Is it hard to write for teens?

It has been awhile since I had actually written anything but it is really hard to write for teens? We were all teenagers once and I know that not all of us have the same experience but why is difficult to write for teens?

It's not. It's just that for some baffling reason, Twilight has basically become the Trope Codifier for fiction aimed at teenagers. Meaning nearly everyone who hears the words "Teenage fiction" thinks "Twilight rip-off, AKA: Crap."

edited 4th Jun '14 2:24:18 AM by Lunacorva

It's hard to write for them if you approach it from a certain perspective. Generally speaking I'd say its a little easier, but personally, I prefer stories that are written with an adult viewpoint in mind; it allows for a more comprehensive and sincere view of things. But, the fact is that teens enjoy all kinds of adult literature and vice versa, so the reality is that the lines are blurred. In summary, you should go crazy.

It's no harder to write for teens than any other audience. However, there are different ages of teenager, with different expected maturity levels. Parents might appreciate it if you steer clear of swear words and any mention of sexual matters, teens might find that too sanitized.

Mainly, you'll need to have a few teenagers read over your second or third draft, to spot any problems they might have with the material.

I would say it is hard enough to write something good for any audience!

It also depends on what you want to do. Do you want to teach them something? That will take some effort. Entertain them? Twilight style will probably do. Reach out to some other topic? It will depend on the topic. Use humor to make them laugh? That will be different too.

For general literary entertainment purposes, a sort of blank character they can easily identify with will, in my opinion, help them identify with it, which is the case of Twilight...how you handle it will give it certain hues.

I think it is hard to write for teenagers specifically because...writers tend to be older, and not teenagers, so they will end up thinking a bit differently. Perhaps you could do some research about it...I suggest looking up Erik erikson´s stages of psychosocial development, Piaget´s theory of cognitive development, and so to try to get an idea of what troubles teenagers´ minds in general.

Not neccesarily. I am a teenager, and I'm not a fan of Twilight (for the usual reasons), nor "blank" characters. There are a few examples of blank characters that I liked, but in general I prefer a character that's fully fleshed-out and memorable in their own way.

Same deal with me. I'm a teenager, and I'd much rather have memorable, unique, active characters rather thank blank slates. There is nothing inherently wrong with blank slates, I guess, but it's definitely not what I like to read. I want to become emotionally invested in the narrator, not just pretend they're me.

Basically, it might also be a good idea just to make the protagonist easy to relate to, but make them unique enough to stand on their own and really be their own person.

As someone who was a teenager until just two years ago, I can assert with absolute confidence that Twilight was not liked by a majority of my peers. The vast majority of us hated it.

edited 4th Jun '14 9:57:04 PM by Lennik

Twlight aside, what about toher young adult novels such as the Hunger games, The Giver, Catcher In The Rye or Harry Potter? They mostly have to do with growing up but do Slice-of-Life stories work as well?

The rules aren't set in stone. It has more to do with the execution of the thing.