The YA View: What We Like in Our Books (and What We Don?t)

Hi! My name is Audrey, I am 13 years old and I live in California. I like to play sports, especially water polo. I sing in a choir and enjoy acting. I love reading and writing. At the moment, I’m reading Bullet Point by Peter Abrahams (and so far, it’s quite captivating), and I’m writing a novel titled The Good Girl’s Guide to Jewel Theft. But that will change, because, starting November 1st, I will be participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).

For my inaugural column, I chose to interview some of my friends about the aspects of YA lit they especially like.

Caroline C. (14 years old):

• People who are funny and cool (Caroline defines cool as “people who are smart, funny, and maybe a little out there.”)

• Good-looking people (Caroline really hates when the good-looking main character is in love with a “freak of the week”, and she wants at least one beautiful person in a novel, preferably more.)

• Mysteries, theft, and murders

• Sports

• Inside jokes that are funny!

• Characters like Ty from Behind the Curtain by Peter Abrahams and Adam from The President’s Daughter by Ellen Emerson White—Caroline likes male characters who are “nice, smart, funny, confident, and beautiful.”

Eleri Q. (13):

• Beautiful people

• Fantasy worlds that you wish you could see

• Unique names

• Whole worlds made up of new, exciting entities and lives and laws and societies.

• Books that make you want to cry when they’re over—not necessarily because they’re insanely sad, just because you want to be in the world for a little bit longer.

• Mysteries where you have to think/predict what will happen, mysteries that aren’t obvious.

• British accents (Audrey and Caroline agree with this times 20)

• People who are intelligent/smart, and tall, because “I seem to connect with them.”

• Eleri feels really connected to the character if the character in question is super smart but then makes a stupid mistake

• Characters with a really ironic sense of humor, characters who get the humor in bad situations

• Characters who are just a teensy bit wicked!

Kailey S. (13):

• The one character who no one likes because they’re annoying or bratty or just misunderstood

• Characters who speak their minds, characters who are opinionated

• Kailey doesn’t like talking animals because they’re annoying and lame

• Ty from Behind the Curtain by Peter Abrahams

Alex W. (15):

• Alex likes The Hobbit (J.R. Tolkien) because there are funny characters and it’s interesting. It’s interesting because it's fantasy but you can relate to the characters and understand why they made their decisions. He also likes this book because it’s not crazy out-there fantasy.

• He especially likes the Dragon from The Hobbit because he was tricky and smart, but also had flaws. Alex doesn’t like characters that are too perfect.

• Alex likes the Life of Pi by Yann Martel because it was kind of funny and also an adventure. Alex likes adventure stories a lot.

• Alex likes characters who are smart and funny and witty.

Audrey (Me!) (13):

• Interesting explanations of non-interesting things (I swear, The Red Blazer Girls by Michael Beils taught me how to do algebra. Now if someone does a good example on how to factor equations, I will be Set For Life.)

Characters who occasionally talk in other languages (Por ejemplo, I sometimes parle francais, y tu?)

Characters who do relatable things (believe it or not, sometimes teenagers actually have to stay home and study on Saturday nights and miss the party of the year. Pity.)

Books about art theft or jewel theft or the mafia or spies or criminals in general—except for psychopath teenage killers/druggies, they’re boring and way too depressing for me to care about.

Characters who betray other characters

• Characters like Ty (seriously, everyone loves Ty from Behind the Curtain. It’s indisputable.)

• Inside jokes! Seriously, if you’re writing for teens, and you don’t include an entertaining inside joke, I’ll be like “no.”

• In plots: at the risk of sounding cliché, the bigger the better. I like plots with some drama, some intrigue, and a bit of action.

• In characters: I happen to like characters who are unique, who aren’t perfect. I like the character named Allison who lives next door—but secretly, Allison has an alias that supposedly lives in Prague.

To close this, I would like to state what (in my opinion) is over in YA. Vampires—I hope you know that vampires are finally dead. Ditto vampire boarding school. Seriously, how many books must be written about anti-social vampires at boarding school?

