Understanding the “New Adult Fiction” Category

by Jane Choate

 

 

What is new adult fiction?

 

New adult fiction bridges the gap between young adult and adult books. It typically features protagonists between the ages of 18 and 26. The label was first used in 2009 when St. Martin’s Press hosted a contest looking for stories that could be marketed to both young adult and adult readers. The contest described for new adult fiction as books “with protagonists who are slightly older than YA and can appeal to an adult audience.” Put simply, new adult is the age category after YA.

 

New adult fiction books concentrate on issues such as leaving home, developing sexuality, suffering with chemical depression, coming of age (both legally and emotionally), and wading through a myriad of choices in education and career. The genre has gained popularity rapidly over the last few years, particularly through books by self-published and bestselling authors like Jamie McGuire, Colleen Hoover, Darlene Gardner, Megan Abbott, and Cora Carmack The term has now become widely accepted with most traditional publishers now publishing new adult books and Goodreads, Amazon and Kobo adding it as an official cateory. Entangled Publishing has developed its own NA imprint, Embrace, while Random House had also launched an NA imprint, the digital-only Flirt. Other publishers are marketing the books under their adult or YA imprints.

 

The chief features that distinguish this category from YA fiction are the perspective of the main character and the scope of his/her life experiences. Parents with kids of this age know that there is a vast difference between a new high school graduate who is barely 18 and a home-for-the-summer 19-year-old who has just returned from two semesters of college.

 

This difference has less to do with chronological age and more to do with the greater feelings of independence and selfreliance. At the same time, these characters are struggling to find their own place in the world. They question the attitudes and values with which they were raised and are finding out for themselves what they believe, not just what their parents told them to believe.

 

New adult fiction works to capture the perspective gained as the cares and concerns of childhood fade and life experience is gained, which brings (we hope) greater insight and widom. Characters of this age are building their own lives. They may be living away from home for the first time and handling such problems as dealing with supporting themselves financially, balancing checkbooks, finding themselves overdrawn on their credit cards, and other life experiences.

 

Another major difference between young adult and new adult fiction is that of content in terms of sexually explicit language, and more mature situations such as suicide, alcoholism, and drug abuse. Though some YA books have dealt with these issues in the past, NA books take a different viewpoint with the characters facing and owning up to poor decisions and their long-term consequences.

 

Not every NA book will have such content, but many do and make no apologies for it. Other potentially controversial subjects include date rape and sexual assault.

 

Lighter topics are also addressed such as looking for a first apartment, dealing with roommates, and even finding the perfect wedding planner. No subject is offlimits, whether it be light and whimsical or darker and more serious. Like any fiction, the new adult genre can have crossovers, combining with science fiction, fantasy, romance, historical, mystery, or suspense.

 

If you have a manuscript featuring an 18 – 26 year old main character who is struggling to find his own identity and growing in self-awareness, consider the new adult market. Editors and agents alike, not to mention readers, are actively seeking new authors who can engage them and speak their language.

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Writing for Children & Teens: Simple Steps to Understand Your Readers

by Jane Choate

 

In various writers’ groups over the years, I have heard a number of writers who say, usually with a certain degree of self-righteousness, “I don’t write for others.  I write for myself.”  That’s great.  For the rest of us, though, those who have struggled to get published and who are struggling to stay published, it doesn’t work.  We write for ourselves, yes, but we write for others as well.  We want our words to have an audience.  Just as a painter or a sculptor wants his works to be viewed and composers want their music to be heard, writers want their work to be read.  For it is in the reading that the work comes alive.

 

But anyone who writes for children and teens must ultimately answer a key question — just who is that audience?  Are we writing picture books?  In that case, the audience is the toddler and pre-school set; it is also the parents of those children as they are likely the ones to be reading the books to their children.  Are we writing for early readers?  For the ‘tween set?  For young adults?  Knowing your audience is key.  Knowing their tastes, their needs, their wants, their expectations is vital in penning the kind of stories that will touch their hearts and minds.

 

If you aren’t certain who your audience is, try one or more of the following steps:

 

STEP 1:  Know yourself.  If you don’t know yourself, how are you going to know your audience?  Know your comfort zone.  Know what makes you uncomfortable.  If you aren’t comfortable with angst-filled stories, you may want to steer clear of writing coming-of-age books.  Know your likes and dislikes.  Know your emotional and spiritual self.  If faith is important to you, you may find that you want to write for the growing Christian market. 

