I had never heard of 'young adult novels,' which I guess are about teenage gangs and the new boy in town or something.
Maybe that's the whole teen oeuvre, you know covering people in disgusting bodily fluids and whatnot.
When I wrote my first story, all the characters were teenagers because I think 16, 17 is a great age.
I didn't 'decide' to write YA, per se. But every time I thought of a story, it featured characters 15, 16, 17.
It's possible that I've matured as a writer, and I hope I've matured emotionally, but I always find myself revisiting these adolescent scenes.
'Sin Nombre' was almost like the adolescent version of 'Jane Eyre.' 'Jane Eyre' sort of picks up where 'Sin Nombre' ends. It's about this girl who starts off on her own at her lowest point of despair, and she figures out how she got there.
I don't have anything left to offer in the teen-angst area. I've done it every way I know how.
But, on another level it's really sort of this really cool coming of age story, it reminds me of like The Breakfast Club or something like that, if I can be so bold to associate with The Breakfast Club.
I love the tradition of male coming-of-age films like 'Saturday Night Fever' or 'Mean Streets' or 'Go.' I love those films that work music into those stories.