Also, the name Damien/Damon/Damion/etc. for the bad-boy love interest irks me. If I read this line ever again—But when she arrives at the Academy, danger is waiting for her, in the form the darkly passionate Damien.—I think I shall die.

I’ve noticed a trend in YA lately—semi-dystopian heroic fiction. I’ve seen a lot of main characters with special powers, be it the power to fly, or the power to morph into a wolf. My opinion is this: it’s not overdone yet, but it looks like it’s heading in that direction.

Finally, I have a request. Write a normal love interest for us. Someone who isn’t all mysterious and dark and brooding. Someone who doesn’t have eyes that convey hidden depths or battle scars that form weird tattoos. Someone who doesn’t display exceedingly stalkerish traits and isn’t illogically overprotective. Someone who isn’t named Damien.

Audrey is a Contributing Editor to Write4Kids and Children's Book Insider: The Newsletter for Children's Writers. She'll be writing on middle grade and young adult literature topics about once a month. If you have questions for Audrey or topics you'd like her to cover, send an email to Laura@write4kids.com.

From the CBI Vault: Great Advice From Judy Blume & Barbara Seuling

Recently, we took the opportunity to look back at some of the many author interviews we’ve presented over the years. What caught our eye was some of the priceless advice these authors shared with our readers.

Here are two quick — but powerful — lessons from our archives:

Judy Blume on writing from the heart (August 1990):

What happened when I first started–as in Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, which is the first book that was really mine–is I was just telling the stories that I knew. I knew what it was like to be in sixth grade, and to be in Margaret’s body, because that was my body. Slow growing, slow to develop….So that’s what I wrote about, because it wasn’t there for me when I was young.

I didn’t know if anyone would publish it, but it was from the heart. The only thing that works with writing is that you care so passionately about it yourself, that you make someone else care passionately about it. Books that are written to order are awful. It can’t work. Children will see through that and they won’t read it.

Barbara Seuling on common mistakes (December 1994):



The main character is a big one. So often beginning writers will use boy and girl twins as the main character, or use more than one main character, such as a pair of boys going off to have an adventure and you can’t pick out which one is the hero of the story. There should be one viewpoint to the book, and this rule hasn’t changed since children’s books first began. You can occasionally get away with it if you shift the focus to another character when you start a new chapter, but you have to do this very carefully. Point of view is another one. I always feel you should know how to use point of view so you can break the rules. There are a lot of cases where the rules of point of view are broken very successfully, such as in Charlotte’s Web. You can bend the rules but you have to be as good as E.B. White to do it.

There are two ways to approach talking animal characters. The big differentiation depends on the story. Either the animals have to truly be animals, or they are really kids that happen to look like animals. If you’re writing a story that just needs a substitute child, then you can decide if it’s a soft furry animal or a funny-looking animal. It’s funny to see a pig in children’s clothes, but they always have some pig-like characteristic, such as a large appetite. If you’re writing that kind of story, then it’s fine to have the animal act like humans.

In a book like Charlotte’s Web the animals were very true to their natures, and it was important that they were. Even Templeton the rat was not a sympathetic character. In a story where you’re getting close to the animal world, you need to keep animals as true to their natural selves as possible. What you don’t want is the animals doing animal-like things part of the time when it’s convenient to the story, but then at other times have hands or stand upright to talk to each other. That never works.

To read these — and many more — CBI interviews in their entirety, check out In Their Own Words: The Best of CBI’s Interviews.

---

Interested in learning how to write a book and send it to children's book publishers? Come on over to The CBI Clubhouse for audios, videos, insider writing tips and much, much more!

Writing For Teens - Finding Humor Among the Melodrama

It seems when kids turn 13, one word sums up their lives: melodrama. Emotions hover on the surface; every event is huge. Adults are idiots who don't understand them, and their classmates are constantly watching to make sure they don't do anything stupid (which includes wearing the wrong clothes to saying the wrong thing to listening to the wrong music). Oh. My. God. As adults on the receiving end of this hysteria, we may roll our eyes or deliberately show up at Back to School Night with wet hair, just to see our child's response. But as authors, we can mine the drama for its flip side: humor.