 

ACTION:  Ask yourself some questions.  Do you enjoy being around babies and toddlers and early grade-schoolers, but older children and teens send you running in the opposite direction?  If so, don’t be afraid to admit it.  Own that and embrace the fact that you are probably most comfortable writing for the preschool and early reader set.  Likewise, if you enjoy the humor and sometimes angst of older children, such as ‘tweens and young teenagers, you will want to focus your efforts there.  Or maybe you want to create stories for the YA market, to touch the lives of those teens who are on the cusp of adulthood.

 

 

STEP 2:  Familiarize yourself with what’s being written now for the age group for which you are aiming your work.  It’s wonderful to read the classics such as Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House series, Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer, and Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women etc.,  but it’s imperative that you know what publishers are printing now

 

ACTION:  Read.  Read widely in your targeted age group.   Go to your library—a librarian can be a writer’s best friend—and ask for a recommended reading list.  If you have children or grandchildren in this age group, you have a leg up, as you are already familiar with what kids are reading.  Read books in other age groups as well.  You want to know the differences between a board book and a book penned for the almost-reader and to understand what sets a middle grade book apart from one written for the ‘tween age group.  Pay attention to vocabulary.  Books for very little children repeat words over and over.   For older children, the vocabulary is more varied.  Read pages aloud and listen to the rhythm.  This is particularly important in writing for small children who love repetition, not just of words but of sounds and sentence structure.

 

ACTION:  Subscribe to industry periodicals such as Children’s Book Insider.  Treat yourself to a current copy of Writer’s Market.  Learn what publishers are looking for in the varied children’s and teen markets.  Learn what agents are representing the kind of books you want to write and what their targeted audience is.

 

ACTION:  Go to places where you can find your audience and hang out with them.  For example, picture book writers can volunteer in a preschool or kindergarten.  Teachers LOVE volunteers.  Don’t be afraid to pick the brain of a teacher.  Teachers know what kids like to read and what they avoid like the plague.  If you’re writing stories for the middle-grade group, go to a third or fourth grade classroom.   If you belong to a church, offer to teach Sunday School.  If you don’t have children or grandchildren of your own, volunteer to tend the children of a busy young mother.  Not only will you learn more about children, you’ll be doing a tremendous service for a woman who works harder than any brick-layer! 

 

Young adult writers need to be online where teens are hanging out (teen book bloggers are a good place to start).  Watch current TV shows for different age groups, especially MG (middle grade) and YA.   Pay attention to the commercials that are sponsoring the shows.  You can learn a great deal from what products are being advertised and how they are marketed.  Go to movies.  Find out who the current super heroes are and who the heartthrobs are.

 

For picking up on teen language and behavior, there’s no better place than a mall where kids roam the stores in packs.  Settle in at a food court and listen.  Be prepared to take notes, but don’t spend all your time scribbling in a notebook.  Absorb the nuances of interaction between the teens.   Identify the leader and the followers and watch the “pecking order” in action.   Note what the kids are wearing.  Fashion is a spot-on commentator.  Each generation has its own style.  The ripped jeans and cold shoulder tops of today are the poodle skirt and twin set of the ‘50s   

 

 

STEP 3: Fit in.  No, I’m not suggesting you try to join a clique of middle-schoolers.  (As if they’d let you in!)   Once you’ve established your audience, learn what is appropriate for the different age groups.  You wouldn’t pen a gritty story of a child watching his parents’ marriage dissolve into a bitter divorce for a picture book, but you might write such a story for a ‘tween audience.  What is right for a YA novel won’t be right for a middle grade one.  Note:  I’m not saying that you can’t tackle tough subjects for younger children, only that your tone, vocabulary, and other aspects will be entirely different than they would be for an older audience.  

 

ACTION:  Read again.  Read this time with an eye and ear to the subtleties in language and style and tone and subject matter in books for various age groups.  At what age can you talk about sexual activity and LGBT issues?  What about cutting and other forms of self-mutilation and eating disorders?  When is it okay to use curse words?  Or is it ever okay? (This goes back to knowing yourself and what you’re comfortable with.  For myself, I couldn’t use offensive language in writing for children of any age.)

 

 

Learning to know your audience is like any other writing skill, such as crafting characters, strengthening conflict, and writing sparkling dialogue  You become better with practice.  The best way to do that is to write and to keep writing. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Watch Your Tone!

