ネイティブが教える英会話のジェムスクール☆Teachers☆

My preferred reading and writing genre is YA, young adult fiction. As some of you know, I spend almost all of my weekends working on my MFA in English and Creative Writing. For a recent essay, I had to explain why I chose YA as my genre for the MFA program. Please have a look at what I wrote.

" Once upon a time, in the growing past between my adolescence and current age, I fell in love with YA fiction. I am very lucky that my mom taught me to read very early and that I grew up enthralled with books. As my life circumstances became turbulent, books became a welcomed escape from my chaotic life. In middle school, I began reading titles like To Kill a Mockingbird, Speak, Are You There God? It’s Me. Margaret, and other contemporary YA classics. The resonance and validation I discovered in these novels became something to cling to. They were not only entertaining but educational and emotionally grounding. Even though these were fictional characters, I felt validated that I was not the only girl dealing with dysfunctional family problems and growing pains.
In high school I followed literary trends, devouring Harry Potter, The Twilight Saga, and The Hunger Games trilogy. These stories served as enthralling entertainment as well as a place to reflect and work to better understand myself. As I continued to grow up into adulthood, I simply never tired of these transformative stories. My favorite YA novel, If I Stay by Gayle Foreman, bridged the gap for me as I began community college, keeping me aligned with the genre and all it had to offer.
It wasn’t until I began studying creative writing in college that I truly understood why I am still so irrevocably in love with YA as a genre. It comes back to the themes that are central to it; identity, coming-of-age, self-discovery, first love, family, and friendship. These themes are central to adolescence certainly, but in my experience, far beyond adolescence too. Even at thirty, I am working to understand and come into myself, to be a good friend, daughter, and significant other. While I am further along than at 15, my coming-of-age story still feels underway. So, even in stories with teen protagonists dealing with the perils of high school, I continue to relate and find value.
I have dreamed of being an author since childhood, simply because I loved books and good stories. Now that I am formally developing the skills I need to write well, my appreciation for YA as a genre has combined with a passionate goal of creating literature that can help support and validate readers just as so many authors have done for me. If I can write a novel that can offer some insight, comfort, and validation to just one person, I’ll have achieved my dream. "

Next time I will tell you about my all time favorite YA novel. What do you think of my essay? As an early draft of what will likely be part of my thesis, I'm content.

Happy reading and writing!

Kindly,
Erin