I Write Paranormals and I'm Just Fine
RSSJen Barnes
I sometimes think that being a teenager means feeling like an outsider. It doesn't matter who your friends are, what you look like, or how much other people think you do or do not have it made. On some level, we all have a basic human need to belong, and as teenagers, I think most of us harbor a suspicion—be it fleeting or ever present—that we don't. We don't fit in. We aren't like other people. We aren't what other people think we are. We're not entirely sure where we belong-or if we ever really will. That's one of the major reasons I'm drawn to writing paranormal books and one of the reasons that I think the paranormal genre will always have a place on library shelves. At its roots, speculative fiction is about outsiders. It's about being different and how that difference can be both a wonderful and monstrous thing. By definition, the paranormal isn't normal, and many of the emotions that define the paranormal hero or heroine tap universal teen experiences and ques I think the ability to capture this push and pull between wanting to be special and wanting to belong is one of the elements that makes the paranormal genre so appealing, but I also think that paranormal books have an incredible potential for metaphor more broadly. Werewolves are betrayed by uncontrollable changes in their own bodies. Vampires feed in a distinctly intimate way, and ghosts are doomed to watch life go by from the sidelines, unable to really be a part of anything themselves. Almost all paranormal creatures are caught between two worlds, and if that doesn't describe adolescence-when you're not a kid and not an adult-I don't know what does. For all of these reasons, I think young adult literature and the paranormal can make for a powerful blend. Having said that, I've written books that are paranormal and books that are not, and regardless of the genre, I find that I keep coming back to many of the same themes: female friendship, chosen family, sacrifice, what it's like to be underestimated because you're a girl. Those are all things that speak to me-and paranormal is just one way of getting at them.
This article originally appeared in School Library Journal's enewsletter SLJTeen. Subscribe here.
tions about identity, isolation, and the desire to belong to someone or something bigger than yourself.
Ironically, I feel like there's a second desire—and a second fear—that often goes hand-in-hand with the first: we want to fit in, we want to belong, but we also want to be special and sometimes fear that we aren't. It's a double-edged sword: being normal is seen as a good thing, but being ordinary is not. In Twilight, Edward despises his monstrous nature, while Bella longs to be more than she is. The main character in Holly Black's "Curse Workers" series comes from a family that's part of a despised fringe group capable of working magic, but he grew up with the disadvantage of having no apparent power himself. In other words, he manages the circus trick of starting the series off as both abnormal and ordinary, when the inverse—extraordinary, but normal—would be the ideal.
Editor's note: Click here for a video of Jen talking about why paranormals are so popular with teens. To catch up with Barnes in person, sign up for the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention, taking place in Chicago (April 12-14), where she will be speaking on a panel titled "Wasting My Time: Making Sense Of The Changing Landscape," with fellow authors Beth Revis (Across the Universe), Margaret Stohl (ICONS) and Saundra Mitchell (The Vespertine), Deborah Schneider (King County Library), moderated by Melissa Marr (Wicked Lovely). Jen will also be moderating a panel on Friday from 1:30-2:30 titled "Heartthrobs & Heartbreaks: Writing Romance For Teens," and will be participating in Teen Day, on Saturday April 14.
Jennifer Lynn Barnes is the author of the popular "Raised by Wolves" series and the recently published stand-alone novel Every Other Day. She is currently pursuing her PhD at Yale University. Visit her online at www.jenniferlynnbarnes.com.
