Part Two - The Girls

I wrote a YA novel aimed towards teen fans of urban fantasy/paranormal romance. Before my journey started I never thought to ask my target audience what their feelings were towards reading. Well, I decided to find out.

I asked six teens to participate in my little interview. Five were willing (two boys and three girls). The sixth I never heard from, but they might be on Facebook restriction, and we can’t argue with that now, can we?    

Today’s interview is with the teen girls. The girls are from different backgrounds, but have soccer as a common interest.  (To see Part One of this interview with the boys click here).

Jen=Jennifer is in 9^th grade and enjoys soccer.
R=Ruby is in 10^th grade and keeps busy with; volleyball, tennis, soccer and music.  
J=Julia is in 9^th grade and she plays field hockey and soccer.

1. What is your favorite genre to read?
Jen- Fantasy, and romance.  
R- Fantasy, sci-fi, romance, suspense, action/adventure… A little bit of everything. 
J- Suspense with a little romance.

2. Do you prefer stories told in the first person or third?
Jen- First.
R- First.
J- First.

3. Do you prefer a male or female point of view?

Jen- Doesn’t matter much to me.
R- Either, it doesn’t really matter.
J- Male, they don’t over think everything.

4. Good or Bad?
A. Stories that end with a cliffhanger:  
Jen- Bad, unless there is another book after it.
R- Good, especially if it’s the first book in a series.
J- Good, it lets your imagination decide what happens.

B. Stories without "happily ever after" endings:  
Jen- Good.
R- Good, an unfriendly twist that will give mixed opinions.  
J- Bad, it is overused and obvious.
 
C. Love triangles: 
Jen- Good.
R- Good, makes it interesting.
J- Good, it makes things more interesting.

D. Death of a favorite character:
Jen- Bad.
R- Good.
J- Bad. 

5. Do any of the above situations in question #6 prevent you from purchasing a book?
Jen- No way.

R- No.
J- No.

6. Do you prefer reading stand alone books? Or do books planned as a series entice you more?
Jen­- I usually enjoy a series more.
R- Series books.
J- Series, as long as it’s not too long. So, like a trilogy.

7. Hardcover or Paperback?
Jen- Paperback.
R- Paperback.
J- Hardcover.

8. Pretend you had an eReader, would you prefer an actual paper book or an eBook?
Jen- I love my eReader, so an eBook.
R- Paper book.
J- Paper book.

9. With this being the Twilight generation there is a lot of emphasis on paranormal characters these days. Which (if any) would you like to be for a day?
Jen- Shapeshifter.
R- Can I be a wizard from Harry Potter?
J- Shapeshifter.

10. On that note, which of the paranormal characters do you like to read about the most?
Jen- Vampires and Shapeshifters.
R- I guess cool types of vampires, close to Dracula. And wizards, yeah wizards are cool. I actually prefer mythology creatures to paranormal ones.
J- Vampire.

11. Does reading about sex, drugs, drinking, and language in Young Adult stories make you uncomfortable?
Jen- Nope, I’ve read so many books like that, so I am used to it now.

R- None of them do.
J- Sex, yes. Everything else, no.

Thank you, Jennifer, Ruby & Julia for participating and being honest with your responses. As a thank you, I want to offer you the opportunity to name one character each in my next novel. I am currently participating in the National Novel Writing Month. I have plans for a YA novel titled - Decoy.  For those of you who want to follow or friend me for NaNoWriMo you can do so at: http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/participants/natalie-star

***Next blog: What's in a PEN name?
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(Art by *B1nd1 on deviantart.com)