Getting in touch with your inner teen is the key to writing adolescent protagonists, and award-winning author Susin Neilsen is a definitive expert on the subject.
With six novels in the young adult genre and the moniker “the Canadian John Green,” Neilsen has the knowledge about writing young adult protagonists that works, and she shared some of it during her workshop at the Festival of Words.
She began with a helpful rule that all writers, regardless of genre, should consider: first, build a character and then write a story about them.
The character is the part of any story that the audience falls in love with, whether it’s literature, television, or film, making it an important chess piece in writing.
For many authors, writing a teenage character can be a struggle — especially if you’re not a teenager yourself. For Neilsen, the trick is to reach into personal memories and try to remember what it felt like to be that age.
“It’s about tapping into emotional memories, emotional truths from that age,” said Nielsen in her workshop.
For many, adolescence can be a painful time to remember, but Nielsen recommends harnessing that emotion and using it to build a rounded character. From there, pack on details: what’s their family like, where do they live, what’s their favourite thing to do?
Imagining how your character would react to certain situations or prompts is also a useful tool to explore their depth, said Nielsen. She also noted not to worry if your character becomes someone you don’t recognize: part of building a strong character is letting them grow into themselves.
Neilsen also noted a few pitfalls that young adult fiction writers often fall into, like moralizing the story, or talking down to the readers — and advised to avoid them.
“Write a story you find entertaining, don’t write a story you feel should be written or has a really important message,” said Neilsen. “First and foremost, a good story is a good story.”
“Largely, aside from having a young protagonist who’s going to have different desires, wants, worldviews, knowledge, it’s always about telling a good story,” she added.
Neilsen finds that the age range that includes young protagonists like hers is such a fascinating age to explore because of it’s plethora of first experiences, and urges authors to get in touch with their inner teen during the writing process.
