The stories I'm writing are trying to reach to the teenage and new adult audiences. I'm want to let them know that they are not alone in any situation or problems they are dealing with. In a way, I wish I had read or found stories that I'm writing now as way to help guide me through my own young adulthood.
I found that my dialogue and lingo is very early to mid 2000s. I don't even know how to handle texting in novels. This is all "novel" to me - pun intended. I honestly want to bring the story back to when texting was a new form of communication and hardly used. I loved writing about phone calls and the slamming down of the receiver in anger! Or the struggles to find the cordless phone as it rings endlessly.
But how can that be relatable to teenagers and young adults in this day and age? They probably don't even have landline phones in their homes.
I'm struggling to figure out whether or not to have them speak in slang or keep it general. I've noticed in some of the newer books I read they tend to lean towards new slang vs. general language. I do realize as I'm entering this genre in 2020, I need to start reading more young adult 2020 books. I've got a few on my list to read and after I get through some of my "to-be-read" piles I will start to jump in.
Research means reading - a lot. Not to pull or steal ideas from other others, but to make sure your book aligns with the other "more traditional published" books out there. You don't want someone picking up a book, try to read it, and cannot get through it because it's unrelatable. That's every author's worst nightmare.
And these teenagers right now -- they're maturing and growing up faster than before with information at their fingertips. Sometimes I wish they didn't have to see or go through the things they've experienced, so hopefully the books I'm writing will help them through their own personal crises.
Thanks for reading!
-Emi