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Adolescence. Some of us want to forget it ever happened. There
were a lot of firsts – first zit, first failing grade, first
kiss. Our bodies underwent freaky changes. Moods were manic one
minute, depressive the next. We survived. But are you brave
enough to relive all those awkward moments?
Young Adult (YA) fiction holds its own in a field of flashy
competitors like the Internet, iPods and interactive computer
games. Don’t believe the rumours that kids don’t read anymore.
According to the Association of American Publishers, US sales of
hardcover and paperback Children’s/YA books for December 2006
alone reached over $80 million.
Andrew Karre, acquisitions editor for teen imprint Flux, and New
York literary agent Michael Bourret from Dystel & Goderich share
their expert opinions on the hot-selling YA fiction market. Our
own Allison Rushby, American authors Niki Burnham, Tina Ferraro
and Juli Heaton also weigh in with their perspectives on writing
for teens.
What makes a book Young Adult? Ask a bookseller and they’ll
simply tell you it’s fiction aimed at ages twelve to eighteen.
But Niki Burnham, RITA winner and author of Royally Jacked
(Simon Pulse), goes further. “YA is not a reading level,” she
says. “It's the age of your protagonist.” And Flux maintains YA
is a point of view rather than an age group.
If you think writing for a young audience puts you on a choker
chain – after all, your characters might not be old enough to
drive or quaff Shiraz with their cheeseburgers – think again.
Fiction sets out to entertain, not to be a pseudo parent
teaching kids right from wrong. Burnham insists, "You can write
anything in YA, as long as it works well and speaks to the
reader. The key is to write what you truly want, not to try to
chase a ‘hole’ in the market.”
Between the covers you’ll find the themes are similar to what
you might see on the romance or popular fiction shelves. Like
us, kids read to escape. That’s not to say “issue” books dealing
with promiscuity, drugs and alcohol, pregnancy, divorce, death,
etc, aren’t selling. What you need to do in any story, any genre
is create believable, likeable characters and give them a
problem to work through. It’s interesting to note kids like to
“read up”. That is, they prefer to read about characters who are
a couple of years older than themselves.
The benefit of hindsight and experience makes writing for teens
particularly appealing to newly minted Puffin author Juli Heaton
(Stirring Up Trouble, coming soon). “It’s the chance to speak to
people whose feelings you understand, now that you’re no longer
embarrassed to admit you have those feelings. They’re captivated
by characters facing regular teen issues as well as special
challenges from their unique situation.”
For Tina Ferraro, who made her Delacorte debut last month with
Top Ten Uses For an Unworn Prom Dress, it’s almost like hitching
a ride in a time machine and fooling around with history. “Like
most author-moms, my days are hectic. But when I turn on the
computer and ‘become’ sixteen or seventeen again, it’s a
wonderful journey back to a freer time, when anything was
possible. I could still lose that last bit of baby fat, I could
date Heath Ledger, I could be the first female US president.
Which is not to say that my characters are total dreamers. They
accept normal restrictions and set goals that are generally
realistic. But it’s their underlying sense of hope that keeps
them - and by association, me - powered up. And usually having
lots of fun.”
Flux editor Andrew Karre reports all types of stories are
selling well these days. “The nice thing about YA is that it’s
not broken down by subgenera, so there are a lot of books that
combine genres very successfully. “There is a huge market for
teen fantasy, but it is very hard to crack, since it’s so
competitive and publishers throw obscene amounts of money at it.
Teen books with paranormal aspects of one form or another seem
to work quite well, sometimes surprisingly so in a seemingly
increasingly conservative culture. ‘Literary’ sells if it’s
good. Science fiction can do really well if you define it
broadly and include speculative fiction and dystopian fiction.”
Michael Bourret, a New York agent with a special interest in
teen fiction, has similar views on what’s selling now, but warns
against merging with the flock. “It’s really difficult to follow
trends. With how long it takes for books to be published,
writing something in response to a bestseller is almost
impossible, since the book won't be published for at least a
year. “It’s best to know who you're writing for, but at the same
time, I think it’s important to write the book as it wants to be
written, without worrying too much about the reader. Even the
most commercial of fiction needs to have integrity.”
Teens love a character-driven series. Think Meg Cabot’s Princess
Diaries franchise or JK Rowling’s Harry Potter books. These
authors have created characters that seem to live and breathe.
No wonder it’s hard to accept The End is nigh when we know
there’s so much more to their stories.
