Elizabeth George on Writing Her First YA Novel
September 10, 2012
Mystery writer Elizabeth George has built a great following for her adult novels. Last week Penguin Young Readers Group released her first YA novel, The Edge of Nowhere. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, George explained that there are big differences between writing for adults and young adults. She also confessed that despite her two decades of experience as a writer, this project challenged her in many ways.
"There are no similarities between the genres aside from developing good, strong, believable characters and having a plot that holds together. YA was incredibly difficult for me because the teenage characters determine all the action in the plot. While I’ve used teenage characters many times in my adult fiction, there is no requirement placed upon me to have any particular character do anything other than be in the story. Having the teenage characters in the position of effecting the plot, that was tough."