By Guest Author

by Jane McBride

 

Tone and voice are sometimes confused, the terms even interchanged. While voice is who we are, tone is an attitude toward our subjects and audience. There are as many kinds of tones as there are emotions: irony, sarcasm, flippancy, cuteness, sentimentality, and a host of others.

 

One way to distinguish between voice and tone is to remember that voice remains consistent, while tone varies according to subject and audience. Think of Shakespeare and his treatment of his plays. TAMING OF THE SHREW had a decidedly humorous bent while KING LEAR was written with a heavier hand. Both bore Shakespeare’s unmistakable voice, but he brought vastly different tones to the works depending upon what emotions he wanted to evoke.

 

A more current example is Judy Blume’s books. TALES OF A FOURTH GRADE NOTHING (one of my all time favorite children’s books) is written with humor and a light touch. Other works, such as ARE YOU THERE, GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET, are treated with sensitivity, though her brand of humor still is very much apparent. Each of these works bears her empathetic and realistic voice, but they have very different tones.

 

Let’s take a look at some commonly employed tones and how authors used them, first to tell their reading audience what to expect and then to differentiate characters from each other:

 

Sentimentality. Before we discuss sentimentality, let’s review sentiment. Writing with sentiment is to write with deeply held feelings. Louisa May Alcott did this superbly in LITTLE WOMEN and her other works. Emotion colored each of her pages, not because she told us (the readers) what we should feel but because her beautifully painted words brought forth our laughter and our tears. Sentimentality is the opposite. It is the ostentatious show of cheap or shallow emotions, often portrayed by cliches and stock situations. What would an example of sentimentality be? The melodramas of the early 20^th century come to mind. Such plays and movies were frequently filled with innocent, beleaguered heroines who were fighting off evil, mustache-twitching villains, only to be saved in the end by the stalwart, granite-jawed hero. The characters and the plot dripped with sentimentality. We were told what to feel and when to feel it.

 

Flippancy. Flippancy is defined as frivolously disrespectful, shallow, lacking in seriousness and characterized by levity. Flippancy has its place. It can make a point … up to a point. Too much and your reader is likely to be turned off. We typically associate flippancy with teenagers; however, younger children and adults can also use it to good effect.

 

Anger. We all know what anger is. Characters often get angry in stories, just as people do in real life. When anger turns to invective—unrestrained anger—it can get ugly. Save this tone for times of extreme emotion and violence. If all your characters are speaking in the same invective tone, the anger loses its punch. If you want to view some truly great examples of invective, tune in to political debates or speeches. Candidates are not shy about invoking invectives to score points off their opponents and to show their wrath for the media.

 

Irony. Irony, a figure of speech where the writer or speaker says the exact opposite of what is meant, can be a powerful tool. Jonathan Swift used it with exacting skill in his iconic work GULLIVER’S TRAVELS, using irony as a surgeon might a scalpel. Let’s pretend we are writing a book with a teenage girl as the protagonist. She is shy and retiring, but when she writes for the school newspaper under an assumed name, her wit comes out with ironic observations about the social hierarchy of the school’s social system. Her biting humor and keen commentary on the school’s cliques earn her alter a grudging respect among the students and teachers alike.

 

Preachiness. Preachiness happens when a writer or speaker is totally convinced of the rightness and moral superiority of his position. Such writing most probably will turn off your reader. Even the word causes us to cringe. Nineteenth century essays abounded in preachiness. Such writing won’t fly today. Is there a place for preachiness in today’s books? Maybe. What if you are writing a book about a young girl living in a polygamous community? Maybe there is an all-knowing preacher or father figure who leads the community and dictates every facet of the people’s lives, from their manner of dress to what the children study in school. He takes every opportunity to preach the “word of God,” laying down doctrine and unyielding rules in the same self-righteous voice. His preachiness has become a matter of contention between our young heroine and her mother, who believes his every word. In such a plot, having the leader speak in a preachy tone is entirely appropriate. Just be careful that you don’t make a caricature out of him. You want him to be believable.

 

Pomposity. Pomposity is the quality of being self-important, arrogant, or ostentatious. Have you ever read a book where a character starts to “pontificate” upon a subject? He probably sounds like a blowhard, spouting big words that come straight from a dictionary. Perhaps he throws in some scientific or technical words as well, words designed to make the listeners feel inferior to him. Like preachiness, this can work, if it fits the character and the situation. What story can we make up with a pompous character? What if you are writing a book for young children set in a barnyard? The animal characters each have their own personalities. The rooster, an arrogant bird who struts about with an air of ownership, addresses the other animals in a pompous tone that he believes is befitting of his superior position. The other animals are quick to put him down, maybe even using flippancy or irony. As with other tones, be careful with pomposity. If it is prolonged, it will probably start to become boring, frustrating, and/or annoying. Choose a pompous tone with care and sprinkle delicately.