Want to try writing a series but don’t quite have that
multimillion-dollar idea to carry it? One avenue is writing for
book packagers. They work with publishers to release a series,
often based on TV shows like Star Trek or Alias, using a stable
of hired guns. Writers must follow strict plot and character
guidelines to maintain the integrity of the series. But don’t
count on it making you a household name, if that’s your goal. In
some cases, writers aren’t able to use their own by-line.
Bourret says, for some writers, book packaging is a legitimate
path to publication. “It’s a way to get a start, as packagers
will often take chances on young writers without any experience,
and it can also be good if a writer is looking for a quick job
that pays. That said, with the reduced advances and royalties,
it’s not the most appealing arrangement for experienced writers
with their own book ideas.”
Heaton, who writes romance and paranormal YA, says you have to
work hard at hooking the reader’s attention. So that means
researching and fine-tuning to get it right. Read what’s selling
now. It isn’t enough to revisit publishing phenomena of the ’80s
like Bantam’s book-packaged Sweet Valley High or Sweet Dreams
series. Though SVH did break new ground in its day. Who could
forget Regina Morrow’s one dalliance with cocaine that ended in
tragedy? Of course, the storyline came with the message of Just Say Noooo.
Ferraro agrees with Burnham’s view on subject matter. “These
days you can be as out-of-the-box as you want, as long as you
make it work. Top Ten Uses For an Unworn Prom Dress would have
surely been rejected [twenty years ago] because of its
conversational, first-person voice, the scandalous rumours that
plague the heroine, and its tongue-in-cheek prom dress uses.
“Somewhere in a trash dumpster, along with Betamax tapes, Furbys
and tube socks, are stacks of YA editorial guidelines - and good
riddance! I wrote my first YA during the heyday of Sweet Valley
High and I recall receiving guidelines and tip sheets from
various publishers, and struggling to fit my plot and my voice
inside those strict parameters. The result was a stilted story
that would not come alive.”
TV shows depicting realistic violence, sex scenes and occasional
coarse language air during primetime with barely a protest from
viewers. Often these programs share the same demographic as teen
fiction. What does that mean for the YA publishing sector? How
far can an author go before eyebrows rise?
Karre hasn’t hit the boundary yet. “I’m sure there’s a threshold
of graphic sexuality and violence, but I haven't really come
across a book or a manuscript that pushed to the point where I
would say it’s unfit for publication. I’ve come across some that
dealt with sex and violence poorly, tastelessly or gratuitously,
and that’s cause for rejection or for me not to buy the book.”
Bourret says gritty realism or so-called taboo subjects in
today’s YA novels are commonplace and that the market dictates
how they’re incorporated into the story. “The success of racy
novels will inevitably lead to more of them, and that's what we
see at work. For me, as long as the content furthers the story,
and the point isn’t to glorify the behaviour, they’re completely
appropriate. If they only exist to titillate, I’m not
interested.”
Current YAs aren’t all about kids getting high or getting into
juvie. Take Allison Rushby’s Living Blonde series. Featuring
Nessa Mulholland as the girl whose life is a Marilyn Monroe
movie marathon, the books are funny, sweet and unashamedly
optimistic.
“Having written adult chick-lit for years and dealing with
heroines with not just baggage, but excess baggage labels and
fees slapped all over them, writing a heroine who's going
through those lovely, invincible tweenage years is such a
delight,” says Rushby. “That’s not to say that Nessa doesn’t
have things to deal with. She has plenty. But her take on the
world is very different. She doesn’t let things weigh her down
and there's always an underlying feeling that her whole life is
ahead of her.”
Voice is a huge part of what makes compelling reading for young
adults. Readers want to picture the heroine as a peer, someone
they’d hang out with. “I don’t think you can beat a strong
narrative voice,” comments Ferraro. “When I look at my favourite
books, it’s the way the author’s voice enhanced the storyline
that stays with me, more than the plot twists and turns
themselves.”
“Writing for younger readers takes a talent that not everyone
has, and I’m not sure it can be worked on,” says Bourret on
developing a voice. “Capturing the teenage voice requires
getting back inside the teenage mindset, which is very difficult
for most adults. The one thing that I insist all writers do is
read as much as possible within the category. If you want to
write for teens, read what they’re reading. It’s both
inspirational and informative, and it should help prospective
writers to better understand the voice of YA novels.”
