We all know that adults are devouring young adult books like a starving man at an all-you-can-eat buffet. A whopping percentage of adults—55% in a 2012 study*—are buying and reading books aimed at a teen audience. What used to be a guilty pleasure, hiding the book jacket so no one could see, has become a badge of honor. “Why yes, I’ve read Hunger Games, Divergent, Twilight. I’m hip, I’m happening, and what have you read lately?”
Don’t get me wrong. As a YA author, this trend is makes me jump for joy when no one is looking. Because a bigger audience translates into more sales, and more sales keeps me published. This is good.
By the same token, however, it makes me wonder: who should I be writing for? The more than half of the people who actually buy my books, or the teens who I am writing the book for? You would think that if you are reading YA, that you would expect to read a book about teens, and teenage issues, from a teen POV. But no, I’m not sure that’s the case. I wonder if adults prefer a teenage protagonist who is more mature, and more capable of making adult decisions than your average teenage bear.
There are an increasing number of YA titles being propelled to lofty heights on bestseller lists because of their crossover audience. What makes them especially appealing to adults (including me)? I love John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, but I personally have never encountered any teens that talk and think the way Hazel and Gus do. Yes, their illness has given them a perspective far beyond their tender years, but the result is the same: teenage characters who sound like adults. And while I also enjoyed Hunger Games and Divergent, I think both Katniss and Tris act far more mature than most kids their age.
One of the most baffling critiques of my YA book, Positively Beautiful, (and I’m paraphrasing here) goes, “This book would work for teens, but it just wasn’t for me.” Well, okay, then. Because, honestly? I wrote the book for teens, not for middle-aged adults who want little adults disguised as teenagers running around making perfect decisions and saving the world during their lunch block. I want to write about the messy, mixed-up, treacherous world of a teenage kid, and still trying to figure out how to be you, how to live your life the best the way you know how, but still making mistakes, and learning from them, and then making more mistakes. Because that’s how I remember my teenage years. They were confusing, and delicious with firsts and possibilities, but ultimately they were full of mistakes. A lot of them. But then I grew up to be a half-way decent adult because, while adults want to tell teens every chance they get that you’re doing it wrong, a teen is not going to believe it until things goes gloriously, spectacularly wrong for themselves.
This is not to say that I don’t appreciate and cherish my adult readers. I am happy that you have chosen to read my book. It gives me little goose bumps of pleasure when you tell me that my book made you cry, and laugh, and think. Because ultimately, I am a storyteller, and I don’t care how old you are, I want my book to touch you, to leave you changed in some way when you finish. It doesn't matter to me if you're sixteen or sixty, as long as you appreciate the emotions and struggles of my characters. A good story is a good story, no matter what age the main characters happen to be.
One of my favorite authors when I was teen, and to this day, is Madeleine L'Engle, who said: “You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.” This makes me smile. It gives me courage to write the books that may be hard for grown-ups to read, because, “Gasp! How could she be so immature/reckless/so, so…teenage?” That’s the book I want to write.
So, I will continue to write books about teens for teens. Not because I can’t write adult books (I can, and I have), but because this is the medium that I have chosen that best expresses the stories that I want to tell. And I will continue to write book about teens who are sometimes immature, make mistakes, question their place in the world, and wonder about the future, in the most teenage way that I know how.
Because I am a young adult author. And I write books for teens.
*Publisher's Weekly
Don’t get me wrong. As a YA author, this trend is makes me jump for joy when no one is looking. Because a bigger audience translates into more sales, and more sales keeps me published. This is good.
By the same token, however, it makes me wonder: who should I be writing for? The more than half of the people who actually buy my books, or the teens who I am writing the book for? You would think that if you are reading YA, that you would expect to read a book about teens, and teenage issues, from a teen POV. But no, I’m not sure that’s the case. I wonder if adults prefer a teenage protagonist who is more mature, and more capable of making adult decisions than your average teenage bear.
There are an increasing number of YA titles being propelled to lofty heights on bestseller lists because of their crossover audience. What makes them especially appealing to adults (including me)? I love John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, but I personally have never encountered any teens that talk and think the way Hazel and Gus do. Yes, their illness has given them a perspective far beyond their tender years, but the result is the same: teenage characters who sound like adults. And while I also enjoyed Hunger Games and Divergent, I think both Katniss and Tris act far more mature than most kids their age.
One of the most baffling critiques of my YA book, Positively Beautiful, (and I’m paraphrasing here) goes, “This book would work for teens, but it just wasn’t for me.” Well, okay, then. Because, honestly? I wrote the book for teens, not for middle-aged adults who want little adults disguised as teenagers running around making perfect decisions and saving the world during their lunch block. I want to write about the messy, mixed-up, treacherous world of a teenage kid, and still trying to figure out how to be you, how to live your life the best the way you know how, but still making mistakes, and learning from them, and then making more mistakes. Because that’s how I remember my teenage years. They were confusing, and delicious with firsts and possibilities, but ultimately they were full of mistakes. A lot of them. But then I grew up to be a half-way decent adult because, while adults want to tell teens every chance they get that you’re doing it wrong, a teen is not going to believe it until things goes gloriously, spectacularly wrong for themselves.
This is not to say that I don’t appreciate and cherish my adult readers. I am happy that you have chosen to read my book. It gives me little goose bumps of pleasure when you tell me that my book made you cry, and laugh, and think. Because ultimately, I am a storyteller, and I don’t care how old you are, I want my book to touch you, to leave you changed in some way when you finish. It doesn't matter to me if you're sixteen or sixty, as long as you appreciate the emotions and struggles of my characters. A good story is a good story, no matter what age the main characters happen to be.
One of my favorite authors when I was teen, and to this day, is Madeleine L'Engle, who said: “You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.” This makes me smile. It gives me courage to write the books that may be hard for grown-ups to read, because, “Gasp! How could she be so immature/reckless/so, so…teenage?” That’s the book I want to write.
So, I will continue to write books about teens for teens. Not because I can’t write adult books (I can, and I have), but because this is the medium that I have chosen that best expresses the stories that I want to tell. And I will continue to write book about teens who are sometimes immature, make mistakes, question their place in the world, and wonder about the future, in the most teenage way that I know how.
Because I am a young adult author. And I write books for teens.
*Publisher's Weekly
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