Monday, February 18, 2013

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.

5 comments:

  1. I'm not a YA writer either, but those are some nice tidbits for any genre. I agree with the "boy book" idea.

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  2. I have always noticed that about boys. I have a feeling that if I wrote from a male POV, I'd just make fun of the male mind the whole time. ;)

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  3. My current WIP is from a male point of view. I thought it would be hard (having done adult males and failing miserably.) But it has not been that difficult for me. Of course when I was that age I was very tom-boyish. Maybe that helps :)

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  4. Interesting about that male point of view. I guess it makes sense, but I never would have thought about it on my own. Thanks!

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  5. Great insights:) I just attended a conference, the SFWC, and also learned quite a bit.

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