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include learning skills for problem solving, conflict resolution, self-defense, survival, and fear management. As Chandler's article indicates, research on the subject isn't conclusive, either way.

As I see it, the challenge is to gain and hold the reader's attention, but also to present the subject in a manner that doesn't trivialize serious subjects or encourage destructive behavior.

While developing my novels, I considered dozens of situations in which young characters experienced or committed violence. For example, I developed scenarios in which one teenage character or another:

* Breaks a younger boy's arm

* Hits a dog with a 2-by-4

* Imagines himself biting through a dog's jugular vein

* Pulls the head off a chicken

* Is eaten by wild hogs

* Kills an adult

* Dies from a shotgun blast to the neck.

First reactions to this list might be that there's no excuse for any of them. But the context in which the situation is presented can make a huge difference. In each of the situations listed above, questions need to be asked before reaching a conclusion. For example:

* How does the violent scene serve the story?

* Who commits the violence? The hero? The villain? A minor character?

* Was the violent act intentional or accidental?

* What was the character's motivation?

* Was the act malicious or cruel?

* Was it in self-defense?

* Did the offending character express remorse?

* Did the violent character suffer consequences, or was he rewarded?

* Was death or injury presented as a trivial event? Or tragic?

* Were alternative courses of action considered?

* Did the victim's behavior contribute to his own demise?

* Did the character actually commit the violence, or just imagine it?

Although I discarded many other violent situations during the process of writing my novels, each of the situations listed above were retained, and fully dramatized, as part of the stories.

As with fire, violence in fiction has the potential to be destructive, but used appropriately, it can serve the story and the reader well. I feel I have a responsibility to make sure it is appropriate within the context in which the violence occurs. Part of me would like clear-cut guidelines as to when violence in teen fiction is appropriate and when it isn't. Unfortunately, it isn't that simple. It's a judgment call, to be handled case by case.

Learn more about this author, Mike Klaassen.
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