1) Don’t Dumb Down Your Writing

People often make the mistake of assuming YA books need to be dumbed down for a younger audience. But, in reality, all YA really means is that you have a teenage protagonist. Of course, there are a few restrictions on cursing and any explicit/sexual content, but aside from that, it’s like writing any other novel. And, because of the growing popularity of YA books in the adult community, you want to appeal to a wide age range amongst your readers. Therefore, when you’re going into writing, don’t worry about dumbing yourself down or editing your language (unless you have a potty mouth).

2) POV

The trickiest part of YA writing is putting yourself in the mind of a teenager. When choosing a POV, for example, if you choose the third person past tense you can’t write from the perspective of an adult looking back on the naivety of their teenage years. Although that would likely be much easier, that’s not a perspective that will appeal to teenage readers. They don’t want to read about an adult who’s already developmentally light years ahead of them; they want to read about someone who has characteristics they recognize and struggles/insecurities which they can relate to. And the adults who read this genre want to feel like they’re putting themselves back into that mindset as well.

3) Write Like a Teenager, Not Like a Stereotype

Along those same lines, one of the biggest mistakes you could make as a YA writer is making your teenage character a reflection of how you now feel about teenagers. Typically, once we’ve all passed that phase in our lives, we look back and think of our teenage selves as naive, foolish, or even downright annoying. And that feeling may even extend to modern teens in general. But, at the time of your teenage years, the experiences that you have and the mistakes you make are real, emotionally charged, and important to you. You have to put yourself back in that mindset, the one where a boy you like saying hi to you is the most important thing that happened to you that day. The one where someone making fun of the shoes you wore made you question your worth as a person. Because if you write a protagonist who is just yelling at people, being moody, and making stupid decisions that the much smarter adults warn her against…approximately 0% of teenagers will relate to that character.

4) Avoid Tropes and/or Put a Unique Spin On Them

For those unfamiliar with the genre, here are a few YA tropes that are very common among all facets of the genre (YA sci-fi, YA fantasy, YA contemporary, etc). The first is Insta-love, which is when your protagonist sees their love interest for the first time and gravity shifts and the world turns differently and everything changes in that single moment and…blah, blah, more gushy stuff. This is a trope you should avoid at all costs. While it may seem romantic initially, it’s also incredibly unrealistic and won’t align with anything a reader could relate to. Love is something that happens over time–use scenes throughout the book to build it up. Another common trope, especially among YA dystopian books, is the reluctant hero/chosen one. The protagonist is the only one who can save everyone, but he/she just wants to be a normal high school student… There are several other tropes you’ll find throughout YA (enemies to lovers, love triangle, dead/missing parents, etc). We’re not suggesting you avoid these tropes completely, but if you’re going to use them at least give them their own spin so readers don’t find them so predictable. Except for Insta-love–avoid that like the plague.

5) Avoid Archetypes

Another common mistake among YA writers is creating archetypical characters instead of unique individuals. We’ll say it again for the people in the back: teens are not stupid. They’re intelligent with growing minds. Making your characters simple and stereotypical isn’t going to make them easier to relate to. People aren’t as simple as ‘the bully’, ‘the nerd’, ‘the tough girl’, ‘the jock’, ‘the popular girl’- and teens are more aware of that now than ever. They, as well as adult readers, want to see authentic, three-dimensional, complicated characters because that’s what people are actually like in the real world (and in high school too).

6) Avoid Slang

Another thing teens can smell from a mile away? Pandering. The most obvious sign of pandering in teen/YA writing is if you try to use slang that you feel like they’ll understand. Don’t say that party was LIT, or those tacos were FIRE because, very quickly, teens will start to feel like they’re reading a book meant to mock them rather than relate to them. You need to adapt your voice to that of a teenager but remember: teens don’t speak an entirely different language.

7) Learn by Reading

As with any genre, one of the best tools for perfecting your writing is to look to other writers as examples. Checking out successful writers of Teen/YA books will help you learn what you’re doing right, what you’re doing wrong, and even what your book may be missing. To help you get started, we’ve compiled a list of some of the top Teen/YA books from different decades throughout history. How many have you read?

