Psychologists agree that risk-taking constitutes a necessary part of teenage development. Risk-taking enables teens to discover for themselves what works and what doesn’t work in life and to develop their own positive development goals.
Positive development goals include:
- making friends
- falling in love
- trying out different identities
- experimenting with autonomy
- exploring emotional responses and reactions
- testing limits
Risk-Taking: The Two Sides
Daniel Lapsley, professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at Ball State University, attributes teen risk-taking to the fact that they feel invulnerable. He points out that there are two faces of adolescent invulnerability. On the negative side, teens will take greater risks with their health. They will try drugs, use alcohol and tobacco, and enter into sexual relationships with little or no protection. Some teens will even experiment with the delinquent behaviors associated with vandalism and other criminal acts.
On the positive side, risk-taking enables teenagers to learn how to adapt quickly to new situations. Feeling invulnerable allows teens to undertake surprising feats of heroism. They display remarkable resilience under pressure. Where an adult will hesitate, the teenager will often plunge ahead: they will ski faster, play harder, and when it suits them, put their heart and soul into high risk projects that require enormous focus and energy.
Create Characters and Plots that Reflect Teenage Culture Positively
Accomplished writers engage their audience. Engage your readers by exploring the liberation that teens experience when taking risks. Through your characters and your plot you can direct attention away from dangerous recklessness toward positive goals.
Teens shine in those mysterious moments of life that can’t be planned for. Feeling invulnerable allows them to act creatively using their own internalized map of what feels good. The successes and failures are of equal importance in this journey. Allow your characters to make a mess of things and then figure out what comes next.
Harry Potter and Bella as Risk-Takers
J.K. Rowling creates a teenaged hero who takes considerable risks. Rowling provides Harry Potter with numerous challenges and requires him to take risks in solving the problems that come his way. In Twilight, Stephanie Meyers’ heroine Bella takes a risk when she chooses to go live with her father, adapt to a new high school and life in a new town. When she falls in love with a vampire, she explores the fundamental question of what it means to live life as a mortal, and dares to risk looking death straight in the eye.
Empowering Teens by Celebrating Their Potential to Learn Fearlessly
Writing for teens means bringing onto the page all the elements of their experience of the surprise and mystery of life. It’s in the realm of the unpredictable that teenagers show the world the power of their adaptive behavior. By allowing your characters to take risks, to succeed and to fail, and to respond accordingly, you empower your readers to see themselves as capable, adaptable, and vital human beings.
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