Young Adult Books That Kick Butt by Susanna Rogers

Guest Post by Susanna Rogers

We love the fierce conviction of Susanna Rogers as she shares her inspiration behind her awesome, kick butt YA novels.

Becoming a kickboxer with a second-degree black belt helped Susanna Rogers improve not only her martial arts skills, but also her writing skills so she can write the kick butt heroines she loves. Her first YA novel, ‘Infiltration’, is about an elite soldier from the future who is sent back in time to complete an important mission – to stop a synthetic virus from killing millions, gather information and eliminate a future threat. She’s trained by experts to kill. Not to fall in love.

Let’s hear from Susanna…

Infiltration is a bit like Buffy The Vampire Slayer meets The Terminator. Buffy is a huge inspiration in many ways and is, in fact, one of the reasons I took up kickboxing. I’d always been interested in martial arts but going to aerobics was the closest I ever got. Then one day a miracle occurred – kickboxing classes at the small, upstairs aerobics room at my gym.

At the first class, I filled in a form that included a question about my reasons for taking up kickboxing. A suggested list included worthy things such as fitness, discipline and self-defence. I could probably have said ‘all of the above’ but instead I wrote ‘Buffy fixation’ because that was the truth. That was over 15 years ago and I still train and teach regularly.

Benefits of Being a Young Adult

Okay, I’m not that young and I don’t always act like an adult. Often I think maturity is overrated and that sometimes we end up doing what’s expected of us instead of living our lives in a way that’s true to ourselves. I’ve done plenty of things that are expected, such as getting married, starting a family and buying a house. But if I’d stuck with only the ‘accepted’ things, I would never have taken up kickboxing or started writing novels.

I’ve written lots of novels, most of them fabulously unpublished. I started off writing romance and had an idea that after I’d established myself, I’d take a year off and write a series of kick butt books for girls. That was what I’d always wanted to do but at the time I’d hoped I might be able to make a living writing romance and thought that would be the prudent course to take. Maybe being sensible isn’t always such a good thing.

A Big New World

I did write my series of three kick butt books – Infiltration is the first – and I found it incredibly liberating. It opened up a whole new world for me because when I was in the mind of a teenager I felt as if I could do anything. Go back in time? Sure, no problem. Beat up the big, scary dudes? Yep, I could do that. Save the world? Well, that was a big ask but I was up for it.

From the start, I knew there would be three books and I wanted to make each one different. In the first book, Nicola, my heroine, doesn’t fit in and that’s the one thing a teenager feels the need to do. She comes from a place where emotions are controlled so she’s not used to having feelings and sounds almost robotic. In the second book, she is forced to go back to the future, the one place she never wanted to return to. Then the final book involves lots of time spent in the future as well as lots of time travel as she struggles to change the future and save the world. Not so different from regular teen life!

As an adult, I could never have done any of those things. As a teenager, I wouldn’t let anything stand in my way.

Susanna Rogers is the author of kick butt books for young adults, a genre she loves partly because she’s never stopped being a teenager and partly because she can write the kick butt heroines she adores. She’s also a kickboxer and dreams of empowering girls and guys around the globe to believe in themselves, to take care and follow their own dreams.

For more about Susanna:
Infiltration on Amazon–
Her website – www.susannarogers.com/
Facebook – www.facebook.com/Susanna-Rogers-Author-1142712475829701/
Twitter – twitter.com/SusannaRAuthor
Bookbub – www.bookbub.com/authors/susanna-rogers

#GuestPost #Infiltration #Kickboxing