Today I'd like to share my reasons for writing my inspy young adult novella
Sprainter.
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| Sprainter, Young adult fiction |
As I wrote
Sprainter, I realized that I was being given a great opportunity to teach along the way. My background includes teaching Philosophy (with an interest in aesthetics) and Art History. Most of my fiction deals with some aspect of art. By the time I finished
Sprainter I had written a 100 page novella that spanned five genres: art-themed, young adult, romance, dystopian, and inspirational. Let me say a bit about each genre and how/why they fit into
Sprainter.
Dystopian: I thought it was important to show what the future might look like if we allow individuals and organizations to curb or take away our religious freedoms and to close down our churches. This can only happen if we allow it to happen. Regardless of denomination, Churches are integral to one's spiritual development. I thought it was important to create a setting of extreme religious oppression to get that message across.
Art-themed: I believe that true artworks are an important medium to convey revolutionary ideas. Street art, because it is a genre of art that is particularly propaganda/revolutionary, fit perfectly with my characters' use of art to fight against oppression. The point I want to make is that no one is ever powerless. Yes, evil exists in the world, but we must always seek out a way to fight it. Even teens, who oftentimes feel so powerless in the complicated world of grown-ups, should be empowered political/religious activists.
Romance:
Sprainter initially began as a teen romance between my two main characters, MrE and OZone. As their relationship evolves, I discuss the topic of intimacy by setting the issue against the backdrop of religion-based chastity. It isn't that I think teens will read this and think: "Oh, Therrien's right! We won't be intimate with each other until
after we're married!" But I did want to present another point of view. As the story develops, my characters fall in love with each other, but they have important decisions to make, and one of them is whether they can commit to an ideology that promotes mutual respect among individuals. Yes, it's preachy, but where else will teens be preached to?
Inspirational: I want teens to read a contemporary story that inspires them to action, to hone an attitude of vigilance about fadish trends in the world that could one day (soon) affect their freedom to worship in a religious institution. I want teens to learn to say Grace before meals, I want my readers to look up the Bible passages that MrE and his band of rebels spray paint on the city walls.
Young adult: I want teen readers to have an inspirational story to entertain them and which they can also relate to. There isn't enough young adult inspirational fiction out there to inspire our teens to action and to deepen their (Catholic) faith.
Sprainter is at times what I would call a gritty story. One of the reviewers summed up the story: "Escape from New York meets the Holy Bible." This is in part true; I included some violent scenes because I also wanted to show that even good intentions can lead to bad results, especially when they are taken out of context. There is a fine balance between being devoted to a cause (or a religion), and being fanatical about it.
I hope that I've given you a taste for reading
Sprainter. As you can see, there's something in it that will appeal to
everyone!
You can buy
Sprainter at
Amazon,
Smashwords, and most e-tailers.
~JT~
