Ahead of their five-week course Writing Essentials: Crafting Stories for Young Adults, Ange Crawford and Demet Divaroren spoke with Writers Victoria’s Amelie Hughes about writing novels, creating young adult protagonists and navigating the creative process.
Demet was once Ange’s mentor. Years later, both are award-winning writers who have become friends and now co-host Writers Victoria workshops. Both are valued members of our community, with Demet one of our most sought-after mentors.
We are thrilled to bring them together for this course.
Last year you both published award-winning novels (Demet published Blood Moon Bride and Ange published How to be Normal). Can you share what the journey of writing your novels looked like?
Ange: The journey of writing the novel looked very different from publishing it. There is a beautiful atmosphere of excitement that can surround you when you have an idea for a story that feels urgent and real to you. Then there’s what I have come to understand as the inevitable disappointments and challenges along the way – working that initial inspired energy (which can feel so perfect at a distance) into a story (which involves writing and rewriting each word, ideally in some kind of order, over a long time period). In the case of How to Be Normal, I was lucky that I had a very clear situation and cast of characters come to mind quite early in the process, and so I felt I had something to return to while in the weeds of drafting. But I came up with the idea for the book in early 2020 and received a publishing contract at the end of 2023; it was a long journey and by no means as linear as it might sound in retrospect. I’ve heard other authors say you learn to writea book each time you write one, and I think that’s probably true, at least for me!
Demet: Blood Moon Bride took many detours and eight years to publish. I started writing when my daughter was a toddler, continued developing it after my son was born and well into their preschool and primary school years. Blood Moon Bride started out as The Bone Collector with a male protagonist who lived in the fantastical world of Mennama Valley. I wrote a few drafts over three years before I had to face the truth that the story didn’t have enough substance. So, I took a risk and scrapped years of work and changed the protagonist to a girl and found Rehya. The fantasy world stayed the same but changing the gender of my main character instantly raised the stakes for Rehya and girls like her from poor villages and completely transformed the story.
What do you find is unique to writing for young adult audiences, and what draws you to this style of writing?
Ange: Like readers at any age, young people have a wide range of interests and tastes, and so I think it’s important to keep in mind the diversity of the readership. In other words, young adult (YA) fiction is a category, rather than a genre, and within this broad category, there are so many possibilities. I’ve noticed a lot of authors (like Demet for one!) moving between realistic and speculative work, for instance, and that’s exciting. So, that’s something that draws me to this space. Another is my enduring love for coming-of-age stories. I’m still coming of age, and ever since I heard someone wise say, “We’re all always coming of age”, I think a lot of adult readers feel the same. YA is most definitely popular with folks at different ages, too, and I’ve had a theory for quite a while that this is why.
Demet: Writing for young adults is so wonderfully unique because it appeals to everyone. Adults and young adults have a lived and shared experience of coming of age, growing up and navigating turbulent emotions, questions of identity, belonging, etc. Yes, we are absolutely, constantly coming of age and finding our place in an ever-shifting world. I’m drawn to it for these reasons and to nurture and prove to my teenage self (who is still a big part of me) that the turbulence, the doubts and fears of those years are being put to good use!
I’m drawn to it for these reasons and to nurture and prove to my teenage self (who is still a big part of me) that the turbulence, the doubts and fears of those years are being put to good use! – Demet
How do you approach writing on large social issues for young adult audiences?
Ange: Young adults – like people at any stage in life – confront their own difficulties and uncertainties, many of which are tangled up in broader social and political contexts. Before we’re adults, we often have even less agency in these situations than we do later in life. It can be difficult, I think, for adults to think for too long about the struggles that younger people are going through. It’s natural to feel protective, and in some cases for this protectiveness to lead to an impulse to hold back on the difficult stuff, to keep the sadnesses and injustices of life from them a bit longer. But the reality is that we can’t do that through silence. I think that well thought-through storytelling is more protective than censorship. When young people feel that an issue they are facing in their own lives – or that a friend or peer are experiencing – is taboo, this can be very isolating. This is not to mention how isolating it can feel to go through something and feel like you are the only one experiencing it. In novels, we have the time and space and support to explore complex and nuanced takes. In this context, you can think carefully about what might be helpful for a reader who might be – now, in the future or through others – in contact with a difficult social issue. Even if you have lived experience that might inform the writing, I find it’s also a good idea to do additional research and get advice on how the stories we write might provide support and accurate information – or at least some decent escapism for someone going through something we wish they’ve never had to experience.
