In a blog post, titled ‘YA is not, nor should be, a genre’, Marcus Sedgwick says the following:
I have been witnessing a stream of books sent to me to review, or quote for, every single one of which was written in the first person present tense, with a certain breathless intensity of oh-my-weird-little-life. Usually there’s cancer, death, divorce etc. thrown in to the mix. Let’s be clear, there’s nothing wrong with writing in the first person present in itself. Many good books have been written this way. Well, one or two, at least.
You can read the whole post at http://www.marcussedgwick.com, and while you’re there don’t forget to check out our latest favourite, ‘Midwinterblood’, winner of the Printz Award, 2014. It tells the story of love strong enough to withstand centuries, painted in seven brief vignettes that spiral backwards in time to a moment of sacrifice that tore two lives apart.
growing up writing 