphill two miles in the snow with bare feet" adult thing, but holy crap do these kids know everything. In high school, I knew kids who had not only been into drugs, but had already gotten out of them by the time freshman year rolled around. Sex was very commonplace, R-rated movies were no big deal, and I thought I knew everything.
BUT. I wasn't doing those things. I knew about them, they weren't taboo topics, but I wasn't doing them. So that whole high school experience is inauthentic to me. I walk a confusing line between wanting to be authentic to modern teenagers (now I do sound old, blah) and wanting to be authentic to the kids who I know are like me, and my own past.
Like drugs, for instance. I wasn't into drugs, I didn't hang out with people who were. I knew people, sure, but that wasn't my thing. And to be completely honest, I don't want to write about people who are into that kind of life. Those aren't really characters I want to explore. No judgement, but it's like writing about a marine biologist: how many of you really find them interesting? Yeah, that's how I feel about people who do drugs. Not my scene, not what I'm interested in learning about.
But do I nerd myself out of the market by not including it? That's hard to say. I'd guess some would say yes, some would say no. I also get on a weird church lady moral streak sometimes and don't want to promote that kind of life. I don't want kids to feel like they have to live that life to be "real." I'm not out to moralize the world (I cut people off on the highway way too much for that), but I do want to create MCs that I can admire.
Thanks, everyone, for the great comments yesterday. After going back through more of my WIP, I decided to stick mostly to damns, hells, and the occasional bitch. Siiiiiigh, I'm so saintly.
Who I Be
- JEM
- Austin, TX, United States
- I am a writer, martial artist, and coffee addict. I works in software by day and fight supervillains by night. Or at least I write about fighting supervillains by night. I live in Austin, TX with the partner-in-crime and our trusty sidekick, Scout.
3 comments:
"I'm not out to moralize the world..."
Me, either, but sometimes I'm not sure if I'm being too preachy, too heavy-handed with a message. It's hard to know without asking for a second opinion.
Great post. ;)
I was a "good girl" too. I hung out with bad girls because I loved to hear their stories and kind of live vicariously through them. They liked to hear me gasp as they told me their exploits :D
But I think people get carried away with meeting the needs of the edgier market and forget that there are other teens who want to be represented too. Just because everybody's doing it, doesn't mean that everybody actually is.
I think there's room for everything! So write from your heart, girl!
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