Writing Engaging Young Adult Mysteries That Tackle Emotional Health Issues
guest post by Lynn Slaughter
As any young adult mystery author can tell you, genre fans have a definite set of expectations for what constitutes a satisfying story. Key ingredients include:
a compelling, proactive teenage protagonist determined to uncover the truth about some terrible thing that has happened (murder, a disappearance, etc.).
an array of possible suspects who could have been responsible.
a solution to the mystery, thanks to the efforts of the teenage sleuth (No adults allowed to swoop in and figure it all out!).
Mysteries are natural places to explore issues of emotional health, because the behavior of people who harm others can generally be traced back to their own emotional problems and issues, and of course their actions have a huge impact on the protagonists of our stories. What are some key things to keep in mind?
Motivation and Backstory Matter
In my latest novel, Missing Mom, I knew I wanted to make the inciting incident the abrupt disappearance of a mother. But what would make a devoted wife and mom with a great career do such a thing? The answer lies in her past which includes being a victim of a domestic abuser who catches up with her. In order to better understand her behavior, including how she got involved with a violent man in the first place, I couldn’t just rely on my imagination.
Do the Research
Domestic violence, like many of the issues I’ve tackled in my novels, is complicated and from the outside looking in, can seem difficult to understand. Fortunately, there are a wealth of resources to draw upon, including research studies, publications of advocacy associations, and interviews/memoirs of survivors. Because I am so strongly affected by story, I pay particular attention to accounts from survivors, and they remain firmly entrenched in my heart and mind as I’m writing.
Draw Upon Personal Experience
When I was in high school, a friend fell hard for a boy we’d met at a dance. Soon, they were “going steady,” and he warned other guys to stay away from his girlfriend. In our naivety, we actually thought his extreme possessiveness and obsessive interest in knowing her whereabouts 24-7 were signs of romantic devotion, instead of warning signals of abuse. Sadly, my friend became pregnant and married him. His controlling behavior dramatically escalated, and it was years before my friend escaped from a violent marriage.
My friend’s experience stuck with me and in many ways, inspired the inclusion of this painful subject in Missing Mom.
Avoid Preaching
No matter how strongly we feel about an issue, it’s important to avoid preaching. My novel, It Should Have Been You, dealt with teen dating violence, a topic I was compelled to write about after working on a nonfiction book for the education market titled Teen Rape. The protagonist of It Should Have Been You, a writer for her student newspaper, is working on a feature story about teen dating violence and interviews the director of a domestic violence prevention center. A reviewer, who otherwise liked the book, commented that the interview scene read a little bit like a public service announcement warning teens about dating dangers.
In retrospect, she was right! I didn’t need to be so heavy-handed. The story I told relayed the information about unhealthy relationships much more powerfully than that particular scene featuring an adult expert.
Teens have way too many adults preaching to them, so let your story speak for itself, and trust your readers to decipher the take-aways.
Story Above All
Let your characters experience problems and issues that you care deeply about. I’ve written about the devastating betrayal a teen struggles with when she discovers a parent has lied to her throughout her life about her supposedly dead mother (While I Danced), the pain of a parent refusing to listen to or accept a young person’s needs and passions (Leisha’s Song), teen dating violence and dysfunctional families (It Should Have Been You), the challenge of coping with a sociopathic parent (Deadly Setup), and the traumas of domestic violence and parental sexual abuse (Missing Mom).
What I’ve learned is that when I care deeply about what my characters are going through, my readers are much more likely to care as well. And through that connection with my characters, my hope is that they will gain a deeper understanding of their own needs and develop better emotional health and resilience.
Lynn Slaughter is addicted to the arts, chocolate, and her husband’s cooking. After a long career as a professional dancer and dance educator, Lynn earned her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University.
She is the award-winning author of five young adult romantic mysteries: Missing Mom, Deadly Setup, Leisha’s Song, It Should Have Been You, and While I Danced, as well as an adult mystery, Missed Cue. Lynn lives in Kentucky, where she’s at work on her next novel.
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