Dear Jeannie: Young Adults Changing Life Trajectories

Dear Jeannie,

Airi watched most of her village get slaughtered. Those with silver eyes like her were spared, only to be tortured to death by the sadistic soldiers at the order of the Emperor. Airi saw her mother die this way. Airi was on her way to the same fate when she was rescued. Airi was a gentle young woman who loved people and helped them where she could. She was even training to become a healer. Airi was a strong, independent woman. Would something like this turn her into someone who was no longer self reliant? Would it be plausible for her to turn from a gentle healer into someone who would kill others like the soldiers who destroyed her village and tortured her with her healing skills? Would she have trust issues with those who rescued her? Thanks for the help.

Airi's sadistic author 


Dear Sadistic,

Its hard enough to grieve the loss of someone you love, much less to watch them die. Add the context of her mother's death, and the pending doom of a similar reality, and all bets are off. I guess what I'm saying is that you could have her go either way: maintaining her independence, fiercely protective of it, remembering what it was like to be in captivity and to be fearful all the time, determined not to be so again. Or you could have her grow angry and bitter at her circumstances, and possibly seek retribution for for the evils she endured (think Linda Hamiliton in Terminator 2). Sometimes these individuals are so cunning that they relish the opportunity to use the same weapons against their enemies that were used against them. I don't think she'd have trust issues with her rescuers though. Of all you wrote, that seemed the most improbable. When you are in a life and death situation and someone rescues you, you'd be more likely to be grateful for the salvation, not suspicious. Hope this helps!


Dear Jeannie,

Davin lives, eats, sleeps, breathes his squire training. Every decision this young man makes is oriented towards becoming a strong and capable knight. Until he goes home for the summer, for the first time in about five years. His parents let slip that he's betrothed to the king's daughter. Putting two and two together, Davin is pretty sure this means he has somehow become heir apparent for the throne. He knows the princess, and even likes her, but this is not part of his plan. As a 13-year-old, how is he going to process this information? My plot calls for him to make a new plan about this--at a fairly adult level--but I'm not sure he's at a point where he can think through the steps and consequences necessary to get where he's going. He's a stubborn, sincere boy who loves order and dislikes deviating from a tested, proven method or structure. (The princess in question is a strong-willed rule-breaker with an impulse-control problem, though Davin has found that she redirects her energy in healthy channels when he supports her unconventional goals.) Can this boy get from childhood to adulthood with his plans intact, or will he allow someone else to choose his future?

Courtly in Cornwall 

Dear Courtly,

At age 13, this young boy should be more interested in social relationships that you've indicated he is. Perhaps he's not into girls yet enough to want to give up his plans, but then I'd definitely make his knight training a tight-knit cohort of young men, because that's the stage of psychosocial development he's in. If in your story world you've normed 13-year-olds being betrothed, then he should react in the typical fashion. But for someone so driven to be a knight, he might definitely be irritated. In his push to fit in to a group of people. he might have defaulted to the knight trainees as his "peeps." But I just didn't get a sense of why he's so motivated to be a knight. Most young boys just want to play and goof around. Yes, he'd be trying to figure out who he is and what he wants to do. He'd want to establish his role as a knight, and participate in all the activities knights-in-training do. He might even see the princess as some sort of project to channel his abilities into (like he's trying to salvage her from being so headstrong but learns something from her in the process...that there's life to live out there). I'd welcome additional question if you'd lile to dialogue about this. Good luck!

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Romance Trend that Psychologically Distances Readers... And How to Avoid It

So I'm reading this book that I got for free on Amazon. (Love me some freebies.) Totally into it. The romance is great...chemistry is so good between the heroine and the lead. Tension is ramping up....will they get together, won't they get together?

And then the insurmountable black moment....only it comes in the middle of the book.

Say what?

Yep. Basically, the guy and girl SPLIT and GO THEIR SEPARATE WAYS.

Usually, we're in the female's POV for the duration of the separation (in YA and NA, we are almost solely in the female's POV). And we have to read chapter after chapter after chapter of her trying to "move on."

I think authors are overdoing this. I got so frustrated with the book I was reading, I zoomed forward on my Kindle app just until I saw the lead guy's name again. FINALLY...he was back on the page and a part of the story world.

Seriously...it was like 1/3 of the book was a complete waste of time.