 

Have you noticed that with each of these tones, I cautioned using them with a light hand? Overdoing any of them can turn your characters into cliché-ridden parodies. Unless this is your intent, be reserved in how you employ them.

 

You will probably identify other tones, in your own work and in that of others.

 

When I look at my own work, I see huge swings in tone, depending upon my audience and my purpose. A few years ago, I did a blog titled “Menopause Monocle.” The tone was ironic, sometimes sarcastic, and occasionally even biting. That was a far departure from an earlier blog, “The Gratitude Project,” where the tone was reflective. Each was stamped with my voice, but the tones were light years apart.

 

Pay attention when you are reading. Try to identify what tone the author is using and why he is using that particular one.

 

What about you? What tone are you employing in your current work-in-progress? Are you writing a mystery with darker overtones? Or are you working on a picture book that has a lilting rhythm and tone? Suit your tone to your audience and the subject.

 

Tone is but one more tool in a writer’s arsenal. Used wisely, it can flavor and enhance your writing.

 

Jane McBride is the author of 35 novels, numerous short stories and articles including pieces in 14 Chicken Soup for the Soul anthologies, and a Children’s Book Insider Contributing Editor. 

This is a post from writeforkids.org. Read the original post: Watch Your Tone!

Writing Is Easier When You Stop Trying So Hard

By Guest Author

 

by Noelle Sterne

 

I usually know when I’m trying too hard in writing. When I review one of my pieces toward revision or sending out, the first sign is my quiet giggling to myself at the puns. The second is my murmurs of approval at the turns of phrase. The third is imagining readers’ gasps of delight at my ingenuity. The fourth, and most important, is the red-yellow warning flare that shoots through my brain—Oh, oh, ego ascendant.

 

If I don’t heed that flare, I know it heralds disaster: I’m trying too hard. The work cannot help reflect this overconscious effort. Somehow, the technique, wordplay, and resplendent diction I so admire overpower whatever message I want to convey.

 

In The Writer’s Book of Wisdom: 101 Rules for Mastering Your Craft, Stephen Taylor Goldsberry’s Number 36 admonishes, “Try not to overdo it. . . . Beware of contrived lyrical embellishment and fluffy metaphors” (p. 87). I would add beware too of eloquent, balanced rhetoric. And repetition for effect. And overly ripe similes. And too- intricate expositions. And too-pithy observations.

 

After reading Eat Pray Love, I read a transcript of an interview with Elizabeth Gilbert. As she worked on her next book, she said, she produced 500 pages trying to imitate the bestseller in a similar breezy, flippant, and pseudo-deep style. After all these pages, Gilbert realized what she was doing and knew she had to junk the whole new manuscript. Then, no longer trying to duplicate the earlier success, she wrote a completely different and honest book, Committed. Committed was successful in its own right.

 

Like Gilbert in her post E-P-L foray, when we try, even with all our might, we end up failing or at least falling short. I think of a friend’s story about his father, who came from Italy, settled in New Jersey, and founded an automotive products store. As a twelve-year-old, my friend helped his father after school in the store. One day, his father instructed him to unpack a shipment of tires and stack them in a certain corner for maximum display. The boy answered, “I’ll try.”

 

In his limited but effective English, his father bellowed, “No try! You do!” My friend did. And never forgot the lesson.

 

Our writing lesson? We shouldn’t try. We do, or don’t. Maybe it means not writing at all for a while. Or writing a lot of nonsense first, accompanied by that horrid hollow feeling. Or using the slash/option method incessantly. This is one of my favorites/best practices/most helpful methods/greatest techniques for skirting stuckness and continuing to slog. Or going back countless times to excise, refine, replace, restructure, or even, like Gilbert, pitch it all out.

 

Trying means we’re writing too self-consciously, usually to impress or force. In contrast, doing, like my friend’s immigrant father knew, means total immersion. However many drafts we need, however many dunks in the uncertain creative mud we can dare, our success rests not in trying—but doing.

 

So, I tell myself, Stop trying to be clever and knowing. Stop trying to beat out your writing colleagues. Stop trying to show off your wit and dazzle everyone. Stop trying to replicate your just-success. All that trying cuts off your talent and expressive truth. Especially, that trying chokes off your honesty as a writer. I tell myself, and you too—turn away from all that trying and just write.

