Or Young Adult is not a market or genre that I had never considered writing in. Then I came up with my idea for Think Sideways and realised that the primary market would be YA fantasy.
"...you have written a "YA" novel if it is about a teen character dealing with issues through a teen perspective." - Ally Carter.
The main character in Blood-Magic (code name) is a 15 year old girl who is dealing with issues of identity, belonging and family. The perspective is from my main character as she deals with these issues, as a teen.
Since I had never considered writing for this market the blogs that I read and the information on writing that I seek have never been focused towards YA. What I know about writing for the YA market can basically be summed up in the following three blog posts as well as general knowledge about the Harry Potter and Twilight phenomenon.
- YA Is All About Asking The Right Qs, Kristin Nelson
- The Wrong Questions..., Ally Carter
- The Questions That Aren't Getting Asked At All, Ally Carter
This is how I have fallen into YA. The idea came to me, it developed and became what it is. In this way it will be dark, a little edgy and have themes that some might consider inappropriate for teens but Ally's advice has allayed my fears.
"You are only limited by what you can do well and what is honestly necessary. I highly recommend you do what works for you and the stories you want to tell." - Ally Carter.
As always... stay true to the story.
7 comments:
"Thinking Sideways" sounds interesting. And the YA market is bigger than ever these days. There's a lot of potential.
I found your blog through J.C. Hart's blog. I'd love to be added to your blogroll if you so see fit. Thanks.
Welcome to the club!! :) I went from writing poetry to YA (and some MG). There's really no way I can explain how that happened, so I guess I won't bother. :)
It'll be interesting to see how you find writing YA, I'd never considered it before having the idea for SoCNoC which was most definitely YA - also had those moments where I wasn't sure whether I should write something because I don't know what is and isn't appropriate - it was a lot of fun tho! I'm looking forward to hearing more about it :-)
Nice links - I've dabbled in YA a few times but it has never been my focus. I'd like to return to it in a more organised and focussed way at some point.
Nice to see that others have 'fallen' into YA. I think my summer reading will be YA to gear me up for writing blood-magic next year.
Bryan, I'd be happy to check out your blog. Where can I find it?
*raises hand* Another one here who's fallen into not only YA, but MG too. It's all a bit bewildering and more than a little scary! But welcome to the club :D
Okay, you'll have to excuse my ignorance. What is MG?
Nice to have another fell-into-YA writer around. :)
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