When this happens, I usually skim the chapters without the romantic lead out of professional curiosity. As a result, you can save your precious time with this brief synopsis:

--The heroine tries to move on, but can't stop thinking about the lead. 
--She tries a new location, new job, new school, new boyfriend.
--Every guy will forever remind her of him. 
--Every place/song/dog/supermarket will remind her of him.
--She longs for some contact, and whatever contact she gets is ambivalent or upsetting.
--She is in the mother of all holding patterns.

We know by the backcover copy that heroine and the lead end up together. The chapters after the awful midway moment are just torture to slog through. Especially if we picked up a romance to read about---dumdumdumdum---a romance!

I've seen this in historicals, contemporaries, YA, and NA, paranormals...it's a bad trend.

I'm not saying that back things don't happen to couples to split them up. But we can push the reader
through this faster, with the illusion that the girl has tried to move on, etc, rather than make them throw our books down our of frustration or skim. (Because once I start skimming an author, it's the kiss of death for future sales.)

One book that did this exceptionally well was New Moon. When Edward makes the decision to leave Bella, Stephenie Meyer did the most amazing thing to pass time in Bella's POV...each page had the name of one month centered on it. So just four or five page turns later, we're almost a half-year into the separation. Still totally engaged.

So if this is the plot of your novel, what can you do?

1) Leave some ambiguity about the nature of the relationship. 

There need to be loose ends all over the place. This was one thing most all authors did. It alerted me to the fact that things weren't concluded, but unfortunately for them, this was my cue to start skimming.

2) Pass the time creatively.

We might not all be able to do what Meyer did in New Moon. But think outside the lines. Sometimes, this can be done with one sentence. A good example comes from the Bible:

And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature. Luke 2:52

Literary frugality as its finest: Luke didn't waste time on every little thing that happened to tween Jesus because adult Jesus was much more interesting to read about. (Click to tweet!) We can learn a lesson from this. It's sometimes more useful to show the lessons your heroine learns while going solo or "moving on" after she's already established in her new life.

3) You can start en media res (in the middle of things) AGAIN.

Let the reader see how your heroine is functioning months later, sans man. We can see her character development, and know if she's "stuck" or maturing, once we're reestablished in the story world. We don't have to live through the daily angst of her not receiving phone calls or wondering if he "still thinks about her."

Let's Analyze

Have you read a book like what I'm talking about? Did you finish it? Put it down? Skim? What other suggestions do you have to help writers push through the largely uninteresting "heroine growth" section?

YA/New Adult "Good Girl Saves Bad Boy" Myth Problematic

I'm totally disillusioned.

I have a daughter. She's almost 5.

The thought of her reading these books that are labeled as "Young Adult" in ten years is just mind blowing.

I'm not one of these parents with my head stuck in the sand, either. I'm a therapist...I know that sex in today's youth culture is prevalent. I know how Planned Parenthood is like a mecca for these kids, too.

We can't ignore it. That's not going to solve the problem of underage pregnancy and STDs.

I just want to be able to give my daughter the option of a different way. I want her to know that couples can get together and not have sex as an expected part of the relationship.

Does this happen? Yes. 

Does it have to be the prevailing narrative for teens? No.

I finished 4 popular, well-rated secular YA books over the weekend. They were quick reads, for the most part.  And I enjoy revisiting a time in my life that was full of angst and drama and excitement and firsts. But these books all have something in common, and it's part of the reason why I think the sex in these books becomes the focal point too soon.

There is something innately bred in girls (and women) to believe they can be the "bad boy's" savior.

Everyone of the books I read featured a playboy hero and virginal heroine. I mean, this is like Fifty Shades of Gray for teens. In a post about that book, I quoted the heroine Ana, as having the following thought:

This man, whom I once thought of as a romantic hero, a brave shining white knight—or the dark knight as he said. He’s not a hero; he’s a man with serious, deep emotional flaws, and he’s dragging me into the dark. Can I not guide him into the light?

These poor teens gravitate toward the idea that they CAN guide these boys into the light. That their innocence will be enough to save the guy from his path of destruction, to change him for the better into a one-woman family man. That they alone will be able to see through the rough, superhot exterior to the tenderhearted, broken little insecure boy underneath.

I won't say that this can't happen...but I will say it's rare. The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Ask any behaviorally-oriented therapist and they will tell you the same.

Isn't it folly to fill our kid's head with the idea that this is the natural order of things? That my daughter should settle her heart on a bad boy and hope that she's different enough--special enough--to change him? And what happens when, in real life, he doesn't change? Her heart is broken thinking she's not good enough to change him.

