ESSAI Volume 12 Article 8 Spring 2014 So You Want to Write YA: Social Responsibility and Young Adult Literature Julia Andersen College of DuPage Follow this and additional works at: http://dc.cod.edu/essai Recommended Citation Andersen, Julia (2014) "So You Want to Write YA: Social Responsibility and Young Adult Literature," ESSAI: Vol. 12, Article 8. Available at: http://dc.cod.edu/essai/vol12/iss1/8 This Selection is brought to you for free and open access by the College Publications at DigitalCommons@COD. It has been accepted for inclusion in ESSAI by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@COD. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Andersen: So You Want to Write YA So You Want to Write YA: Social Responsibility and Young Adult Literature by Julia Andersen (English 1102) espite what the uninitiated might assume, there is much more to Young Adult literature than supernatural love triangles; writing quality YA is a difficult and time-consuming task. D Although no one can deny the popularity of titles like Stephenie Meyer’s best-selling Twilight, for example, many a critic has lampooned her flimsy characters and flat writing, and the borderline-abusive relationship between the novel’s main character and her love interest has been thoroughly decried. Meyer’s novel, written in three months, took off in the Young Adult market, but the message she sends to teens about gender roles and relationships is considered by many to be a troubling one. YA authors must consider their impressionable adolescent audience while crafting their story, and take into account young adults’ many and varied needs during a time of intense life changes.