Please welcome B. Lynn Goodwin to Writer Unboxed. Lynn is the owner of Writer Advice and the author of You Want Me to Do WHAT? Journaling for Caregivers (Tate Publishing) and TALENT (Eternal Press). Her stories and articles have been published in Voices of Caregiver, Hip Mama, Small Press Review, Dramatics Magazine, The Sun, Good Housekeeping.com, and many other venues. She is currently working on a memoir about getting married for the first time at age 62.
Connect with Lynn on Twitter and Facebook.
Tapping into Universal Truths about Young Adults
Communities and technologies change. Emotions do not. Many of the universal truths that existed when I was in high school, long before cell phones or microwave ovens, are still valid today. Teens still want relationships and validation. When they involve themselves in any enterprise, they want to come out on top. They care about their future and plan to improve the world.
One of the kindest things a reviewer said about my novel is, “What intrigues me about B. Lynn Goodwin’s coming-of-age novel, Talent, is how the author manages to maintain the perspective of a 15 ½-year old so clearly and evenly.” Although chronologically I am eligible for Medicare, on the inside, I remember the world as I saw it through my 15-year-old eyes. I understand my character’s desire to find her talent as well as her feelings of powerlessness. I understand her confusion and hesitation about boys, relationships, and her awakening sexuality. I appreciate that it is difficult to be drawn to M&Ms and eat them compulsively when you also want to be slender and svelte. I understand stuffing your feelings, needing a friend, and needing to be recognized for a job well done. [Read more…]