 

---

 

 

Author, editor, dissertation and writing coach, ghostwriter, and spiritual counselor, Noelle Sterne has published  over 300 pieces in print and online venues, including Author Magazine, Chicken Soup for the Soul,  Children’s Book  Insider, Funds For Writers,  Graduate Schools Magazine, GradShare, InnerSelf, Inspire Me Today, Pen &  Prosper, Romance Writers Report, Textbook and Academic Authors Association, Transformation Magazine, Unity Magazine, Women in Higher Education, Women on Writing, Writer’s Digest, and The Writer. She has also published  pieces in anthologies, has contributed several columns to writing publications, and has been a volunteer judge of  children’s stories, poems, and books for Rate Your Story. With a Ph.D. from Columbia University, Noelle has for 30 years assisted doctoral candidates to complete their dissertations (finally). Based on her practice, her handbook  addressing dissertation writers’ overlooked but very important nonacademic difficulties was published in September  2015 by Rowman & Littlefield Education. The title: Challenges in Writing Your Dissertation: Coping with the Emotional, Interpersonal, and Spiritual Struggles. Excerpts from this book continue to be published in academic magazines and blogs. In Noelle`s previous book, Trust Your Life: Forgive Yourself and Go After Your Dreams (Unity Books, 2011), she draws examples from her academic consulting and other aspects of life to help readers release regrets, relabel their past, and reach their lifelong yearnings. Visit Noelle at her website: http://ift.tt/1qeYwlc

This is a post from writeforkids.org. Read the original post: Writing Is Easier When You Stop Trying So Hard

Understanding Children’s Book Categories from Picture Books to YA

By Guest Author

by Hilari Bell

 

“Children’s Books” is a vast market, including everything from books for infants, with cardboard pages designed to be chewed on, to gritty YA novels full of violence, sex and profanity. Sometimes, when an idea for a story arrives, an author has no idea which subdivision of the field to write it for. Oh, no one’s likely to write a 500 word YA story about a dog that gets lost in the forest—but what about a book where first love goes awry? Is it middle grade, tween or YA? Would a story about the first day of first grade work better in a picture book or a chapter book? What are the various age related categories for children’s books, and what are the differences between them?

 

Here I’ve defined those age related categories, and talk about the differences in writing for various age levels. To make a lot of information simpler to track, I divided each age level into six areas:

 

Length—by and large, the younger the audience, the shorter their attention span.

 

Protagonist—generally kids like to read about kids older than they are.

 

Plot—the older the audience, the more complex the plot they can handle.

 

Character Arc—the longer the book, the more arc you can build.

 

Language—the older the audience, the more esoteric your vocabulary can become.

 

Theme—your story has to deal with the issues that matter to your reader.

 

Finally, I’ve divided the age levels into groups, separated by three asterisks, in the way they’re generally placed in different sections in libraries and bookstores, with all the varieties of picture book together, kids’ books together, and YA together. Because the section they’re shelved in does matter.

 

***

 

Board books & concept books—birth to 4

 

Length: Very short in terms of word count—0 to 100 words, probably less than 10 words per page.

 

Protagonist: Very young child, or an animal. Just one protagonist, and written in the 3rd person.

 

Plot: Almost none. A board book might have a slight rising action and a gentle climax.

 

For instance, a book showing the things a baby does in the morning, waking up, brushing teeth, getting dressed, etc. might climax with a huge breakfast table loaded with great food.

 

Character Arc: Very slight, if any: learning a concept, or a character who is sad becomes happy.

 

Language: REALLY simple. Past or present tense.

 

This is the last age where you’ll be likely to use present tense for a long time, because at this age you’re writing for kids so young that the concept of a past tense story is difficult for them. “Baby wakes up. Baby brushes her teeth. Baby gets dressed.”

 

Theme: Concepts like colors or shapes, or simple events in a young child’s life. Nothing harsh at all.

 

 

Picture books—3 to 8

 

Length: Used to be up to 1000 words, now they’re looking for 500 – 600 words or less—which is insanely tight, but can be done. Rely on your illustrator for all description, and as much storytelling as you can.

 

Protagonist: Probably pre-school age. Possibly kindergarten age. But however young they are, the protagonist must be the one who solves the main story problem, not some helpful adult. May have one or two protagonists—grandmother and granddaughter, for instance—but probably not more. Usually 3rd person, but there can be exceptions.

