Wisdom from a Writing Conference: Writing YA Novels

Janette Rallison gave some tips and tricks for writing YA novels at the LDSStoryMakers conference.

What I Learned:

I don't write YA. Really - I did learn that. I also learned a lot of tidbits that can be applied to all writing. Like that the reader should care about the characters and that the hero has to have a problem.

Also - girls read boy books but boys don't read girl books. So if you write a boy book you can hit the whole market. Actually - I realized I should have known that already since I read many a boy books growing up - and still do.

How I Plan to Apply It:

My current WIP is a Middle Grade novel target at boys. I think that a lot of what goes into YA is the same that goes into MG.

Write. Be. - Inspiration

Write. Be.

As a child I hated reading. Absolutely hated it. My mom would have to force me to sit down and do my reading school work. In 4th I was way behind in my reading level. Then I read The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner. From then on I lived in the library. I read everything I could get my hands on. By the time I had finished 6th grade I was reading at a high school level. Way ahead.

The Boxcar Children inspired me to read.

I think I have always loved science fiction and fantasy. Growing up two of my favorite movies were The Last Unicorn and The Neverending Story 2 (side note - I did not read the books until I was much older). These movies captured my imagination and lead naturally into reading science fiction and fantasy.

The Last Unicorn and The Neverending Story 2 inspired me to love fantasy.

I have also always told stories. It started out as make believe and a natural love for talking. Shortly after I fell in love with reading I started to write my own stories. I still have the first one I ever wrote. It was about a mouse. I had been reading a lot of Brian Jacques at the time.

Reading inspired me to write.

What inspires you?