Teen Novels As a Time Capsule ... Or Not (Mary Strand)

This month at YA Outside the Lines, we're talking about the concept of YA (young adult) literature as a time capsule. As in, are today's issues tomorrow's nostalgia?

It's not a book (to my knowledge), but as luck would have it, I just watched the movie Rock 'n' Roll High School the other night, mostly to catch The Ramones in it. Totally silly, totally unlike my high school experience, and therefore totally not a time capsule in my opinion. (But it was fun.) (And The Ramones.)

And so many YA novels today are written in the fantasy and dystopian realms. There's a truth in them that's very relevant (think Hunger Games or even Divergent): friendship, parents, first loves, and fighting for what you believe in (although not, in most of our lives, to the death). But I don't see a time capsule in that literature. It's literally a made-up world.

There are also "real life" YA novels like Speak (dealing with the aftermath of rape) (OMG, it's a brilliant book) or The Fault in Our Stars (dealing with terminal illness), but I think of them as timeless rather than a time capsule.

The most recent Big Thing that would be perfect for a time capsule, even though we've not yet truly escaped it entirely, is of course COVID. But what you often hear in the writing and publishing world is that you shouldn't put that in a novel. Bad memories!

Another thought — because I seem to be sharing random thoughts today — is that most authors of YA novels aren't teenagers. We're often in our 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and beyond. Sure, we do our research. (I actually got sent to the principal's office once when I attended back-to-school night at a local high school, because someone figured out I wasn't a parent.) (ha ha.) But research isn't the same as living in that world. And one solution to that is making the high school experience as universal as possible in our novels ... RATHER than a time capsule. I know I prefer YA novels that feel like they could've been written anytime.

Yes, you have to deal with cell phones and laptops and other technology, but most writers avoid brands or slang or anything else that clearly creates a time stamp. And when I read YA and other novels written a long time ago, I notice details like that, usually because they didn't age well. Blackberry phones, anyone?

(Note: Four in Divergent aged VERY well, which is why I included this photo of him. My public service and all.)

So I guess I'm either ignoring the question of whether today's issues are tomorrow's nostalgia ... or I'm mostly disagreeing with it. For me, the goal is timeless fiction. I believe the focus should be the relationships and disappointments and thrills and embarrassments and traumas and all the other pitfalls of coming of age ... regardless of the time period in which the novel is set. I still remember vividly how I FELT as a teen, and I want my teen and adult readers to feel that, too. That's my main goal.

Everything else is secondary.

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.