The post Genre Focus: Teen and Young Adult appeared first on Dorrance Publishing Company.

Make your story different

This is a good rule of thumb for any novel, but especially with the romance genre. There are a lot of stereotypical tropes embedded in this genre. There’s the ‘bad boy’ who is broody and snarky, but really has a heart of gold. There’s the ‘unique’ or ‘quirky’ protagonist, where a novel constantly reiterates how special she/he is. There’s the plain girl who transforms into a beauty, suddenly gaining the attention of suitors. When you’re writing a romance novel, do your research and figure out what overused devices there are in the genre. Otherwise, you risk repeating what hundreds of authors have already done before you. Don’t get us wrong, avid romance readers won’t necessarily hate this. But, if you’re not (at the very least) taking a new spin on an old trope, your book won’t necessarily be cemented into the genre or gain very much attention.

So, if you’re writing a book with a love triangle between the broody bad boy and the sweet dorky guy- make sure to try to take a different spin on it in some way or another. Maybe the broody boy is just shy (like a Mr. Darcy type)? Or maybe the sweet dorky boy turns out to be a master manipulator?

Avoid Insta-Love

This is one of the most common tropes of romance novels. Insta-love is exactly what it sounds like- love at first sight. We’re not saying your character can’t immediately experience butterflies or have his or her attention drawn to their eventual partner. You can have infatuation at first sight, just not love. The sensation of falling in love in a fiction novel should feel as real as possible. Therefore, it should parallel the sensation of falling in real love as much as possible. And in real love, there is build up- different things your person says or the way they treat others or the way they make you laugh causes feelings to grow over time. If you start a relationship at the pinnacle of passion, then there’s nowhere to go but down. Readers want to feel the build-up and the pay-off of a love story and they won’t be able to if every moment is written with an equal amount of strength and feeling. Start in a reasonable place, where the characters are merely attracted to and flirtatious with one another, and then work your way toward love. It’s a big word and shouldn’t be taken lightly- even within the context of fiction.

Write imperfect characters

As previously stated, you want your story to feel as much like a real love story as possible. And guess what doesn’t exist in the real world? A perfect person. There’s nothing that will take your readers out of the story more than if your protagonist and his/her love interest are seemingly flawless.

There must be internal and external conflicts in every good story. It won’t be interesting for your reader if they’re just two perfect people that outside forces are trying to keep apart. They need to have their own issues and baggage because everyone does. Maybe they have a bad relationship with their parents, maybe they have had bad relationships in the past, maybe they were bullied and lack self-confidence. Either way, they need their own obstacles to overcome within the confines of the relationship. This leads to a better payoff when they, eventually, end up happy.

Follow the formula

The genre lends itself to creativity, but it also follows a very broad guideline that romance novel readers have come to expect. The key elements are a) A protagonist and romantic interest they’ll love and root for b) a believable conflict and c) a happily ever after. The first point is fairly self-explanatory, but a believable conflict is harder to understand. This is, essentially, a conflict that readers can sympathize with. It means that if you’re writing about your characters getting into a fight over a dumb misunderstanding that could be cleared up in five seconds if they just talk to each other…you’re doing it wrong.

In regards to your ending, romance readers tend to expect and want a happily ever after in some capacity. Tragic endings work best when the book is primarily another genre (like fantasy or sci-fi) with a romantic element on the side. Feel free to break their hearts if you want, but not every romance novel reader will be happy about it. And this doesn’t mean you need to have the stereotypical happy ending. Take The Notebook, for example. The ending is very bittersweet (spoilers). Noah and Ally end up together but, eventually, Ally gets Alzheimer’s and they pass away together in their sleep. So their end is fairly tragic, but they do get a long life together of love and happiness- which is their own unique version of a happily ever after.

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The post Genre Spotlight: Romance appeared first on Dorrance Publishing Company.