|
|
 |
Teen Ink Love and Relationships
Foreword & Preface
Foreword by R. L. Stine
Preface by Shea Seen
About the Writers
* * *
Foreword by R. L. Stine
"W
here do you get your ideas?"
I spend a lot of time talking with young writers,
and that is always the first question they ask me.
It's a very hard question to answer. Where do story
ideas come from?
Sometimes I make a joke
and tell them, "I get my ideas at the Idea Store." Of course, this is silly. But
after a while, I started thinking: What if there really was an Idea
Store?
What departments would you find in
an Idea Store?
I think you'd find three
departments - three places where story ideas come from. One would be the
Experience Department. It contains everything you see and everything you
do.
Two would be the Memory Department. It
has everything you remember. The third Department I call the What If Department.
It contains everything you wonder about, everything you dream up and imagine...
everything that makes you ask, "What if...?"
I think all story ideas come from these three
places. And as you will see, the wonderful stories, essays, and poems collected
in this book draw their inspiration from all three.
In "His Name Was Jack," Emily Copeman visits the
Memory Department and remembers a romantic summer in which she met Jack, who
changed her life.
Amilcar Silva, in "Sins
of the Father," uses a horrifying experience Ð watching his father stab a man to
death. Amilcar starts with that terrifying event and then describes how it shaped
his attitudes toward his family.
Suzanne
Timmons also visits the Experience Department in "Emily the Soccer Star." It's a
touching portrait of a girl she met while working as a volunteer at a
hospital.
Daniel Bailey begins his poem, "A
Turtle-Shaped Box," in the What If Department. The poem starts with a dream in
which he pulls his heart from his chest.
Yuck. If Daniel doesn't make it as a poet, he just
might make a good horror writer!
It's
thrilling to me to read these pieces by teen writers - not only because of the
dozens and dozens of new ideas - but because of the passion for writing these
teens bring to their work.
I found that
passion when I was nine years old. That's when I started writing - and it changed
my life. I hope that some of these teen writers will find the joy and success I
have found. I know that you will be touched, and amused, and amazed by the
writing collected here.
And, by the way,
where do you get your ideas?
Back to Top
* * *
Preface by Shea Seen
Being a teenager isn't easy. It seems like you have a million thoughts, ideas, and emotions rushing through your body every second, but they're moving so fast, you just can't seem to grab one and make sense of it, let alone get it out. And even if you do manage to blurt out a thought, or come to some conclusion about one of your ideas, no one wants to listen to you. You're a teenager. You live in what my stepdad calls "The Dark Side." What do you know anyway?
And so, as teenagers, we often feel as though we've been left alone. No one listens to us, no one understands us; we don't even understand ourselves.
But even if we're often not sure what to say or think, we have to get our feelings out somehow, and, for many of us, the only way to do that is through writing. We begin telling our problems and secrets to a diary, write stories about ourselves where we name the main character Shelly instead of Kelly, try to express ourselves through poetry, and we compose music.
But even that isn't as easy as it sounds.
Writing is this funny thing. I mean, you have all these memories in your head, and yet, somehow getting them out, finding the words to express them and writing them so they adequately express the picture you have in your head, seems so much more difficult.
"I remember sitting under this tree," you start, "this shady tree," "under this tree that was blowing in the breeze," "a cool breeze," "a breezy breeze"? You let out a sigh and throw down your pen.
You know what you're trying to say. So, what's up with your pen?!
I've felt this way a million times, and I consider myself a writer. Trying to describe how I felt my first day of school, or looking out over the mountains of presents my first Christmas, the rush I got the first time I was on stage, or the first time I saw the ocean.
As I got older, I tried to describe my first crush, my first kiss, my first time falling in love, and eventually, the first time my heart got broken. When you enter your teenage years, it seems that your focus changes slightly from the world around you to the world of the opposite sex.
All of us have memories like these, of good times, of sad times, of times spent with that special someone, and of first times. Those special moments that will live in our hearts and minds forever.
And that's what makes these Teen Ink books so great - they're written by teens just like you, or me. Teens who have moments just like yours or mine. By those who actually got their feelings and memories down on paper so all of us could benefit. Those who were willing to share their experiences with us so that we could better understand ourselves, and each other.
Finally, teenagers have an outlet to express their thoughts and ideas. And the rest of us have a place to go and relate to others our age, who are going through the same things we and know how we feel.
Finally, someone is listening.
As you flip through these pages, you'll find yourself laughing out loud, ooohing and awwwing, thinking, I know exactly how you feel, or I wish I would have said that!
And maybe you'll find a little bit of your story in here too.
It's there, trust me.
Because in reality, we all share the same story, it's called life.
Back to Top
* * *
About the Writers
R. L. Stine R. L. Stine has sold more children's books than
anyone ever: 350,000,000! He has written too many books to mention including the
Goosebumps, Fear Street and Nightmare Room series.
Shea Seen Shea M. Seen, still a teen, also wrote the amusing remembrance, "Here Comes the Bride" in Teen Ink Love and Relationships.
Back to Top
| 
|
|
 |
