A couple of weeks ago on another blog someone wanted to know why people who weren't young adults would be interested in writing YA. It struck me as a bit of an odd question, because I've never had the sense that writers were only propelled by their own demographic for their stories. But it is also a legitimate question in a broader sense, and it got me to thinking about why we write and where our stories come from.

My own theory is that our richest, most authentic stories come out of our own t...