Read more of Laura's article at EzineArticles.......

Children's Book Publishers - How to Wow Them With a Perfect Query Letter

In an ideal world, you'd be able to pitch your manuscript to an editor over a leisurely cup of coffee. But we're forced to inhabit the real world, where you've got about 10 seconds to hook an editor at a children's book publisher before she decides to continue reading or reach for her form rejection slip. And more and more, this "hook" must come in the form of a query letter.

A query is a business letter asking permission to send the project described. It is either sent without an accompanying manuscript, or with two or three sample chapters (the publisher's guidelines will state which form the query should take). If the query letter stands alone, it's your only chance to sell the editor on your book. Many authors hate the task of writing a query, but it's a necessity in today's publishing industry. Editors, overwhelmed by the sheer number of submissions they receive, need a quick way to weed out the good from the not-so-good. A well-crafted query has a better chance of leading to a well-crafted manuscript.

The first rule of query writing is that the letter must fit on one page. That's one side of one page (no cheating and printing a double-sided letter). Type it single spaced, but leave sufficient white space at the top and bottom so the letter looks uncluttered and appealing. Why such length limitations? If you can't sum up your book in less than a page, you haven't sufficiently clarified your idea.

Your first paragraph (two paragraphs if you've written a longer novel) conveys to the editor what your book is about. Think of this as the copy that would go on the jacket flap. You don't want to give away all the surprises, but you do want to entice the reader to buy the book. For fiction, establish your main character in a sentence or two, present the character's primary problem or conflict, mention one or two things the character plans to do to resolve the problem, and bring up some of the obstacles that will stand in his way. Hit the high points upon which the action is based. The synopsis should also reflect the tone of the book-humorous, scary, action-packed, somber, etc.

Don't discuss the theme, or the underlying message of the book. This should be obvious to the editor through the plot.

In nonfiction queries to children's book publishers, begin by stating an interesting fact about your topic that helps establish a market for your book (Did you know Jello, in its many shapes and forms, is eaten by 3 million people a day?) Follow this by describing what your book is about and your particular slant on the topic. In a few sentences explain your approach and how it's appropriate for the intended age group, the questions you'll raise and answer, and any additional materials your book would have (photographs, maps, activities, etc.) You can add a paragraph explaining your research and any unusual information you've uncovered. List good firsthand sources available to you or new data that hasn't ever appeared in a children's book.

After your synopsis, list the book's title, word count, age group and genre (historical fiction, humorous mystery, science activity book, etc.) Explain why you've chosen to submit to this publisher (show that you've done your market research and describe in one sentence why your book would fit in with this publisher's list). For nonfiction, also state how your book would be different from other books on the market on the same topic.

Your next paragraph is about you. Give any information pertinent to writing children's books (previous publishing credits, memberships in writing organizations, writing classes you've taken, professional experience with children of the age group for which you want to write). Nonfiction credentials may include extensive experience with or study of the topic. If you don't have any relevant information, skip this paragraph. Editors know that everyone has to start somewhere.

Finally, ask the editor if you may send the entire manuscript, and thank her for her time. Attach sample chapters if indicated in the publisher's guidelines (nonfiction publishers may also request a chapter-by-chapter outline). Enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope for the editor's reply. If you're sending a letter only, the SASE can be a business size envelope. If you're including sample chapters, your SASE should be large enough to return the entire packet.

Always address the letter and envelope to a specific editor whenever possible. Use good stationery with your name, address, phone number and email printed at the top. Send by regular mail-brightly-colored envelopes, trinkets or treats included in the package, or Fed-Ex delivery won't increase your chances.

Then, drop your query in the mail and start on your next manuscript!

Laura Backes is the Publisher of Children's Book Insider, the Newsletter for Children's Book Writers. Want to learn how to become a successful children's book author? Come hang with the Fightin' Bookworms at http://cbiclubhouse.com. Whether is writing picture books, chapter books, young adult novels, finding children's book publishers - or anything else - you'll find all the answers at The CBI Clubhouse.