I am so happy to have a guest blogger today! Her name is Cindy Martinusen-Coloma, and she is the author of the newly released Thomas Nelson book, Beautiful. I’m going to turn it over to Cindy now, but be sure and check out my post of my review of her beatiful book (no pun intended!), Beautiful!Thoughts from Cindy:
Writing YA fiction
Q&A
Writing YA books – It Must Be Felt
Leonardo da Vinci: Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.
Why in the world would a teen or young adult take the time to read a book? There are so many great things to do besides reading. I think teens today have more entertainment options for their free time than any generation in the history of mankind. So why has YA fiction seen a huge increase in readership in recent years? I think it’s a great example of hope. How many older people say, “It’s not like it was when we were kids.” Maybe that’s more of a good thing than we realize.
Many teens and young adults today are caring individuals, spiritually seeking, socially conscious, politically wondering, and trying to learn from the mistakes of their forerunners. They want meaning in their lives. They want love and mystery and justice and truth. And they are reading.
But why read? I think it goes back to what a really old guy named Leonardo da Vinci said about poetry (which I think a good book is poetry). He said that poetry is like a painting that is felt rather than seen. Readers want to feel something deep and meaningful. They want to experience something within them as they go through the pages of a book.
Writers of YA need to know this important truth – write to make young people FEEL. It might be anger, outrage, love, beauty, anguish, epiphany, or wonder. To feel brings new understanding and also the sense of being understood. We meet somewhere inside a book and share a human understanding and hopefully a connection to the Eternal. This is my job as a YA writer. After all, if a young person is going to pass up all those great entertainment options, I better deliver something great. I hope readers find Beautiful to be great. ☺
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Cindy Martinusen Coloma
cindycoloma{@}gmail.com
Thank you so much, Cindy, for stopping by today! I hope to have you back in the future! Now, for my followers, please be sure and check out my review!
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