The Queen of Teen Screams

I was inspired by Ashley's post the other day, What Would Sidney Sheldon Do? and realized I had never really written about one of my favorite authors growing up, and that's Lois Duncan.

As a kid I was obsessed with anything creepy and unexplained—ghosts, astral projection, reincarnation—and Scooby Doo just didn't cut it. I wanted seriously scary mysteries and Duncan's books were the best around. By the time I read Down a Dark Hall, Killing Mr. Griffin, Stranger with My Face and I Know What You Did Last Summer, these books were already a decade (or nearly so) old, yet they felt incredibly fresh and timeless. The plots were original without seeming farfetched and they always kept me turning the pages.

A few years ago, Little, Brown reissued ten of Duncan's paperbacks. I reread Down a Dark Hall, just to see, and it totally held up. (It didn't hurt that Duncan updated the technology and fashions involved.) It struck me that one of the reasons her stories endure—and it seems like Hollywood is still making movies out of them—is because Duncan does such a great job setting up not only a compelling mystery or suspense story but also in building incredibly relatable, sympathetic characters that demand emotional investment. Most are dealing with family drama like icky stepparents, abuse and alienation (you know, on top of the murderous classmates, secret twins and discoveries that they're unwitting subjects for educational experiments). This is a great reminder for those of us trying to write thrillers, mysteries or even horror books for teens or tweens. At the end of the day, what readers are going to respond to is how well we can capture the experience of adolescence, which, it hardly needs restating, is harrowing enough in its own right.

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Elisa Ludwig's debut young adult novel PRETTY CROOKED (Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins), was released in March 2012. It's the story of Willa Fox, a teen girl who goes Robin Hood on her rich classmates, and it's the first of a trilogy. The sequel, PRETTY SLY, will be released in March 2014. Elisa lives in Philadelphia with her husband Jesse.