Hey Jay, why YA?

I found something that's a few weeks old, but prompted this post. It's by DAVE ITZKOFF at the NY Times. Mr. Itzkoff writes:

"As someone whose subway rides tend to resemble scenes from an “Evil Dead” movie, in which I am Bruce Campbell dodging zombies who have had all traces of their humanity sucked out of them by a sinister book — not the “Necronomicon,” but “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” — I sometimes wonder how any self-respecting author of speculative fiction can find fulfillment in writing novels for young readers. I suppose J. K. Rowling could give me 1.12 billion reasons in favor of it: get your formula just right and you can enjoy worldwide sales, film and television options, vibrating-toy-broom licensing fees, Chinese-language bootlegs of your work, a kind of limited immortality (L. Frank Baum who?) and — finally — genuine grown-up readers. But where’s the artistic satisfaction? Where’s the dignity?"

The full article can be found here.

Let's ignore the fact that Mr. Itzkoff is coming off as an ignorant prick for a moment and answer his question:

"Where's the artistic satisfaction?"
The same place artistic satisfaction is for those who write for adults. I do not need my audience to possess BAs or Ph.Ds in order to feel that I am crafting something worthwhile. Good art is good art, no matter who sees it. Satisfaction comes from the completion of a job well done, the realization of talent and idea, and not because the person looking at my art has been around the sun a designated number of times. To imply that there is no artistic satisfaction to be had simply because of the age of the audience said art is being presented to is really bloody stupid.

I write YA Lit because I find it satisfying. When I was a Young Adult, I craved good fiction. I often found the books aimed at my age bracket to be either condescending or out and out moronic (Goosebumps, I am looking at you). That wasn't always the case, but it felt like it most of the time. Today, there are many quality books for the YA and MG (Middle Grade) market, but there's still a lot of shit. That's true for the world of adult fiction as well (Hey James Patterson!), but I digress. I find satisfaction in writing a good, interesting book for kids that treats them with the respect and intelligence they deserve. But most of all, and perhaps most importantly, I find satisfaction in the art alone. Writing is an art, even if it's just for yourself.

So what about dignity?
Well, I would debate this point too, but I lost all my dignity back when I vomited in the cafeteria in front of everybody while I was in primary school.