Excuse me? HE'S the dirtbag who can't--or won't--change.

The books I read featured a bad boy who eventually does do a 180 and of course they end up happily ever after. 

[Insert eye roll here.]

Why can't YA books portray the actual reality of the success rate of relationships like this? The aftermath of virgins giving their innocence away only to have it thrown back at them? The unlikelihood of two sexually-polar opposites finding a middle ground?

Best quote ever for young girls to memorize regarding this subject:

Better to rescue a good man from his loneliness 

than a bad boy from his misogyny. 

~ Rabbi Schmuley

End of rant. I know I'm sounding off on this a little bit lately, but I think there is something worth investigating here with this trend. The widely successful popularity of books with this theme is utterly alarming.

Let's Analyze

What are your thoughts about the bad boy hero and the virginal heroine? Have you read books exactly like what I've described? Do you have any awesome suggestions of YA books for me that don't feature this alarming trend?

New Adult/YA Bestsellers Fall Flat

I spent a ton of time reading over the break. I managed to read most all Kindle bestsellers in the Young Adult/New Adult category, as that's where the wind has been blowing me lately. For this post, I'm going to focus on Hopeless by Colleen Hoover (NYT best seller) and The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden by Jessica Sorensen (NYT and USA Today best seller).

Nice graphic there, eh? Did it myself. At any rate, consider yourself warned.

What struck me the most was the similarities of these two stories. Indeed, I feel sure that everyone who bought one must have bought the other. They have almost the exact same number of reviews (both over 1300).

Both deal with incredibly dense subject matter once you take away the heart-pounding romance elements. In Hopeless, the main character (Sky) is a victim of childhood sexual abuse. In The Coincidence, the heroine (Callie) is a victim of sexual abuse and has an eating disorder (more on this later), and the hero (Kayden) is a victim of severe physical abuse at the hands of his father.

Both had very good characterization development at the beginning, at least. I became invested in the stories, but this only served to throw my let down in sharp contrast. But there were some things done right, for sure.

As to what wasn't.

I'll start with Hopeless.

Sky has trouble with intimacy. She removes herself from the moment and goes into her head, a common problem with victims of sexual abuse. However, she doesn't remember the abuse, so thinks there is just something wrong with her. She's a virgin.

Enter Holder, the hunky ex-neighbor she doesn't remember who is the brother of her best friend (whom we later come to learn killed herself because she, too, was abused by Sky's dad). He knows who she is and also that she doesn't know. Sky conveniently starts having these recovered dreams to put the pieces together. She comes to understand that her "mother" abducted her to protect her from her father.

Once she remembers how her daddy would "turn the doorknob" and come into her room at night after her mother died, she decides to confront him. He's a law enforcement officer (some sort of statement there, I feel). Holder is there, and the book just slowly deteriorates.

Dad ends up copping to the truth, which includes a revelation that he abused the "little girl next door" after Sky left home (which devastates Holder, b/c now he knows why his sister committed suicide). Then, no joke, her dad kills himself in front of his daughter and Holder. Literally takes his gun and blows bits of his brain into Sky's hair. As if this isn't enough to traumatize someone for life, they go back to their hotel, take a shower together, pick out the brain matter, and then have sex for the first time?!? WHAT? We're so messed up that we need to get together. Totally unbelievable, very melodramatic, utterly disappointing.

Now on to The Coincidence. This one was the better of the two for me, but there were equally unbelievable aspects.

Callie has all the stereotypical outward characteristics of an anorexic/bulimic. She is skinny, wears baggy clothes, and all of a sudden, had a behavioral change in 6th grade where she went from "normal" to "freak" when she withdrew from everyone and everything (take a wild guess what happened to make this change).

But that's where this element of her characterization ends. Most people are dominated by their eating disorders to the point of physical unhealthiness. Callie just "dabbles" in it when she wants to. A trip to the bathroom to make herself feel better after getting too "close" to Kayden physically, to help her gain control. Purging is not an afterthought.

She interrupts Kayden's dad from killing him the night of graduation and they have a platonic moment before she leaves for college that summer. He joins her at the school during regular freshman orientation, during which Callie has undergone a tremendous change socially, at least. No identified reason for this change, but I suppose being away from her hometown and the bad things that happened to her at home helped?

