How to write a YA novel that supports your readers’ mental health

Are you an author who writes books for teens and young adults? If you are, I bet you care about the mental health of your readers. Anyone who writes for children, teens, and young adults does so because they want to write stories that make a real difference to the young people who read them.

Teens and young adults are, right now, in the midst of one of the most vulnerable times in their lives. They are not only trying to make sense of the world around them, as children do, they’re also trying to figure out who they are as they grow into the adults they will one day become.

As an editor who works with all kinds of copy, I must admit that young adult (YA) fiction is one of my favourite genres to have the privilege of editing. The reason for this is that I believe books can do so much more for us than just transport or inform. Books can help teens and young people make sense of the world around them, and their place in it.

Being an editor who has edited children’s books (from picture to YA), having a background working with children, and being a parent of teens, here are my top ways in which your YA novel can support the mental health of your young readers:

1) Write characters that empower teens and young adults

This is it: a chance for you as the writer, the creator of worlds to bring to life a character that makes your readers feel empowered to take on whatever life throws at them. Write a character who stands up for what they believe in, uses their voice to do good, and overcomes adversity. Be realistic: write a character who is struggling - with their self confidence, mental health, and relationships - but show your reader that they can find the strength within themselves to deal with these things. As a parent of a teenage son with low self-esteem, I can see how what he consumes can have both negative and positive effects on his day-to-day confidence. As a writer you have the power to influence your readers in a positive way. Confidence issues in young people are rife right now, with teen girls becoming unhappy about their appearance from the age of 14 (read about it here: Mental health: Girls' self-esteem drops sharply at 14, report finds - BBC Newsround). How sad is that? Lets write more characters that don’t make our teen girls feel even the tiniest bit inadequate about how the look or act. There has been enough of that throughout history. It’s time to make our teen girls (and boys) feel like they are enough and they can do great things - let’s start by representing this in the books they read.

2) Write characters that help your readers celebrate their unique-ness

There is nothing more empowering to the mental health of young people than seeing themselves represented in the fiction they read. Young adults need to know that whatever it is about them that makes them unique is worth writing about and worth reading about. If they know that someone has taken the time to write a story about a character who is neurodivergent, or is living with a disability, or is part of the LGBTQ+ community, they will know that these stories are worth telling. They will know that they are worthy. Again, be realistic, don’t be afraid to write about issues that are less than ideal surrounding these areas. It doesn’t do our teens and young adults any good to wrap them up in cotton wool. Write about the hardships that these communities face so that your readers know how to deal with them and that they should not have to deal with them alone. It is important to avoid inadvertently using harmful language when writing inclusive characters and storylines.

3) Write environments that give teens a mental safe haven

This doesn’t mean all of your stories need to be set in tranquil spa-like surroundings, it simply means creating a world that your reader wants to be transported to when life feels tough. As a writer, you can do this by writing stories with engaging language, vivid imagery, relatable characters, real dialogue and irresistible plotlines. Research shows that positive escapism can calm the mind of negative thoughts. Focusing on something outside of the incessant chatter that sometimes goes on inside our minds can reduce anxiety. Reading regularly has been shown to reduce stress levels by 60% (learn more here: Why reading can be good for mental health · MHFA England).

4) Write stories that fuel the imagination

Yes, teens and young adults also need magic and fantasy in their lives, even if they tell you they’re too grown-up. Stories that fuel the imagination can help unlock creativity. Once a hunger for creativity has been ignited, it can be a very soothing tool for dealing with mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. Stories that fuel the imagination are also great for escapism - another soothing tool for mental health problems. Reading provides a safe outlet.

5) Write dialogue that helps teens open up in real life

Writing stories in which characters have important conversations about mental health in an open and unjudgmental way, will encourage teens to talk about these things in real life. Teens and young people are finding it harder to ask for help as more of their social lives are happening in the digital realm. They find it harder to have those face-to-face conversations. Books may be the gateway for many young people to work up the courage to have discussions that have been normalized in the stories they are reading.

6) Write scenarios that help teens make the right choices

Don’t shy away from writing difficult scenes. Young people don’t want to be shielded from the ugly stuff. Write stories about bullying, abuse, and sexual assault; these are the stories that help young people form opinions about how difficult issues make them feel. Your readers will feel empowered to make the right choices when setting boundaries for their physical and mental selves.

7) Build a community into your story to give your readers a sense of belonging

Your young readers are at a vulnerable point in their lives; they are trying to find out who they are and how they fit into the world around them. They are trying to find their community in real life. Books can help them find this within themselves first, making it easier to cope with social situations when out in the big world. As a writer, you can nurture this by writing stories in which the characters are part of a community and problems are better dealt with when you ask for help, rather than going through them alone. Reading about community can help build empathy as teens read about the thoughts and feelings shared between friendship groups. Empathy is an important tool for teens and young adults to learn as they navigate a world in which they have more and more responsibility for their own safety.

Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope you found this article informative. If you would like to book a discussion with me about your YA novel (or any other genre), I offer developmental editing, which involves looking at big-picture developments around characterization, plot and narrative. I will offer an insightful and unbiased look at your manuscript to discover which areas may require development based on my experience.

We can also discuss line editing, where I look at your manuscript at a sentence level, checking for consistency, correctness, clarity and tone. I take a sensitive approach to editing, looking for potentially harmful language and making sure your finished novel is inclusive for all of your wonderful readers.