I had the pleasure of participating in a Teen Ink Twitter chat last night. Teen Ink is a national teen magazine, book series, and website devoted entirely to teenage writing, art, photos and forums. Students must be age 13-19 to participate and from what I’ve seen this is a hot bed of artistry for the YA Crowd. I have so enjoyed the writing and photography of these kids that I ordered my own subscription to the magazine.
I’m not going to lie to you, as an author of YA books, I’m trying to make a connection with this crowd. But my fascination with them goes deeper than that. I like them. To me, teenagers are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get. But I’m finding there’s a whole lot of caramels in there and not nearly as many orange fluffs as I might have imagined. They surprise me all the time. In a good way. I no longer just want them to read my book; to listen to me. I want a two way conversation. There weren’t any visible teens on the chat last night. Perhaps they were there, lurking in the dusty corners. Or not. Either way, they were missed–I had questions for those young adults. There were things I wanted to know. It was a great chat–but it would have been a better one if they were in it. Hope we can talk again soon.
What’s the most amazing thing that you’ve learned from a young adult?
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I'll bet the teens you meet love making a connection with you, because you _listen_. 🙂
The most amazing thing I've learned for a young adult? Not to let fear hold you back from pursuing your dreams, whatever they may be.