 

Plot: Needs opening hook, rising action, and climax, which is a lot to get into 500 words. No room for twists or subplots—except in the illustration. There are some wonderful picture books where the text gives you the main storyline, while another story is taking place in the pictures. Almost all action & dialogue, almost no description. Again, that’s what the illustrator is for.

 

Character Arc: You do need a character arc, but it will be pretty basic. The protagonist will learn something, and be made stronger by the story events—but there’s not enough room for a big arc. Hero starts on the bottom, he changes or learns because of story events, and ends up better.

 

Language: These are designed to be read aloud by adults, so the language doesn’t need to be too simple. But you should use words kids can understand—“I won’t fight with you, if you don’t fight with me.” instead of “Let’s form a non-aggression pact.” Usually past tense, but there can be exceptions.

 

This may be the place to point out that one of the worst things you can do with a picture book is to make it “too slight.” Despite the short length, and the youth of the target audience, picture books can be and frequently are incredibly deep, moving stories. And the language gets up off the page and dances. The best picture books aren’t just “books for kids”—they’re works of art.

 

Themes: Things a pre-school age child may be dealing with in their lives: being jealous of siblings, sharing…but also the death of a pet, or a grandparent, and the beauty of nature. Picture books can tackle deep, important themes, as long as they’re presented in a way a kid can grasp. In 600 words or less. No violence, and harsh themes like death have to be handled gently.

 

 

Picture story books—5 to 8 (MUCH harder to sell.)

 

Length: 500 to 1000 words, maybe a tad more. But frankly, word length over 750 words will get you an automatic rejection from a lot of agents and editors.

 

Protagonist: 6 to 8. These will be for older kids. May have one or two protagonists, if they’re in 3rd person, but one protagonist is more common here. First person is unusual. (You’re telling a more complex story, you want to keep the POV simple.)

 

Plot: Hook, rising action, climax—but you’ve got a bit more room to let things play out. No subplots, but possibly a twist. It’s easier to fit the kind of story where the protagonist faces three challenges into this category. Almost all action & dialogue, very little description.

 

Character Arc: There’s room for more complexity at this length, and you’re more likely to be able to introduce a flawed character who overcomes that flaw…but it’s still very tight for that much arc.

 

Language: Same as a picture book—since it’s still intended as an adult read-aloud. Past tense is also more common with these more complex stories.

 

Themes: Slightly older. These kids may be starting school, may be old enough to deal with the effects of poverty, and other harder problems—but still handled with sensitivity.

 

 

Early readers—5 to 7 (Mostly written in-house, by the publisher’s staff—not really an open market.)

 

Length: 200 to 3,500 words. Word length will be tightly controlled by the publisher, for different reading levels—check their guidelines.

 

Protagonist: Will be the age of the reader/reading level, or a year older. Or an animal. May have one or two protagonists, but almost certainly one POV. 1st person is uncommon here.

 

Plot: Hook, rising action, climax. All action and dialog, and virtually no description.

 

Character Arc: An arc is good—it may be necessary in the longer readers—but it’s often a slighter arc than in picture books. In the shorter readers, with just a few words per page, you might not have a character arc at all. And it’s not as essential here, as it is in picture books.

 

The reason plots, arcs and language are less complex in early readers than they are in picture books is because these are the first books kids are reading themselves—so they need to be able to comprehend what’s going on in the story on their own, without adult guidance. And because of that, complexity goes down a notch in every category, even though the reader is actually older.

 

Language: Vocabulary will be even more tightly controlled by the publisher, with reading level in mind—check their guidelines. Present tense would be very uncommon here. All action & dialogue, no description.

 

Themes: More restricted than for picture books and picture story books—this is the educational market, and they’re looking for lighter material.

 

***

 

Chapter books—6 to 7 & 8 to 10

 

Length: 2 levels: early (6 to 7 year olds) 5,000 to 20,000 words / older (8 to 10 year olds) 20,000 to 35,000 words

 

Protagonist: Will be one or two years older than the intended reader. 1st person isn’t common in the younger levels, but you might see it in the older level. Probably still one POV protagonist.

 

Plot: Hook in the beginning, of course, but the rising action will have several twists and challenges. In the older level you’re looking at full three act story structure. Pace, particularly in the older levels, can slow just a bit, and allow for scenes with emotion instead of action—but not many and not long.

