Why I Can't Write YA Books

With all the reading I have been doing, I’ve been thinking more and more about the kind of books I want to write. One genre that I could eliminate quickly was Young Adult. With every YA book and YA TV show that I watch, I’m amazed at situations that are being written for these young people. The sex scenes alone are more sensational than what most adults twice their age would experience.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself. Below are my top 3 reasons for not writing YA books.

1. I don’t want to think about kids having sex. I know it happens. It happened to me during that time but its a little creepy to be an adult imagining how a 16 year old (or younger) would deal with sex. I’ve often heard people say they wish the Twilight series had more sex. Many thought it strange that Edward was so sold fashioned and wanted to wait. I think that absence opened the door for the Grey’s storyline-like going from one extreme to another. Why don’t we think it’s strange for a middle aged man or woman to describe in detail the boy of a child performing sexual acts?
2. I don’t want to think about the horrors that can happen to a child. Again, I know it happens but I don’t want to be the one to describe it in detail. I recently read a book that described the rape of one teenager by another. I’m grateful the author spared us too many details but the visual of a 17 year old in a bathroom washing the blood from her body after her attack is still in my head.
3. I can’t relate to what kids today want to read. When I was a child, I was a child. Now that I am an adult, I am an adult and I think adult things. I enjoyed my childhood and I have no desire to relive it. I don’t regret any of it. I don’t want to want to go back and be more popular. I don’t want to go back and date better jocks. I don’t want to go back and be rich even though the money would have been nice. My brand of YA would probably be very boring.

When I finally do get my writing mojo together, you can be assured my main characters will be 30+. Even writing a 21 year old seems beyond me. But we’ll see.

What do you think? Could you write a sex scene for a teenager? I do admire those of you than can step outside of yourselves and weave a good YA tale.