Growing up I wanted to be a photographer, an architect, an actress, a teacher and even a spy. But there was one role that overpowered them all – a writer. The influence came largely from the writings of Roald Dahl who became a childhood favourite of mine ever since a class reading of ‘The Twits.’ Today, thinking about young adult fiction immediately took me back to my childhood as I thought about the books I used to read and find enjoyable. Writer’s such as C.S. Lewis, J.K. Rowling, Jacqueline Wilson and Lewis Carroll also became massively influential. Now, I think back and realise all the adventures I’ve been through – I would attend mad tea parties, discover treasured islands, meet big friendly giants. To this day when writing I can easily relate to the words of Dahl as he states ‘Two hours of writing fiction leaves this writer completely drained. For those two hours he has been in a different place with totally different people.’ Roald Dahl.

A creative writing session within my undergraduate course was dedicated to engaging with skills about writing for Young Adults. A ‘young adult’ is a term that I would think applies to an age range of 11-18 year olds. Therefore there is quite a large span as to what topics should apply to which age within that range as it is the most sensitive and rapid time of when your mind-set and maturation is evolved.

The session I found thoroughly enjoyable and Young Adult fiction is a topic of writing that I have always wanted to pursue as a professional career. As part of an exercise I have written an opening of a Young Adult novel, most likely to appeal to an audience of 11-15 years. The following is a blurb I have created for the novel (although the whole story has not been written):

The Boring Blurb

WARNING: This book contains spoilers of the new and upcoming movie of ‘Early Retirement’ that some readers may prefer to avoid.

I’m sorry. That is a lie. ‘Early Retirement’ is not going to become a movie. But I will tell you something now. If it was to become a movie, it would not be very pleasant to watch. This is why I chose to tell you this story about a peculiar young girl through writing, so you are able to avoid the grim, gloomy and ghastly imagery in action. You are welcome.

Though, I will warn you about some health matters. If you suffer from reading deeply daunting descriptions of super scary scenes then I would advise you to not read this book as it may cause symptoms of fright and fear. If you suffer from such a disease I would advise you to read something else, perhaps one about rainbows, unicorns and princesses. Nevertheless, if you do not mind the likings of squashed rats, horrific haircuts, bloody carcasses and the occasional case of terrible cooking, then proceed – but with caution! If you are a wimp I would suggest you put this book down now and walk away.

Like what you have read? The first few pages of ‘Early Retirement’ is located in this blog in the ‘Creative Writing’ section. Bare in mind that it is for a younger audience. Hope you enjoy.

Although a little younger than my aimed audience, my first critic became a nine year old girl who read the opening pages and decided to drawn an illustration to what she had just read. The following is the picture she drew;