Adds Karre, “From my vantage point, there is no such thing as a
generic teen voice. There are universal teenage themes and
common scenarios and shared experiences, but voices and
characters are individuals.”
“A big turn-off is when a teen character sounds like an adult
trying to sound like a teenager,” says Ferraro. “This would be
red-flagged by too many grammatically correct sentences, lengthy
explanations (especially from guys), dated expressions, and
references to before-their-time pop culture. Also, teens
essentially live in-the-moment, so if a broken-hearted teen
consoles herself that her experience will be ‘a good lesson for
the future’, YA readers know the author is not speaking their
language.”
Contest feedback is great, but the best way to find how your
book rates is to test it out on your target market. As well as
placing utmost trust in her critique partner, MTV Books author
Kelly Parra (Graffiti Girl, May 2007), Ferraro has what she
calls her secret weapon: her astute sixteen-year-old daughter.
Don’t have an in-house teen to steer you away from using tragic
buzzwords that are so yesterday? Try borrowing your friends’
kids, or take a tip from Niki Burnham and approach your local
school administration or library to recruit readers.
Many of the YA books published in recent years are written in
first-person narrative. “YA is ultimately a genre that’s
concerned more with characterisation and point of view than
anything else, and thus first-person is the natural choice,”
says Karre. “Of course stories and plots need to be good, but
character is so enormously important. Great teen narration comes
from the weird union of shyness and cynicism with exhibitionism
and earnestness.”
“It’s hard to find teen books that aren't written in the first
person, isn’t it?” muses Bourret. “I’ve actually asked myself
that question several times, but I think it comes down to the
fundamental nature of being a teenager, which is a particularly
self-involved time in life.
“Adolescence is a time when people figure out who they are
fundamentally and that’s a necessarily selfish process. The
books reflect that feeling. It’s important for teens to
experience the world through someone else's eyes, which these
books allow them to do. All that said, there are great people
writing in other voices, like any other category. In the end,
it’s important that authors find the right voice for their
novels, and that means experimenting and trying different
things.”
Heaton’s theory on why this POV works? “Honestly, I think the
writer is better able to capture her inner teen by using first
person.”
Rushby says, “The tweenage/teenage years are very ‘me’ oriented
by nature, so I think it's a natural fit. And how convenient,
because, in all honesty, I can’t write third person to save
myself! For me, first-person present is the only way to write.
It’s the only way I can seem to get into my characters’ heads
and bring them across to the reader as believable people.”
The term “crossover appeal” is often bandied about when talking
about books by mega-sellers such as Ann Brashares (The
Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants). Their stories resonate with
both younger and adult readers. Double your audience, double
your income, right? While every author dreams of this kind of
following, there’s a danger in trying to please everyone.
Karre says you’ll end up pleasing no-one. “Someone who starts
out trying to write a book with crossover appeal is asking for
trouble. A good teen book is potentially universally appealing
without doing anything special.”
Bourret agrees. “Right now, the line between adult and YA is
particularly blurred. It makes more sense to market the book
after it’s written, instead of trying to write a book to a
market.”
The North American fiction market is the biggest in the world
and the majority of best-sellers are set in that region. But
Australian authors of category romance have built up a loyal
following with “exotic” down under settings. Can the same be
achieved for YA?
“It's difficult,” says Rushby. “I think an Aussie setting is a
very hard sell if you’re looking at selling to the US market, so
what I try to do is find creative ways around this while still
using my writing strengths. I know a few US cities well as I’ve
visited them numerous times – NYC and Honolulu, for example.
Because of this, I set books one and two of the Living Blonde
trilogy in NYC and the third in Honolulu using an Aussie
heroine. However, I’d feel very out of my depth setting a novel
in LA, or in an American high school (my greatest fear!). I like
to use Aussie heroines living overseas as I feel most
comfortable being able to use an Aussie voice."
I could give you a magic formula for writing YA, but the
patent’s pending. So you’ll have to make do with this advice:
Write what you love, be it romance or horror; get your Freaky
Friday on and put yourself in your heroine’s shoes; read, read,
read; run your manuscripts by a teen to get a reality check; and
one final thought from Niki Burnham, “Never talk down to your
reader. Always assume they're as smart as you or smarter.”
Vanessa Barneveld’s paranormal YA novels have finalled/placed
in numerous Romance Writers of Australia contests, including the
2006 Emerald Award for Best Unpublished Manuscript. For more
information about Vanessa, visit
her
website
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