Appealing to Young Adults

by Ela Lourenco

What does ‘young adult’ mean? Some argue it’s the twelve to eighteen age group, others argue it is fourteen plus… It isn’t very well defined. In this day and age of internet access, social media etc., it has become ever harder to determine who is old enough for what. So how does one tailor a book for an indeterminate age group with varying levels of maturity and a whole host of different interests?

My daughter read the first few chapters as my ‘tester’, her only criticism being ‘is this all you’ve written?’ and ‘when will you finish the book so I can read it already?’ She then proceeded to stand over my shoulder (literally) so I would ‘crack’ on with it!

Encouraged by her obvious enjoyment of my story I realised something – I remembered that excitement and frantic frenzy born of sinking…