This reflection popped up in my FB memories today. I still think it's applicable. By now I've written several YA books, one of which appears in full on Wattpad. https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/22403.... The one mentioned below, still needs a bit of research for me to finish it, being historical. Much as I love historical, writing it takes a lot of time and effort, whereas I produced the first draft of my contemporary YA Wattpad novel (all 75,000 words of it!) in just 3 months. Luckily, there are many types of writing I like to do, but almost always they end up YA. Here's why:

So I'm writing this novel on Wattpad and though I didn't intend it to be, I think it's really YA. The protagonist is seventeen at the start, and though I plan for her to be 20 at the end, most of the story will cover the months before she turns eighteen. And it's a coming of age story. As well as romance.

I do all sorts of writing but for some reason, the writing I most yearn to do is YA romance. Since I have daughter who will soon be old enough to read these books, though, I am now suddenly reflecting on why I want to write YA romance and how I want to present it.
While like most teens I read a lot of romance for the kilig factor there are some books that have stayed with me and helped me figure out my life and relationships. Many books showed romance as happening naturally after the protagonist had developed her own character, talents, and friendships. That helped me a lot as a teen. Some of my favorite books as a teen, Elizabeth George Speare's The Witch of Blackbird PondThe Witch of Blackbird Pond, Maureen Daly's Acts of LoveActs of Love, L. M. Montgomery's Anne of the IslandAnne of the Island, L. M. Alcott's Rose in BloomRose in Bloom I took away an even more lasting value, the value of loving a person of character, someone who will stand up for his friends and family--and you.

I think encouraging this kind of standard and goal is protection for the teen as well. You cannot force them to suppress the yearning for love if it's there. (I'm not into encouraging it while it's not, though, as in my daughter, which is why I try to keep her from reading books with romance--she's nine but can read at higher levels and tween books these days often contain romance too.) But if they hold out for partners of good character, then they probably won't go down the wrong path.

And I always wished for books in a local context because by then I was old enough to realize the setting made a difference and not just because I was reading about characters who took walks in the snow and hardly ever ate rice. Reading about relationships in a different cultural context made me less understanding and accepting of some things I now appreciate. In fact, having read American YA books I would be wary of letting my daughter attend boy-girl parties once she reaches high school! And I'm still seething over the teacher who to thrill my daughter's class told them they would have dates for eighth-grade grad ball. I haven't forgotten how I felt as a teen, just hope I can connect enough with today's teens to write books that will resonate with them too.