This week is Teen Read Week, which was created by the Young Adult Library Services Association in 1998 to encourage teens to be regular readers and library users.

I wanted to discuss the difficulties in writing for teens, or as it is commonly known YA. This age group spans 13 year olds to 19 year olds. Between these ages there are so many life changes, including peer pressure, school work expectations, not to mention hormonal misbalance and figuring out 'who you are' and 'what you want to do with your life' questions. It is utter turmoil and focus can be difficult. Today we are also battling nano-second concentration due to the constant digital addictive scrolling and the decline in mental capacity due to it.

The first challenge is the vernacular, those turns of phrase as authors we knew in our teenage years have disappeared. The adolescent zeitgeist is a swiftly moving thing. From one year to the next, if not quicker, slang, memes, emoji’s etc. have different and, in some cases, subversive meanings. When writing for this age group span you need to research and talk to teens to ensure the text you use is relevant to their culture and understanding. It is imperative you don’t talk down to your reader; they have more experience than you expect or realize in most cases.

Within YA novels your characters should be looking within themselves and thinking about their identity and life choices that affect their emotions and experiences. At the same time there needs to be an escapism quotient while still keeping one toe in reality, but also promising hope.

In general a first person perspective is the main viewpoint in YA literature because it puts the reader immediately in touch with the main character and what they are experiencing. These will include the first times event, such as first love, first heartbreak, first righteous anger! Having emotion, growth and evolution as the core of your stories reflect your readers’ experiences. Young adult fiction needs to be a safe space where they can ‘feel’ the emotions deeply without being personally hurt in the process.

What difficuties have you overcome writing ya fiction?

For my YA novellas, I kept the story lines age appropriate covering self worth and acceptance in Clickey Click and the importance of supporting friends in Creature Hunt on Planet Toaria.