What do I know about YA?
Author: Jax Cassidy // Category:
Nothing really.
All I recall of YA is sneaking around Judy Blume books in middle school and hiding in the closet with a flashlight to read. Now that I'm branching off and writing something my nieces can read, it's a whole different ballgame. I'm tired of YA turning into mini versions of adult romance. I miss the innocence of first crushes, first kiss, falling in 'puppy' love... all those things have long been swapped out by Gossip Girls, The Clique and a bunch of other YA readings that glorizes these groups of young girls who can be quite mean. What happened to Sweet Valley High or the Lakeside High Experiment? I want to get back to the wholesomeness of youth..and as I see these tv stations and movies focusing on sex as a selling point, it saddens me. I'm no prude by any means, but I feel like children should be children. In this day and age sex is prevalent in everything and I know that there are many authors like myself who want to 'regress' by writing stories that are lest evocative and more fun reading. I am not condemning authors who are moving into a more aggressive teenage YA direction because of what their publishing house wants, but I think that we are the influences on these kids, whether good or bad, and if we continue the trend of believing it's all right to push the envelope to such a young readership...it's our own fault when they are morally corrupt. We only have ourselves to blame. This is only my opinion...but that's why I'm trying to make a difference. My publisher is awesome because they agree with the direction I'm wanting for the YA line and it makes me proud to write for a company that believes in family values and morals. I miss those days when children respected their elders and everything they did was considered innocent. Now, we have to question all these children's motives and wonder if they are going to be corrupt mini versions of adults....it just depresses me. Why are we rushing our children to grow up so fast?
All I recall of YA is sneaking around Judy Blume books in middle school and hiding in the closet with a flashlight to read. Now that I'm branching off and writing something my nieces can read, it's a whole different ballgame. I'm tired of YA turning into mini versions of adult romance. I miss the innocence of first crushes, first kiss, falling in 'puppy' love... all those things have long been swapped out by Gossip Girls, The Clique and a bunch of other YA readings that glorizes these groups of young girls who can be quite mean. What happened to Sweet Valley High or the Lakeside High Experiment? I want to get back to the wholesomeness of youth..and as I see these tv stations and movies focusing on sex as a selling point, it saddens me. I'm no prude by any means, but I feel like children should be children. In this day and age sex is prevalent in everything and I know that there are many authors like myself who want to 'regress' by writing stories that are lest evocative and more fun reading. I am not condemning authors who are moving into a more aggressive teenage YA direction because of what their publishing house wants, but I think that we are the influences on these kids, whether good or bad, and if we continue the trend of believing it's all right to push the envelope to such a young readership...it's our own fault when they are morally corrupt. We only have ourselves to blame. This is only my opinion...but that's why I'm trying to make a difference. My publisher is awesome because they agree with the direction I'm wanting for the YA line and it makes me proud to write for a company that believes in family values and morals. I miss those days when children respected their elders and everything they did was considered innocent. Now, we have to question all these children's motives and wonder if they are going to be corrupt mini versions of adults....it just depresses me. Why are we rushing our children to grow up so fast?
