Guest Post : Writing YA By Michelle Harrison

Please welcome Michelle Harrsion to Books for Company!

Thanks for a great guest post Michelle, I am grateful you took some time to write for my blog =)


Writing YA – Michelle Harrison 

When I was in my late teens I had an argument with my mum about a boyfriend. In the interests of swine anonymity I’ll omit the gory details, but the gist of it was this: 

Mum: He’ll break your heart, trust me. I’ve seen his type before, but you won’t listen. You can’t put an old head on young shoulders.

Me: You’ve made your mistakes. Let me make mine.

Unsurprisingly, it was a mistake, but the point is that I made it because I got to make a choice. Being told someone is no good for you is not the same as finding it out for yourself. 

I’ve been trying to pinpoint what it is that compels me to write for and about young people and I think a large part of it is to do with discovery. It’s the age when we start to make decisions, make changes, take chances, take risks. Before we’ve had time to become set in our ways or allowed (or even encouraged) ourselves to grow hardened and cynical; when we’re most open to trying anything – or almost anything – at least once. When we begin to learn that with every action comes a consequence.

What happens to us as a result of these choices and subsequent discoveries starts to shape the person we become and how we see others. There will always be the one you fall for, despite being warned away from them. The friend who betrays your most trusted secret. The person you look up to the most, and then suddenly find isn’t as perfect as you thought they were. Making a mistake once is never a guarantee that you won’t make it again, or that it won’t hurt. However, everything we feel, we usually feel it most intensely when it’s for the first time. Everyone remembers their first love, first kiss, their first bitter taste of heartbreak.

We’re still getting to know ourselves, bit by bit. In a way, we’re like a first draft of a manuscript. Most of the ingredients are there and each chapter unfolds to a new revelation. Some parts we’ll want to change or erase, and others we’ll want to add to or improve on, but there’s no denying that the first draft has a freshness about it. It’s raw and open to possibilities. It’s all this, and how we each deal with situations that come our way, especially for the first time, that draws me to writing for young adults.

So far, all of my books have delved into the supernatural in some way. It was as a teenager that my fascination with the subject began, and I remember reading more than once that supernatural activity tends to be experienced most often by young people, especially adolescents. Is this because of the higher level of thrill seeking and risk-taking, such as the willingness to experiment with ouija boards and similar? Or is it just the case that young people are simply more receptive because they haven’t yet lost the capacity to believe?

My mum told me that you can’t put an old head on young shoulders, and she was right. But why would anyone want to?

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