Demet: The world can be an increasingly challenging place, and fiction/storytelling is one way we can try and make sense of the darkness, light and complexities of being human. Fiction gives young readers a safe place to look critically atissues that mirror those that exist in the real world like racism, oppression, misogyny, injustice, and the demonisation of the ‘other’ and challenge these narratives. I try to create characters whose problems/conflicts are directly linked to their world and environment so that they don’t become spokespeople for social issues but are deeply affected by them. In turn, their struggles, challenges, mistakes and successes influence the plot and not the other way around. Young adults are deeply feeling, intelligent and fierce readers who can handle complexity and nuance.
What is something you have learned from creating and writing young female protagonists?
Ange: I love centering the stories of young women when I write. Something these protagonists have taught me is to resist patriarchal assumptions about how stories should be told. Ursula K Le Guin has a beautiful essay called The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction. This rebels against the masculine hero’s journey story structure, which (alongside other, similar story shapes) is often taken as a given in writing circles. Young women can, of course, also be heroes, as can non-binary folk. But there is a diversity of ways to be a hero – and certainly many other roles that can be just as interesting to follow in a story. I love thinking about the ways that story form connects to these kinds of social issues and will be talking about it more in the course!
Demet: Blood Moon Bride is set in Mennama Valley, a patriarchal world where women and girls are stripped of their rights and forced into early marriages, often to older men, to breed children and boost the valley’s longevity. Rehya lives in a world that tells her she’s ‘wrong.’ That she is less than the city folk, evil for having magic which she has to hide. Rehya is full of fire and anger and I’ve learned that this is a powerful combination in a female protagonist, especially as women are often demonised for having these qualities in the real world. Fire, anger and passion propels Rehya to question and challenge patriarchal and oppressive systems, and to find the courage to fight for her true self and agency over her mind and body.
Can you share with us what you currently find inspiring for your writing, and what it is like to return to writing after publishing a novel?
Ange: I love Han Kang’s thoughts on writing. This was the first thing that came to mind. I recently read her new book Light and Thread which includes a lot of contemplations on storytelling that I find quite beautiful, and which I would recommend to anyone who likes writing. But the thing that restores me the most with writing is community. I’m lucky to have a lot of people in my life who understand and support the ups and downs of the writing life – and who also remind me that I am a full person outside this sometimes very all-consuming pursuit.
But the thing that restores me the most with writing is community. I’m lucky to have a lot of people in my life who understand and support the ups and downs of the writing life – and who also remind me that I am a full person outside this sometimes very all-consuming pursuit. – Ange
Demet: Currently it’s my children who inspire me the most. They have a beautifully unique relationship with language. They are new to the world and their ideas, perspective on people, places and rules, as well as their self-expression and observations are fascinating, unfiltered and often very funny. “Mum has a booby trap” (aka a bra.) “How do the doctors make us talk? Do they put a microphone in our mouth?” It’s very refreshing to look at the world through their lens. To slow down and examine language and the small, sticky-icky, sweaty and sweet moments that matter the most. So, it’s no surprise that I am currently working on a middle grade fantasy novel which is such a joy to write.
What can participants in your upcoming course look forward to, and what do you look forward to learning from your co-host?
Ange: I am excited to facilitate this course alongside Demet. I met her through mentoring at Writers Victoria, and I have been lucky enough to learn a lot from her in the years since, in relation to both writing and life (which are not really all that separate). I can’t wait to hear what she has to say about characterisation, in particular. Demet has a sensitivity and depth to the way she writes characters, and I am sure I will learn more from hearing her talk about this. More than anything, I’m looking forward to gathering a group of people who are interested in YA and encouraging folks to discuss and apply what we read and share together. A lot of learning happens in these relationships, and I think writing is a lot more relational than it is often described. I hope a little community forms in these coming weeks!
Demet: I can’t wait to work with Ange! I love the way Ange thinks and writes. She has a wonderful way with both the written and spoken word, and I look forward to learning (and hearing) more about how she approaches her craft – specifically plot and creating immersive and atmospheric settings. I also look forward to her book/essay recommendations on writing and craft.
I love the power of language and the way stories can help us see each other in our shared experiences. Together, Ange and I will provide a writing toolbox to kickstart or further develop your craft in a creative and supportive space that encourages learning, conversation and critical reflection – especially when shaping stories that challenge social constructs.
Places are limited in the five-week course Writing Essentials: Crafting Stories for Young Adults with Ange Crawford and Demet Divaroren.
Book you place before it is too late!