Collab idea for a book about the "iGeneration"

Hello,

My name is Andrew, I'm a freshman at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Enough about me though.

This past summer, I drew up an idea about composing a book that encompasses the ideas, social interactions, and overall 'mindset' of the current youth (ages 13-21). I have been drafting my own thoughts about this notion for about three months now, so I do have some amount of information regarding this topic in general.

Recently, I pondered with a few opinions on which direction our generation is headed (up for debate if you will, though that isn't my intention in this thread), and it just so happened to cross my mind, that it would offer more 'reverb' to the whole spectrum of this concept, if there were multiple authors for this book. Please leave suggestions and/or opinions.

I have never gotten a book published, nor have I ever done a collaboration outside of schooling regarding social issues.

If you are interested, let me know, I don't bite at all. In fact, I don't care who you are, I want your opinion. I want to make this happen.

Once again, the idea of the book is regarding how the current generation moves. More specifically, how we, the youth, are all similar, how almost all of us face the same exact awkward upbringings as a teen, how we are nervous to ask a girl/guy out with fear of rejection, why we like to party, how we like to surf the internet. Basically, why is it that we, the youth, have so many connections and similarities, yet we go through each day ignoring them, and acting like it's not a big deal. That behind those smiles, those brief "Hey, how's it going? Good, you? Good!" scenarios, lies this uniform thought process that makes this generation the way it is. By the way, the title of the book is "Professional Smilers". Let me know what you think.

Regards,
Andrew Castillo
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Environmental Management & Protection, B.S.

Since you've asked, let me tell you a bit about the other sort of teen.

I've never liked to party, and had few friends in middle school, at least. I tend to get along better with adults, really. (Mind you, many of the YWSers are quite mature for their ages.)

Going from home school to public was a huge transition for me. To be honest, I was terrified. Imagine going from a small group that meets occasionally to a public elementary school, and this at the tail end of your fourth grade.

Now, imagine that you've gone from reading the tales of King Arthur to a place where teachers encourage you to read little kids' books. That was fourth grade for me. It was better in middle school, though, since outside of textbooks my reading was my own business.

I'd love to collaborate on a work like this.
I actually posted a piece on my opinion on our generation today;
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If you really want information, I think you should write up a survey and give it to different people within the age group you mentioned. Try questions that will give you an idea on the psychology of each person you're interviewing. I can't really think of any examples right now, but hopefully you get the picture.

And I'd just like to say that I agree with Stori. Though, when I was in middle school, I tried too hard to blend in with everyone else. I didn't really grow up until high school. I really do get along with adults better, even if I have my childish tendencies.

I have talked to a couple of my friends about this, though the bulk of them mainly hate writing, so it has been quite an individual process right now. If you would like to, write a short chapter and reply here. If more progress is made, we can continue to collaborate, possibly Skype later on.