Writing a teen character is something I wanted to try again for a long time!
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I actually love writing for teens best. I had such an awful time in my own teen years - I love having the chance to relive them through my fiction.
I like to write about teenagers because it's such an uncertain and dramatic time.
I write with teenagers in mind.
I decided that, if I were to write a teen series, I'd want to set it in a place that was familiar to me - Manhattan, where I'd grown up - and I'd model the characters on myself and my friends.
I didn't 'decide' to write YA, per se. But every time I thought of a story, it featured characters 15, 16, 17.
I used to be an editor and I was editing young adult series. I didn't really like the books that I was reading, so I decided that I would write a book about something I'd want to read if I was 16. It turned into a Cinderella story... I developed a proposal and the characters of 'Gossip Girl' for my job.
I always had a passion to write as a young girl.
When I wrote my first story, all the characters were teenagers because I think 16, 17 is a great age.
I'd never really considered doing young-adult novels, but one of the things that a friend pointed out to me is that I've actually had a teenage character in almost every adult novel that I've written.
I've always enjoyed teen characters, and kids as well. For whatever reason, I seem to have an ability to do it sort of well, and I enjoy doing it.