✏️ Why I Write YA
I’ve known since I was young that I wanted to be a writer. I wrote my first story when I was seven. It was a recounting of a dream that had really stuck with me for reasons I still don’t understand. It was a war story.
Throughout the years that followed, I dabbled in short stories, poetry, and even tried my hand at songwriting. An essay I wrote in high school was decent enough to be published in our school newspaper (which wasn’t a huge accomplishment since my school’s newspaper was a joke).
When the time came to go to college, I was set on being a pre-law student, and I did that for three years. The end of that third year brought a realization that while I was doing well in pre-law studies, I wasn’t enjoying it at all. Two days later, I changed my major to English, with a focus on Technical Writing. I took as many creative writing electives as I possibly could.
Despite flirtations with law school after I finished undergrad, I came back to writing. I enrolled in and completed my first Master’s degree program in Creative Writing at Mount Mary University. Two years later, I had my degree and had turned in a full novel manuscript as my Master’s thesis.
I had planned to be done with school, but my advisor had other plans. She recommended I apply to Lesley University’s low-residency Creative Writing MFA program. One of my favorite authors (Chris Lynch) was an instructor there, and my advisor thought working with him would be a great idea. To appease her, I applied, then set out looking for a stable full-time job.
Weeks later, the director of the program at Lesley University called to congratulate me on my acceptance. I worked with Chris Lynch, focused on Writing for Young People, and the rest, as they say, is history.
But why do I write for young adults now?
The short answer is that I write the books I wanted to see and needed to read when I was coming of age — especially those with LGBT characters and situations.
The longer answer is that I never started out knowing that I’d be writing YA. I had always planned to simply write adult fiction. However, every time I’d sit down and write a story, my characters were always younger — late teens and early twenties. So, to paraphrase Kevin James in his film Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2, “I didn’t choose YA, YA chose me.”
To date, I have three completed YA novels. I’ve never tried to get them published, as they need a lot of work. My current manuscript is the one I used as the Master’s thesis at Lesley University. It’s gone through a lot of changes and still isn’t complete, but I’m getting there. And then the edits begin.
My end goal, whether I try to go the traditional publishing route or decide to self-publish, is a simple one, really: If I can help just one kid out there in the world, I’ve done my job. That’s it. Just one kid who might questioning who they are or what they’re meant to do in life.