Writing Great Books for Young Adults
October 7, 2014
By Regina L. Brooks
ISBN: 9781402293528 ● Trade Paperback/$14.99
Praise for Writing Great Books for Young Adults
“Written from the perspective of an industry insider, the book shows budding authors how to edit their work with fresh eyes.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Brooks offers writers who are serious about attracting teen readers solid guidance through the creation process of writing YA fiction.” —Library Journal
“Brooks fills her book with clear examples that illustrate her points… If you’re looking for an A to Z guide on writing and publishing YA fiction, Regina Brooks’s how-to is the place to go.” —Writer Magazine
Break into the young adult market with this indispensable guide!
With an 87 percent increase in the number of young adult titles published in the last two years, the young adult market is one of the healthiest segments in the industry. Despite this fact, surprisingly little has been written to help authors hone their craft and truly connect with the young adult audience.
Writing Great Books for Young Adults gives writers all the advice they need to tap into this incredible and innovative market. Literary agent Regina L. Brooks shows writers how listening to young adults will help them create characters their audience can identify with.
Topics covered include meeting your protagonist, engaging your readers,, trying on points of view, and many more.
About the Author: Regina L. Brooks is the founder of Serendipity Literary Agency and has been developing award-winning authors and books for over a decade. She has been highlighted in several national and international magazines and periodicals, including Poets and Writers, Essence, Writer’s Digest, and Sister2Sister, Forbes, Media Bistro, Ebony, and Jet. She lives in New York City.
Connect with Regina:
@serendipitylit
Chapter 1
Five Rules for Engaging Readers of Young Adult Fiction
Before you even start putting pen to paper (or finger to keyboard),
there are some issues that need to be addressed. A lot of writers out there
think writing YA fiction is easy. It’s not. Some mistakes you might make will
condemn your book to languish on the slush pile forever. So before we even talk
about the nitty--gritty of how to shape your book—-character, plot, setting,
point of view—-we need to talk about the five key elements that can make or
break you as a YA writer.
The Holden Caulfield Rule—-Don’t Be a Phony!
Imagine traveling to a planet where your survival depends on
hiding out among the inhabitants, where being recognized as a phony would mean
instant annihilation. In that situation, you’d want to study the locals until
you knew just how to look and sound and respond like them. It is the same in YA
fiction. In this case, sudden death occurs when the reader, stumbling upon a
false image, loses interest. The book closes with the splintering sound of a
fatal bullet.
It’s no exaggeration.
Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, was always railing against the
phoniness of other people, particularly adults. The enduring popularity of Catcher in the Rye demonstrates that teens today
are the same way—-they despise fakes.
YA Fiction Rule #1: The life
of the story depends on the writer’s ability to convince READERS that the
protagonist is one of them.
The key to writing a successful YA novel means knowing kids well
enough to channel their voices, thoughts, and emotions. (“Kids” is used as an
operative word here. The official YA audience encompasses twelve-- to
eighteen--year--olds, but it is expanding as children’s book publishers work to
attract readers as young as ten and eleven, and adult publishers reach to
capitalize on the growing market.) While some of your readers may be a little
younger than the twelve--to--eighteen target—-children aged ten to twelve tend
to read above their age—-and some may be a little older, keep in mind that you
have to convince all segments of your audience that you know what it feels like
to be a young person today. If you can’t convince your audience that you know
how they feel about the world today and express yourself the same way, you will
never reach them.
Avoid the Preach ‘n’ Teach
Whether YA readers attend elementary or secondary school isn’t an
issue when it comes to the importance of YA Fiction Rule #2.
YA Fiction Rule #2: Don’t be
condescending to your readers.
Young people won’t abide stories that suggest that their turmoil or
idealism will pass when they “grow up.” Brent Hartinger, author of Geography Club, says, “I’m a big
believer that kids are smarter than we think they are.…I think kids can handle
complexity and nuances, and the advantage to writing that way is that the book
appeals to both teenagers and adults.”
Many adults read fiction as an
escape—-teens are no different. Imagine spending a long day in school, learning
boring lessons ’cause you’re supposed to, having everyone from parents to
teachers to employers telling you what to do, how to think, what to wear, then
picking up a novel—-and having someone else trying to shove another lesson down
your throat! I can’t imagine a bigger letdown.
Don’t deal with young people by trying to push them in one direction
or another. Deal with them where they’re at now.
Soak It Up!
A word of caution: don’t emulate your favorite authors, but learn
from them. You’ll want to create work that is truly your own. In the resource
guide at the back of this book, along with details such as schools that offer
writing degrees with a YA focus, you’ll find listings for websites that
recommend great YA fiction.
YA Fiction Rule #3: Read,
read, read today’s
YA fiction.
The benefits to reading what’s already on the market are phenomenal.
It will familiarize you with what’s selling, how kids today talk, what they
wear, what issues concern them, and so on. If you don’t have easy access to a
teen, reading books meant for teens is probably the next best thing to having a
teen personally tell you what he or she would like to read.
