JK Rowling on adolescence.

Casual vacancyAt the Telegraph:

In reality, she said, teenagers were fragile, self-centred and even left contemplating their own mortality as they struggled with growing up.

"I think that as an adolescent you are very fragile, generally speaking," she said. "Obviously it's a time when your empathy is not terribly well developed.

"You are spending a lot of time thinking about yourself."