 

Character Arc: Is essential, but the ways in which your protagonist grows will be fairly slight, and age appropriate. You’ll seldom see a really flawed protagonist in a chapter book, and you won’t see any “dark nights of the soul.”

 

Language: Pretty controlled by the publisher still, since these are books for kids to read themselves and they’re often given reading levels—but not as strictly controlled as the early readers. Strong focus on action and dialogue, but bits of description now begin to come in, even in the early level chapter books. Toward the upper end of the older level you’ll be writing brief descriptions.

 

Themes: The things kids are concerned about in the first few years of school: fitting in, friendship, overcoming challenges. These books tend not to be too deeply themed, except for books about specific problems—and those are often non-fiction.

 

 

Middle grade novels—8 to 12

 

Length: 30,000 to 45,000 words, for contemporary novels. In all levels, middle grade and above, SF and fantasy novels are allowed to run a bit longer.

 

Protagonist: 2 to 4 years older than the youngest intended readers. Still usually one protagonist, but particularly at the older end you might have two POV protagonists. Usually past tense, but again there might be exceptions.

 

Plot: This is the first level where you’re definitely looking at complete three act story structure with: hook/rising action/end of first act plot twist/rising action/end of second act commitment/final ramp up to climax/climax/denouement. Particularly at the younger end books will have more gentle action, you probably don’t have room for many twists, and sub-plots will be slighter. But at this level you’re writing a novel, even if it’s a short one. Pace can slow a bit more, as emotion and mystery begin to replace non-stop action. Secondary characters start to stand out now.

 

Character Arc: This is also the age where you can introduce more complex character arcs—you can have a flawed protagonist. (Artemis Fowl comes to mind.) You have room to have your protagonist fall from grace, making a major mistake that really hurts someone, and struggle to redeem themselves. The way your protagonists change and the things they do must still be age appropriate…but middle grade protagonists are old enough to grow through suffering.

 

Language: No technical limits, but (again, particularly at the younger levels) you’ll want to keep vocabulary reasonable, and sentences not too convoluted. Usually past tense, but present tense can be used here too, particularly at the older end. Generally no profanity.

 

Themes: Same as chapter books—age appropriate challenges and concerns—but at the upper age levels you can push them a bit further. You can have complex relationships in middle grade novels, and characters who aren’t entirely right or wrong. And in middle grade, humor, particularly broad crude humor, works very well. This is the last age where you’re probably pre-romance, though at the older levels character may be experiencing first kisses. Violence can happen in these stories, but it’s usually superficial—the good guy punches the bad guy and the fight ends, instead of violence that has real consequences.

 

 

Tween novels—10 to 14

 

Because tween novels fall between middle grade and YA in age level, bookstores and libraries have a very real dilemma about where to shelve them—and this in turn makes them a bit harder to sell to a publisher. On the other hands, kids this age need a novel that’s for kids older than 9, but younger than 15.

 

Length: 40,000 to 55,000 words, for contemporary novels.

 

Protagonist: 2 to 5 years older than the youngest intended reader. One protagonist is still more common, but there are more exceptions at this age level. 1st person is appearing more often, though 3rd person is still standard.

 

Plot: Full three act structure, with fuller subplots beginning to come in. Pace can be slower yet, as plot complexity expands. Secondary characters assume more prominence.

 

Character Arc: You can take a 12 year old reader through much heavier material than an 8 year old, and the tween character arc reflects this. On the other hand, 10 to 14 year olds aren’t quite as into drama and angst as teenagers are, and the character arc and themes will reflect this. An important secondary character may also need an arc, though it will be slighter than the protagonist’s.

 

Language: At this point, readers can be pretty sophisticated. They might look up words they don’t know or they might skip over them, but except for extremely obscure language you don’t really have to hold back. You’ll still get dinged for profanity, unless it’s a “gritty” contemporary. 3rd person is still more common than 1st.

 

Themes: Really any themes at this point, though things like rape would have to be handled very carefully. Violence can be a bit tougher than in middle grade, but still not full-out description. First-love romance can start coming in, though not sex.

 

***

Younger YA novels—13 to 16 and up

 

Length: 50,000 to 70,000-ish words. Somewhat flexible on the upper end, and again, contemporary and romance novels are generally shorter than SF and fantasy.

 

Protagonist: 15 to 17, maybe 18.

