PROMing IT 2!!

Before I get to my post, I must announce the winner of Kari Lee Townsend's SIGNED copy of her MG hit, The Samantha Granger Experiment: FUSED. Sorry I'm late, but being sick for three weeks has thrown me for a loop.

The WINNER is: TRACY!! chosen by random.org.

!!CONGRATS!!

Being a children's writer in all three realms of young adult, middle grade, and picture books affords me the right to be silly. Serious and sincere. Then there's wacky and gullible, snarky and frank. And of course a wee little bit ornery. Teeny years through those awkward tween years and into teen years are a rollercoaster ride. Remember??

Do you?? Because it's okay to remember, to reminisce, even when all those memories aren't the brightest. They make you who you are and ultimately are part of what makes you the writer you are. Don't shy from it.

Today, I'm highlighting writing for a Young Adult audience focusing on high school traditions, specifically the PROM. Coincidently, I wrote a bit about this subject over on Oasis for YA on Wednesday, namely PROMing IT!! 1. I briefly explored the importance of embracing your personal experiences and using them. Whether you went to your prom or multiple proms, or didn't attend, whether you thought the prom was the most fantastic night of your life or the most idiotic way to spend a perfectly good Saturday, you DID have an experience. A YA experience.

Josh & Erica

Utilize those emotions, those scenes and smells, tastes and sounds. Remember your annoyance with the chick who wouldn't stop crying because it was senior year or the stupid jocks who came to the dance drunk. In one shape or form you can incorporate these, mix and match, tweak and shake-up some fantastic YA scenes for your young adult stories.

This past weekend, my husband and I hosted a prom dinner for our oldest son, his date, and their friends. Talk about your young adult material. Awesome stuff. They laughed and joked and did completely normal stuff. After dinner the six girls slipped into their dresses in our bedroom and the guys got all handsome in Josh's room.

They headed off to the PROM, making memories and growing with each moment...just as the scenes in our YA stories need to built. After the PROM, Josh and Erica came back to the house, snacked on some leftover dinner and dessert, and headed off to a party. Each scene was as natural as our YA stories must read.

We (or most of us) are adults, but we were teens at one point. Don't abandon that past. Use it. Now go write an explosive YA scene.


Any PROM memories you've tweaked or utilized while writing YA?