Love reading Young Adult Fiction? Find out more about the beginnings of this genre, and all the YA classics beloved by readers around the world.
Wattpad brings you a guest post from Dan Ahearn, writer of YA mystery “Dark Beach”:
YA say YA want a revolution?
YA fiction: questioning your world view since… well, like forever.
More than any other book, S. E Hinton’s The Outsiders inspired me to write my story Dark Beach. The Outsiders was the first book written not only for teenagers, but by a teenager. Hinton was 16 when she wrote the book. Even though the talk of the Greasers and the Socs may seem odd, the emotions of two social classes of kids at war still ring true, especially, poor doomed Johnny’s hope that Ponyboy will “Stay Gold,” and hang on to the idealism of youth. Ponyboy and his friends don’t have clear ideas of how to change their situation but they keep trying, lashing out blindly with tragic consequences. The Outsiders is a great read if you love passion, drama, youthful alienation and rebellion. And who doesn’t?
Not to get into movies too much, but Rebel Without a Cause, a hit movie starring James Dean and Natalie Wood, was a huge influence on Hinton and other young writers. James Dean and Natalie Wood are incredible in this movie. And you’ll see that many contemporary actors like Leonardo Dicaprio and James Franco owe much of their acting style to James Dean. Rebel created generations of rebels, both writers and filmmakers. (BTW, Kristen Stewart will soon be appearing in a movie based on Jack Kerouac’s On The Road, another rebellious classic of the 50s/60s period. Check it out.)
Continue below for more YA Fiction!
J. D. Salinger’s Holden Caulfield, the narrator of Catcher in the Rye, is a founding rebel whose voice is echoed in The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Some claim that Catcher in the Rye, not The Outsiders, is the first true YA novel. Though not written specifically for young people, Catcherin the Rye has been a constant favorite with every new generation of teens. Other classics sharing Catcher’s DNA are To Kill a Mockingbird, A Separate Peace,The Bell Jar, Less than Zero and Ordinary People. Each one threatening to start a fresh revolution each time a new reader opens them. Personally, I’m conscious of Catcher in the Rye’s influence on almost everything I write, especially in Dark Beach.
While reading The Hunger Games, I was reminded of Mary Renault’s thrilling adventure The King Must Die. In this novel, the teenage prince Theseus demands to be part of a “tribute” of young people who are taken by the Minoan Empire. These teenagers are sacrificed in the Bull Dance (a kind of ceremonial bull fight) in the capitol city of Knossos in Crete. As they die one by one, Theseus begins to realize that his only hope of survival is, you guessed it: Revolution. Sound familiar? It’s an amazing story; I defy you to read it just once. If you’re a Hunger Games fan, you’ll love it.
The Giver is another great depiction of a ‘paradise’ that most of us would consider hell. (Jeff Bridges is developing The Giver for the screen. He looks right for the part, don’t you think?) In The Giver, society tries to control all emotions, particularly romantic love. The idea is order and peace, but Jonas, the hero of the Giver, discovers horrifying truths about his ‘peaceful’ community. Finally, he has no choice but total rebellion.
The classics Brave New World and 1984 contain many of these same themes of people being forced by unnatural societies into revolution. And don’t be put off reading some of these ‘classics’ either. They appear regularly on lists of banned books. This proves their lasting significance and power. In other words, these books are so good, they have made some people very angry.
In the brilliant cyberpunk dystopian novel, M.T. Anderson’s Feed, the society has really gotten into your head. Literally! The internet is implanted in kids’ brains and they are constantly online, living a lotus-eater life of consumerist distraction gone wild, while the world goes down the tubes around them. Finally, two kids try to fight their way back to reality, with heart-breaking consequences.
What’s right? What’s wrong? How do you tell the difference and what do you do about it when you know? To me, that’s YA. The hero of my book, Dean McCarthy, (I would cast Dane Dehaan, above, as Dean) has a lot to be angry about but he desperately wants to be the hero of his own life and change what’s wrong with the world he lives in. He just has trouble finding the positive way to do this. But in Dark Beach, guided by deep new feelings for a girl and with the help of his almost magical dog, Kota, he’s getting there. There’s reason to hope. As you can see, he’s in very good company.
Ready to check out “Dark Beach” right now? Read it for free on Wattpad:
Dean and his dog, Kota, had to leave their home in New York City, if they wanted to escape with their lives. Now they live on the Jersey Shore and life’s a beach. Except it’s been a freezing cold October and the local motorcycle gang is killing kids with drugs and nobody seems to want to do anything about it… except Dean. On the bright side, there’s Gloria, who looks like a movie star and who’s so cool and actually gets Dean, which is really a nice change. But Dean was born under a bad sign and trouble follows wherever he goes. Luckily, so does Kota.