Author Guest Post & Giveaway with Kate Ellison

We have Kate Ellison author of The Curse Girl, joining us today to talk a little bit about why she loves not only writing young adult fantasy but reading it as well. She has also been gracious enough to offer a copy of The Curse Girl to one lucky reader.










What I Love Best About Young Adult Fantasy

I am a huge fantasy junkie. As a kid, I devoured books by all the big writers—Lewis, Tolkien, McKinley, etc. I read about dragons and magic, sorcerers and kings, and (more recently) vampires, werewolves, and angels. I’ve read middle grade, young adult, and regular adult genre fantasy my whole life, and I love it all. The world-building. The whimsy of magic. The possibility of curses, fire-breathing monsters, fanged love interests, and more.

All fantasy has these what-if elements of fantastical, of course. But I find myself preferring to read (and write!) young adult fantasy the most. I’ve asked myself, why?

And for me, the answer is simple.

See, young adult fantasy is not just about the mythology, or the dazzling magical worlds, or the dragons and creatures. It’s not just about spells and magic. Young adult books aren’t distinct because they’ve been written in dumbed-down language or because they’re simply appropriate for younger readers. It’s about the style, the focus, the theme.

It’s about the human stories.

Sometimes “adult” fantasy books miss that part. Sometimes I find the characters are there merely to go through the actions of the story, the human relationships are glossed over for world-building, or the character’s personal journeys and desires are largely unimportant compared to whatever is happening in the plot. But YA seems to remember this important facet—the human element—and for that I love it.

See, young adult literature often has this incredible rawness and honesty to it. All the emotions and feelings of the characters are emphasized and made relevant—love, desire, betrayal, courage, fear. The protagonist’s goals, dreams, and wishes are an integral part of the story, and they fuel the action. Suddenly the heart of the story isn’t a vampire war or a quest for a magical object—it’s really about the love between the hero and the princess, or the bond between two brothers, or the quest for a girl to find her lost sister. These things are the lifeblood of the story, and for me it gives my beloved genre that extra shot in the arm that shoots the story from “interesting mythology” to “I stayed up all night reading it!” And I just can’t get enough of that.

Enter to win your copy of The Curse Girl.