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6 Tips For Writing Stories for Young Adults

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6 Tips For Writing Stories for Young Adults

Anybody Can Write a Novel

Chapter 1 “Genres” – Section 5 “Young Adult”

With Links to Supplementary Material


Before I begin this chapter, I must say that this topic is one of the few for which there is an abundance of wonderful literature. Among them are “The Writer's Guide to Crafting Stories for Children” by Nancy Lamb, and “The Pied Pipers,” which is an anthology of interviews with the great children's/YA authors of the 20th century (and from which today's quotes will be extracted). I've read both, and both are phenomenal and worth the read. And today, I'm going to talk about the main points I've learned about writing Young Adult (YA) novels. Please keep in mind that while I will use the word, “children” many time in this article, it is due to the terminology for writing used by these 20th century writers for what we today call YA literature. Also, I have great praise and respect for young adult readers, but I do not mean them as opposed to more mature readers; I merely wish to focus this article about the good attributes in the young and how they are relevant to the craft.


Tip 1: “Anyone who writes down to children is simply wasting his time. You have to write up, not down.” -E.B. White

A long time ago, I watched an episode of the Cosby Show, where one of Bill's daughters who was in the third grade, decided not to go back to school, saying she would just teach second grade when she grew up. Funny, but that is quite often what writers think when they write for young adults. They aren't proficient enough to write for adults, so they're going to work on something easier. This is not the case. The quality and precision of your writing has to increase, and you must be passionate about the topic if you wish to ever write for young adults. Furthermore, if you wish to gain the trust and respect of a young reader, you must show them respect as a storyteller by addressing them as an equal, and not patronizingly.


Tip 2: “[Children] are the most attentive, curious, eager, observant, sensitive, quick, and generally congenial readers on earth.” - E.B. White

According to White, [young adult] readers will accept a story so long as it is “presented honestly, fearlessly, and clearly.” Young adult readers do not have the patience for a story that is timid, roundabout, and muddled in thick distractions. They want to see plot, to see the depth of human emotion and experience, and themes that are hard-hitting. Yes, be as fearless as your readers, and address themes that are difficult and challenging with answers that are equally so. Lastly, make extra efforts to look directly into the heart of each element of your story, and to not veer too far from your plot.


Tip 3: Realize the importance of the trust between you and your reader, and make efforts to maintain it.

Imagine the writing experience as going on a deep and perilous journey with a young person who is brave, but in whom you must maintain a sense of trust, honesty, and directness. In this genre, you must make efforts not to trick or manipulate your readers' emotions or intellect—as opposed to more mature literature in which this tactic might be encouraged. In YA literature, the story is a partnership between the writer and reader, as equals—and great humility is necessary so that you do not give into desires to elevate yourself above your reader. In a world that looks down upon and patronizes young people, the writer must be the one who give young people the respect they so need and deserve.


Tip 4: Write with the same vocabulary and sentence structures that you would for any other novel.

“Some writers for children deliberately avoid using words they think a child doesn’t know. This emasculates the prose and, I suspect, bores the reader.” (White) In addition to boring the reader, writing in a dumbed-down manner will also break the trust between you and your young reader—like a grown person using baby-talk with a twelve-year-old. This includes attempts at “young person” jargon, or talking “like a teenager.” Of course, this doesn't mean that you should write like you're in the Victorian era, either—but neither should you for adult literature. Just vary your sentence types, lengths, and formats in a way that would make you feel compelled to keep reading, and use a rich variation of standard English.


Tip 5: Keep your paragraphs and chapters a bit shorter than you would for more mature literature.

I've talked before about how all readers view reading as a task (even if an enjoyable one), and that each paragraph, page, and chapter completed, triggers a reward portion of the brain and makes the reader feel accomplished and refreshed. And the simple fact of the matter is that younger readers have not had the years and years of reading necessary to easily tackle larger chapters and paragraphs without it becoming very tiresome. However, they can read the same amount as an adult with the simple fix of breaking the story into smaller pieces. Instead of a thirty page Prologue, for example, try writing a three-part prologue of ten pages per chapter.


Tip 6: Stories for young adults are stories about young adults.

Though it is important to analyze the parts of YA literature, it can all be condensed to that single statement. If you create a protagonist who is a believable young adult, they will speak on a level that is equal with, respectful of, and in a way that is dynamic to young readers. The story will be the result of the directness of how a young adult looks at the world, and the characters tackle their problems with that same directness. The plot, by necessity, will not become muddled, and the story will fall into place. The only challenge is in consistently writing your protagonist accurately, and in empathizing with them on such a level that you feel their struggles, victories, needs, and desires on a personal level.


Feel free to comment with other suggested resources. Any questions about writing? Things you want me to discuss? Comment or send me a message and I will be glad to reply or feature my response in a later article. If you enjoy my reviews, please feel free to share my articles with friends, add it to your favorites, become a watcher on my page, or send send a llama my way!


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Young Adult: Age 7-22 (more or less)

Before I begin this chapter, I must say that this topic is one of the few for which there is an abundance of wonderful literature. Among them are “The Writer's Guide to Crafting Stories for Children” by Nancy Lamb, and “The Pied Pipers,” which is an anthology of interviews with the great children's/YA authors of the 20th century (and from which today's quotes will be extracted). I've read both, and both are phenomenal and worth the read. And today, I'm going to talk about the main points I've learned about writing Young Adult (YA) novels. Please keep in mind that while I will use the world, “children” many time in this article, it is due to the terminology for writing used by these 20th century writers for what we today call YA literature. Also, I have great praise and respect for young adult readers, but I do not mean them as opposed to more mature readers; I merely wish to focus this article about the good attributes in the young and how they are relevant to the craft.
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Please keep in mind that while I will use the world?