Live and Let Die (Mary Strand)

This month at YA Outside the Lines, we're talking about parents and authority figures, presumably in YA (young adult) novels. But, I mean, you never know. I didn't ask.

I guess that's the whole point of getting rid of parents and other authority figures as much as possible in teen fiction: the teen protagonist won't have anyone to ask, let alone anyone to tell them what to do. So they'll make mistakes. And hopefully learn from them and have a lovely growth arc.

Learning and growing: the whole point of YA novels!

The classic example, of course, is Harry Potter: no parents. And, boy, does he make a lot of rash mistakes.

But if you're not sadistic enough to kill off both parents, you can get rid of one of them. The remaining one can either be consumed by grief, or barely getting by as he or she works and takes care of the kid(s), or busy making a new life with a new partner and stepkids. The whole point is to take away your protagonist's anchors.

Or if you can't kill off the parents, send the teen protagonist off to boarding school or summer camp.

Or ... I just finished reading a middle-grade novel in which the parents are alive and well, but they're so wrapped up in their own (mildly weird) pursuits that they totally miss the fact that their 8th grader is desperately crying out for help. Until the last 10 or 15 pages, when the the lightbulb finally comes on for them.

But I thought they were pathetic, so I'm not recommending this.

Yes, I'm working on a YA series set at a boarding school. Yes, I'm also working on a YA novel in which the teens go on a weekend camping trip without adult supervision. So I get it. I do this, too.

But I also wrote a four-book YA series based on a modern collision with Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, so I couldn't get rid of the parents: good ol' Mr. and Mrs. Bennet. And you know what? It wasn't hard. A teen's life is mostly lived at school or part-time jobs or sports or other activities. They'll make PLENTY of decisions when their parents aren't around. They'll do PLENTY of things that, God willing, their parents will never even know about.

We. All. Did.

So, really, we don't have to keep killing off all these parents in teen fiction. Give them a break, okay?

p.s. On a related note, although no one asked, I've read an ungodly number of English Regency-set novels involving dukes in their 20s, including one trilogy involving three 20-something best friends from childhood who are all dukes. So these authors are also guilty of killing off all the dads in their books to make the book happen. I find this equally implausible. Not that anyone cares. Except, of course, me.

Mary Strand is the author of Pride, Prejudice, and Push-Up Bras and three other novels in the Bennet Sisters YA series. You can find out more about her books and music at marystrand.com.