It’s quite obvious that I have a love affair with teen fiction. Even though my teen years are well behind me. When I am not my kids chauffeur, the housekeeper and the cook, I immerse myself in good YA novels. Okay, so that sounds healthy and well rounded doesn’t it…don’t be too impressed because it’s a lie. Here’s the truth, I put off loading the dishwasher and overlook the need to sweep the floors when I get started on a good book. Then there is Netflix which really should be illegal! I mean honestly do they have to make it so dang easy to watch the complete series of some of the best television shows ever! I mean honestly do they not realize how hard it is to walk away from seven seasons of Buffy when there is laundry to do and toilets to clean?!?! Finding a happy balance of all these things isn’t easy. Which is why I often find myself up in the wee hours of the morning typing away the next story in my head.
My ten year old daughter asked me recently, “Mom, you’re old. Why do you write books about teenagers?” After I got over the “old” comment and reminded her that my past birthday was my twenty-ninth (my fifth, twenty-ninth birthday, but does she really need the details?) I had to stop and think about the answer to her question. Why do I write YA novels? What is it that draws me to them? Why don’t I write stories about adults?
Joey and Pacey popped in my head. You remember them don’t you. The Dawson’s Creek epic romance. I was in my early twenties back in the Dawson’s Creek days and I thought teenage shows were behind me. Until my fifty year old mother convinced me to sit down and watch an episode with her. I was hooked after one hour. Then came Veronica Mars and Logan Echols. The teenage angst was thick and the start crossed love thing they had going was addicting. Then OMG Blair and Chuck from Gossip Girl! Their evil madness was off the charts fabulous. However, I do believe Lyla Garrity and Tim Riggins (Friday Night Lights) was the most heart wrenching couple ever. They would never be forever, you knew it all along, but you still secretly hoped the town bad boy and the good girl with a bright future would find a way. Sigh……..anyway, as you can see, I realized it was the taste of first love, the struggles we all went through and remember fondly, the hurdles we thought we’d never get over, and the feeling of being invincible that drew me to teen fiction. All those things molded us and made us who we are or who we will become. I love the beginnings of things. The beginning of summer when the endless days of freedom lay ahead, the beginning of a new friendship, the beginning of a new year when everything seems possible, the beginning of a book when you know you’re about to embark on a new journey, and the beginning of adulthood when you are learning all about love, heartache, achievements, and failures. So, I guess my answer to her question can only be, “Because I love beginnings.”