YOUTH NOW
What YA Fiction Taught Me
Young adult novels are bravely exploring the biggest themes of our era and creating a community of empowered teenagers in the process
When I started writing my second novel early last year, I made a gigantic mistake. At the time, I didn’t see it as a gigantic mistake; I saw it as a smart and clever editorial decision. I was both wrong and right about that. Anyway, I wouldn’t realize the trouble I’d gotten myself into until this spring when the mistake led to a profound and miserable bout of writer’s block. Spring — the season of fecundity and rebirth. How ironic is that?
My second novel, Days of Wonder, is about a theater director named Tom and his 15-year-old daughter, Hannah, who has a life-threatening heart condition. They live in a small town in the southwest of England, surrounded by eccentric friends who care deeply about them. Hannah has grown up around fairy tales, comic books, and theatrical productions; her life has been happy and sort of magical — but now terrible things are coming for her. I made the decision to write the novel in the first person, alternating between the viewpoints of Tom and Hannah. This, I thought, would let me show how the two of them viewed their relationship and their challenges differently. The reader would…
