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“One of the reasons I love writing YA, is teenagers make a lot of bad choices.” Author and writing instructor Christina Hoag enjoys writing novels with teenage protagonists and antagonists because this age group tends to get themselves into a lot of predicaments, which makes for compelling characters and stories. The key is to have well-rounded characters that are making these bad choices. This means that your characters can't be all bad. Maybe their intentions weren't necessarily bad, or they have some redeeming qualities. Hoag also recommends having very active characters in your young adult story to keep readers interested. This activity needs to keep the story moving forward. Finally, Hoag suggests keeping the focus of the story on the teenage characters, and let the parents stay in the background.