Ideals First, Meals Later
Writing a successful book that aims to attract the widest
possible audience should be every writer’s goal, shouldn’t it? The answer is
yes and no. It helps to have a general audience age in mind, but you don’t want
to be consumed with thoughts about how and whether you’ll sell your work.
YA Fiction Rule #4: Silence
your worries about commercial considerations.
This allows you to concentrate on your primary objective, which is
to tell your story. If a nagging inner voice surfaces or someone discourages
you, rather than pulling on earphones and listening to music as a teenager
might, transform the voices through the power of your imagination into “white
noise.” This is the all--frequency sound emitted from machines that imparts a
feeling of privacy, calming you and allowing you to focus on that world you’re
creating. Keep your artistic integrity—-your ideals—-ahead of how commercially
successful—-your meals—-you want your book to be. If you focus on writing the
best possible book, commercial success will follow later.
As your manuscript develops while you work through the guidelines
provided in the ensuing chapters, your audience will become as clear to you as
if you were speaking on a stage and looking into an auditorium full of people.
If you subsequently work with an agent, the two of you can determine whether
the manuscript should be pitched to editors specializing in YA, adult fiction,
or both. But the fate of your manuscript will still be up in the air. Editors,
who are invested with the power to buy or decline a manuscript, will ultimately
determine to whom the book will be marketed.
The significant rise in the success of YA novels has opened the way
for a multiplicity of categories, and just to give you an idea, I’ve listed
some alphabetically: adventure, chick lit, comical, fantasy, fantasy epics,
futuristic, gay--themed, historical, multicultural, mystery, religious,
romantic, science fiction, sports, and urban. If your story idea doesn’t fit
into any of these categories, you may have to invent one. Consider it an opportunity.
The Undiscovered Country
From this point on, let your
creative spirit be guided by YA Rule #5.
YA Rule #5: In your new world
of YA fiction, erect no concrete barriers, wire fences, or one--way signs.
Instead, forge new paths.
The YA field welcomes innovators. Encapsulating the newness of the
time, YA novels are being published in nontraditional formats. Three YA authors
banded together to compose a novel. Another entry is an interactive book with
websites that combines reading with the world of Internet gaming. What will
your contribution be? Think fresh.
Remember that young people are trendsetters—-they’re always looking
to differentiate themselves from others. It’s how teens forge their own
identities. Don’t be afraid to push the boat out as well. Coming up with a
fresh idea will set you apart from the pack and might be the thing that sparks
an editor’s interest in your work.
Okay, consider yourself warned. Now that you know what not to do,
it’s time to learn how to craft the next YA bestseller. Step by step, this book
will walk you through the mechanics of what makes a great YA novel.
Chapter 2 is about generating an idea, your story. It will talk
about different ways to uncover stories that YA readers will want to read
about. It will also help you discover new possibilities for stories within
yourself that you may not have known you had.
Chapter 3 will discuss characters—-the heart of any manuscript. How
to breathe life into interesting characters your reader will connect with is
the main lesson of this chapter, but we’ll also discuss how to find the best
characters for the story you want to tell.
Chapter 4 is all about plot, story, and how to tell the difference.
Plot is like a machine that propels your manuscript forward, while story is the
overall impression you want the plot to create in the reader’s mind.
Chapter 5 is about how to put together a believable plot. It’s all
about action—-establishing the main conflict of your manuscript and putting it
in motion. Of special concern will be integrating the events of the manuscript
with the characters’ personalities, making sure that the characters react to
events in believable ways.
Chapter 6 is about setting and timeline. Setting is the background
of your story—-the when and where. This chapter is about understanding the
atmosphere of your story and effectively manipulating the details of that
atmosphere to influence your manuscript’s tone.
Chapter 7 is about point of view—-the perspective from which you
tell your story. Point of view can be an extremely effective tool for
connecting with character and clarifying or confusing the reader about
events—-provided you use it correctly.
Chapter 8 is about the meat of your manuscript—-dialogue. Dialogue
provides an opportunity for your characters to interact and opens up another
way to build your characters.
Chapter 9 is about the theme of
your manuscript. Theme is the overall impression you want your readers to take
away. It’s a subtle but effective way for the author to express himself through
the story.
Chapter 10 is about wrapping it all up, bringing your plot to a
successful resolution. Endings can be very tricky, so there will be detailed
discussion about what sorts of conclusions to avoid.
Chapter 11 is about how to find constructive feedback and incorporate
it into your revisions. All authors need to edit and revise their manuscript,
and this chapter will explain why the editing process is so necessary.
Chapter 12 is about getting
published—what agents and editors do and how to get your work into their hands.
This is the business chapter-—the one that details exactly how the publishing
industry works.
Chapter 13 is about YA nonfiction and the emerging genre of New
Adult. The YA market is constantly in flux, and this chapter will expose you to
two recent developments in the market.
I hope all of these tools will be helpful to you as you begin the
process of writing the next YA bestseller. Let’s begin exploring that magical
new world.
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