Why Write YA Fiction?

I’ve always had a soft spot for Young Adult Fiction. Realistic and mystery books are my favorite types, and I love them even more when they fall into the YA category. So here’s why I love writing YA!

1. Young Adult has a broad readership: Middle Grade, Upper, and Adult

YA is so cool because the market is very broad, and you can find a niche in that market to cater to. When writing YA, I specifically target Black teen girls between the ages of 15 and 19 (give or take, whereas NA I cater to 20-29) who like their stories to get straight to the point without all the fluff and filler. And also like their books a little basic in language, but edgy, unapologetic, unfiltered, and raw. Why? I was that girl! This specific target audience is so dope to me because there are so many life lessons to be learned at this age as a Black teen girl. I truly enjoy putting them up on game of how to handle/navigate certain situations that many girls this age usually face.

2. Adulting is boring as fuck, period.

I’ma be real. Adulting really is boring as hell. Not that there can’t be growth, lessons, and circumstances to learn from adulthood, but it isn’t as dynamic and as high stakes as a teen learning and being faced with situations/conflicts for the first time. Adulting is so predictable, too. Career, dating, sex, parenting, bills, etc… what else is there to talk about? I know it would be up to me as a creative/author to make adult fiction a little more engaging, and many authors do it every day, but it just comes a little more natural to ME when writing YA.

3. Life lessons impact teens in much more significant ways than for adults

When strong, flawed teen characters are faced with situations they begin to learn from, I feel like the process of learning is a little more dynamic. That’s where the fun and creativity comes in, considering that for young folk, everything is a bigger deal, which make response to conflict a little more heightened.  It’s amazing how much I’ve revealed about myself, too after writing scenes detailing how my teen characters would react to certain issues. I love living vicariously through them, often wishing I was a teen again. And wishing I had ability to get the grace to make mistakes the way they can as young characters.

4. Vulnerability of Young Adult characters and showing that along with their Blackness

Man. There’s nothing like the vulnerability of a teen when writing, whether they are male or female. It’s even better when that vulnerability shows when capturing Black characters. It’s incredible the amount of times I’ve cried writing about a YA character simply because I exposed their deepest fears, deepest hurts, deepest joys, etc. Then, unpacking those emotions? That’s where the magic happens, and that’s when I am literally at my absolute best as a writer. I don’t always get those moments when trying to write adult fiction because with teens, there is hope for them because they have so much more life ahead.

5. The newness of independence

If anything, teens LOVE testing the waters to see how close they can get to completely and pure independence. And it’s fun as hell to test those waters when writing, especially when my characters have parents who are simply over the top. I absolutely love exploring the clash and conflict with parents trying to hold on to power with their kids while on the other hand, their kids are trying to break free and experience life for themselves. It makes the perfect drama. Another favorite of writing YA.

6. The opportunity to be real in ways that don’t always show up in YA that my readership would likely appreciate

This probably is my favorite reason. I love testing boundaries of what’s acceptable to be written in YA because teens naturally break boundaries in real life. I hate a book that shields or “protects” teens. I hate a book that doesn’t actually depict how teens view the world because they’re written by an adult who has personal convictions & boundaries they impose on their writing, and they end up unintentionally restricting themselves and their voice as writers. Adults have this weird obsession with blocking teen exposure to certain situations, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that teens don’t interact or grapple with it. So as a YA writer, I always ask myself – what lessons/teachable moments do I want my target audience take away from this moment I’ve created that may make adults squirm? How do I build the capacity in teens to make safe, informed choices for themselves as they watch my characters face many difficult circumstances? Literally, the BEST part of writing YA.

(Note: As this post comes to a close, let me be VERY clear. Some things should absolutely be blocked for teens. Like porn websites . However, we should focus on communicating and unpacking WHY it should be blocked – porn doesn’t depict actual safe, consensual, realistic sex, and it’s harmful to internalize those ideas of what sex should be/look like. The same energy should apply for books when assessing why something should be banned. Not simply because an adult doesn’t like it.)