Know Yourself

. . . From my forthcoming book A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Fiction for Young Adults. E & E Publishing.

In the creative writing classes I teach, we spend some time getting to know one another.
Students interview other students, asking questions about their families, their childhoods, their likes and dislikes. They report their findings back to the class, and we do a lot of laughing and back patting. Then I tell them that this activity was a prelude to learning more, not about each other, but about themselves.

Did they answer each of the questions honestly? Or did they answer selectively, sharing only those things that were “socially acceptable”? Did they avoid painful subjects? Did they choose areas of their lives in which they could put a little icing on the cake? In short, did they choose what to share and not to share in order to look as good as possible?

It’s perfectly human to want to be at our best, but none of us can sustain this kind of deception indefinitely. The time comes when we have to kick off our shoes, and relax in the knowledge that we are who we are – and that’s an OK way to be.

What does this have to do with writing young adult novels? Quite a lot. Until you get a firm grip on the kind of person you are – the way you handle disappointment, the way you show affection, the way you develop friendships, the way you feel about speaking out (or holding everything in) – until you understand the way you relate to life, you can’t possibly understand the audience you want to write for.

To help with the process of self-knowledge, I assign some well-tested exercises designed especially for this purpose. Students often tell me later that they thought these would be a waste of time, for they were still holding onto the idea of I know all about myself. But as they did the “Know Yourself Exercises” that I assigned, they were astounded to discover qualities that they had either forgotten about, had never wanted to talk about, or had never realized they had.

Some my students found that they related more directly to very young children; others discovered they were comfortable with middle grade readers. Still others found their emotional roots in the years we now call young adult – that stretchable span that is loosely described as ages 12 and up.

Try these writing exercises. Let your imagination lead you into some surprising revelations about yourself.

Writing exercise #1: The Equation

The equation is a writing prompt based on a mathematical concept:

Despite A, B is true because of C and D.

Here is an example:

A: Although I may seem to be a sedate,

respectable member of the community,
(This is what you are perceived to be by others.)

B: I have another identity.

(Despite what others perceive you to be, you do have another identity.)

C: I have danced on wet grass in the moonlight,
swum with dolphins in the sea,

D: ridden an elephant through the jungle,

and climbed the highest tree.

(C and D are examples of the things that make your “other identity” believable.

They are the activities you may have done, unknown to others, or they may
be what you wish you had done. Whether real or imaginary, they lend substance to the
real you.

Now translate the equation into a single narrative sentence, like this:

Although I may seem to be a satisfied, respectable member of the community, I am a free spirit in disguise, dancing on wet grass in the moonlight, swimming with dolphins in the Aegean Sea, riding an elephant through lush jungle, and swinging on a vine from the highest tree.

Take 15 minutes and write a few Equations about yourself. Let your imagination run free. Keep A and B as short as possible, but feel free to expand on C and D. Whether you write these lines in poetry or prose doesn’t matter. What you are trying to capture is the part of you that is full of imagination and inventiveness – the part that will create characters and plot and setting in a fictional story – in short, your emotional roots.