She now has a best guy friend who is gay (major cliche, with his own issues due to his sexuality) who she now trusts when she has trusted no one before (likely because he has no interest in her sexually and the pressure is off). They have this list of things that she's supposed to do...basically to live a little, all of which thrust her into Kayden's path more and transform her physical appearance (getting rid of her trusted hoodie sweatshirt, wearing her hair down instead of in a ponytail, etc).

Kayden is physically abused by his father, who has major anger management issues. I think this is fairly true to life around the world, and abused guys are rarely featured in fiction, so I found that part refreshing. His family dynamics were well done, as well, given that Kayden was the youngest of three boys, and he was left to his dad's rage when his brothers skipped town.

He has emotional scars, just like Callie...and I suppose that is the coincidence of them getting together? Both are familiar with outward scars. Callie has to face her abuser (brother's friend) when he comes home during Christmas break during the same trip that Kayden's dad nearly kills him.

And then the book ends.

What can possibly be more frustrating than a non-ending? Now you have to read The Secret of Ella and Micha to finish Callie and Kayden's story. I suppose this could be a positive according to marketing and sales...but I have lost all faith in this author to produce a story from cover to cover. Just advertise it as half a book if that's what it is.

I suppose you can say that this is my rant, but hey...

It's my blog and I can rant if I want to, rant if I want to, rant if I want to....you (might) rant to if it happened to you.

Let's Analyze

Have you read either of these two books? What were your thoughts?

It's not too late to enter my Writer's Guide to Breaking Stereotypes giveaway! Today is the last day to enter, so click here! Winner announced Thursday.

YA Trend: Friends are Friends Forever...Whatever!

There is a disturbing trend in YA fiction that I guest posted on over at A Tapestry of Words.

I'd love it if you pop over, say hello, and let me know if you have also noticed this trend. I'll see you there!

THE Post to Read if You Write Young Adult Fiction

A while ago, I was asked what the difference is between YA character development and that of the development of characters for adult fiction. The actual writing process is much the same, yet the themes from a developmental perspective might be different...however, still universal (thus the appeal of YA books to adults).

Young Adults Are In Transition

According to Erik Erickson, the Adolescent stage of development (ages 12-19, depending on who you quote) marks the beginning of when what we do makes more of a difference than what is done to us. The YA reader is neither child nor adult, so they are grappling with who or what, exactly, they are.

They are trying to define themselves with their actions, which can be translated into behaviors that alter their appearance, such as tattoos, piercings, and dying their hair, or where they choose to spend their time (church v. mall v. the downtown "strip" where they ride in each others' cars---you know you did this). All of it is an attempt to figure out the main question children this age want answered: "Who am I and where am I going?"

This can be summed up by saying a YA will have an identity crisis (Erickson was the one who is credited with coining this term). Life gets bigger and bigger the longer they live it, and they realize they no longer are the center of the universe eventually. They grapple with social and moral issues. Teens are building up their ideals, because at this time, it's easier to think in terms of ideals than reality, because a teenager has little experience. So give them something to idealize, care about, ponder.

Bros Before Hos 'Rents

Crass, but true. The most significant relationships teens have are with their peers. They most likely aren't going to want to read about a teen hero's problems with his parents. Romance is burgeoning during this stage, so not including a romantic theme would be a mistake (according to developmental theories, anyway).

The main thing is for the reader to identify with the character, so your YA character should be struggling to find their place in the world, what they want to do with their life, who they want to be. It's cliche, but coming of age stories work for this age group.

A Warning: Don't Sell Teens Short

Teens deserve more than just fluff, and sometimes YA gets the wrong impression that it's just a "quick read" (because they are indeed oftentimes shorter books)....but that should not translate to "shallow." This age period is one where they are experimenting and need to be reminded of what all is out there, both good and bad.

Books like Twilight, Divergent, and The Hunger Games fly off the shelf because of the character development. These are teens in transition, trying to figure out life, love, and survival. (Have you walked the halls of a high school lately? Not too different from post-apocolyptic descriptions of America, folks.)

Many YA books are written in first person point of view, and I think that's by design. Teens (and adults) are literally drawn in from page one....becoming the heroine or hero, feeling their conflicts and vicariously living them out.  We can only hope that our books will give teens similar strength, commitment, drive, and integrity to jump life's hurdles.

So in closing, be real. Grapple with hard, strong emotions....because you can be sure the teens out there reading your stuff are doing the same. 

Let's Analyze: 

What are you're thoughts on the differences between character development for YA v. adult fiction? Anything you want to add?