 Drama: March 16, 2016 Issue [#7536] |
  Drama
This week: Writing Drama for Young Adults Edited by: Kitti the Red-Nosed Feline  
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Writing drama for teenagers and young adults can be tricky, to say the least. But it can also be truly rewarding.
This week's Drama Newsletter is all about the challenges faced by younger people, and how you can incorporate them into your writing.
Kitti the Red-Nosed Feline |
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Let's begin this newsletter with an obvious statement – writing for teenagers and young adults is not easy. Especially if you are not a teenager or a young adult yourself. Whilst some themes are universal – love, grief, anger, hatred, fear – to connect with another age group means that you have to understand what matters to them. What their life experience is like. What obstacles they face.
When I was in high school, life was simpler than it is for current students. Not having a boyfriend at 16, 17 or 18 was completely normal. We didn't have computers in our classroom. We didn't have mobile phones with us 24/7, let alone smartphones. There wasn't any big pressure about looks, or image. Many girls didn't wear make-up.
A lot has changed since then. As a mature student, I have spent quite a bit of time on a student forum, and now kids worry about every aspect of their appearance at a frighteningly young age. Many feel like a loser if they don't have a boyfriend or girlfriend at age 14 or 15. A lot of information is demanded of them, and in the worst case scenario, later shared to shame them. Dating is complex – a game with confusing rules.
Some young guys talk about alpha males and beta males. Negging is a thing. Social media platforms are a big part of daily life, with all their positives and their negatives.
Then, there is concern about the future. Should you go to university and burden yourself with debt? Many employers expect good qualifications. Yet, a university degree is no longer a guarantee of a decent job.
Plenty of young people have to keep on living with their parents well into their twenties, because they cannot afford to pay rent. Buying a home is often impossible. Especially because a permanent job is like a rare gem – contracts tend to be temporary, or even zero hours.
To sum up the above – there is a high amount of pressure on young people. But there is also a lot of passion. A passion to create a better world. More and more young people have an interest in politics, and whilst their views are all over the political spectrum, they are engaged in the big issues of the day. They and their families are affected by them, after all.
As writers, we have to create characters our readers can relate to. If you are a drama writer wanting to write for a younger audience, it is not enough to merely look back to your youth; the world has changed, technology has changed, and with it come various complexities that need to be understood.
Of course, that opens up plenty of possibilities for good story lines. Incorporating modern technology into your work will make it fresh and up-to-date. There are new stresses, new joys, new avenues to romance and new disappointments.
Embrace the new. Learn the language. Study your target audience and engage with them. Read the works of other authors that are popular.
As with any genre, it can take a while to find your feet and settle into it, but when you do, writing for teenagers and young adults can be truly rewarding.
Kitti the Red-Nosed Feline |
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The Drama Newsletter Team welcomes any and all questions, suggestions, thoughts and feedback, so please don't hesitate to write in! 
Wishing you a week filled with inspiration,
The Drama Newsletter Team
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