I want to take a few seconds to thank Chelsea Fine for agreeing to write this up for my blog! So with that being said, lets see Why Chelsea Fine (the author of Sophie & Carter) writes YA.
Why I like to write Young Adult Fiction: A soapbox rant by Chelsea Fine.
I’ve got one word for you: DRAMA. That’s it. If I had to sum up why I write young adult novels in a single word, DRAMA would be it. Why? Oh, I don’t know…maybe because drama is what makes the world go ‘round. It also makes the world stop. And then go again.
It breaks our hearts and puts them back together. It’s evil and lovely at the same time. And it’s inescapable.
I’m not talking about the kind of drama that bums everyone out and makes you want to sit alone in the rain and contemplate the meaning of life (although that is, indeed, drama). No. I’m talking about the in-your-face, teen-angst-ridden, catty-girl-fight, my-boyfriend-is-dreamy-but-also-super-mysterious kind of drama. THAT’s what I try to capture when I write. And that’s what keeps the wheels of my brain turning with new storylines.
Why the drama love, you ask? Because we all remember what’s it’s like to be a teenager (unless, of course, you currently are a teenager…in which case, I’m speaking directly to you) and it always seems like the world is against you. Not to mention the fact that even the slightest ripple in the waters that are High School can have severe effects on both your social and love life. And I want to recreate the mess that is adolescence and give it a happy ending.
I want the geek girl to get the guy. She’s cooler than the pretty girl anyway, so she totally deserves the hot guy with the big heart.
I want the underdog to win. You know that misunderstood guy that sat in the back of chemistry lab and never spoke to anyone? I want him to be a rockstar with super powers that can save the world.
I want the girl who gets dumped because her first love had the hots for her best friend to come out ahead of everyone else. I want her to be feisty and stronger without the slimey ex-boyfriend and evil ex-BFF.
Basically? I want to take all the drama of high school and rewrite history. So, that’s what I do. I’m handing the spotlight to the kids in the background. Because they rock. (And also because I was one of them.)
I’m giving drama--the kind of drama that rocks the boat and makes you a better a person because you learned how to swim—a happy ending.
That’s why I write YA. :)