 

Plot: Full novel plot, three act structure, and you probably need a subplot or two to make the novel full enough. All the twists and complexities you care to work in. Secondary characters must be fully fleshed out—including your villains. The only real difference between YA and adult books in story structure is that in YA the pace will be faster, and there will be fewer long descriptive passages.

 

Which is why a lot of adults like reading YA. Including me.

 

Character Arc: We’re now into full “dark night of the soul” territory. You not only need a complete arc, but for teens, the more suffering, drama and angst the better. In fact, you need a deeper character arc in YA than you do in adult books, because this is when almost everyone “comes of age.” And important secondary character will also need to grow. On the flip side of all that angst, this is also when first love occurs.

 

Language: No vocabulary limits except in the use of profanity. If it’s a gritty contemporary novel you can use language true to the characters and plot—some schools may ban it, and you’re probably out of luck with Christian publishers. But most YA editors don’t expect teens from rough backgrounds in tough situations to say, “Golly, shucks.” On the other hand, if you’re writing genre books where a character doesn’t have to use profanity to stay true to their background and situation, you’re probably better off not to use profanity, or at least keep it mild.

 

Themes: Any, and for YA it’s almost the grimmer the better—though young YA will be less graphic when it comes to sex and violence than older YA. This is coming of age territory, so your themes will involve the things people need to learn, and the ways they grow, when transitioning from child to adult. YA books, in just about any genre, will deal with life-changing events. And first-love/sexual attraction is a theme in most YA books—because, well, hormones.

 

 

Older YA novels—15 to 18 and up

 

Length: Any, except not too short. At this point, less than 40,000 words would probably be a novella.

 

Protagonist: 17 to 19. In contemporary novels, the protagonist will still be in High School, but they may have siblings or friends who’ve started college.

 

Plot: Still a faster pace than adult books, but aside from that it’s a full novel, full sub-plots, developed secondary characters…the whole deal.

 

Character Arc: Full out character arc, and arcs for important secondary characters, too. These will be protagonists who may have more adult flaws, and will be overcoming them in more mature ways. Their arcs may actually be slighter than in younger YA, and some of these older readers require a bit more sense from their protagonists, instead of having them simply wallow in angst. Not that angst is out—the hero just has to pull himself together and get on with it a bit more quickly.

 

This is the age at which, if you give them too many pages of “my life sucks,” these older reader will roll their eyes and say. “Get over it!”

 

Language: Less concern about profanity, though that concern is still there. Most people acknowledge a difference between a 13 year old reader and a 17 year old reader in that regard…but they’re shelved in the same section.

 

Themes: Similar to younger YA, but sometimes a bit less grim. Sex appears here (though not usually fully described) and fully described violence. Older YA is less about leaving childhood behind, and more about assuming a place in the adult world. Your older protagonists, and readers, are beginning to get past the stage where drama is all consuming, and are coping more with the adult world, with a bit more maturity.

 

 

New adult—17 to mid-20s

 

Length: Any, except not too short. At this point, less than 40,000 words would definitely be a novella.

 

This is yet another tricky-to-shelve category. Sometimes it ends up in YA, sometimes in the adult section, and the way you write it might tip that decision one way or the other—so think about where you want your book shelved when you make your writing choices.

 

Protagonist: Early 20’s—they’re in college, or just graduated and starting careers.

 

Plot: Full plot, just like an adult novel. I’d say with full description, but so far the genre mostly deals with romance, which generally goes lighter on description and has a faster pace than non-romance novels. So I don’t know if the faster pace is because it’s new adult, or because it’s romance. We’re now beyond first love, and dealing with ongoing romantic relationships that may require some maintenance.

 

Character arc: Because these books are romances the arcs may be slighter—but they still have to be there.

 

Language: No restrictions, except good taste—these are romances, for the most part. But sex is as much a part of these books as it is in adult romance, and as fully described.

 

Themes: As I said, for the most part new adult books are either romances or have a strong romance element in the plot. Technically my Knight & Rogue series fits the age bracket, but I hesitate to try to sell them as NA because they’re primarily action adventure, with a slight romance in the last two books—and I’m afraid of disappointing readers, who would expect a full-blown romance as part of the story. Beyond that, though romance may be essential, it helps if there’s more to the story. These are people (both readers and characters) who are growing into adult relationships and taking their place in the adult world, without the safety-net of adult supervision. The challenges they encounter should reflect this.

 

***

 

Final note: These categories, and the limitations on them I’ve listed, aren’t unalterable rules—they’re more like guidelines. There will be published exceptions to everything I’ve said, some of them will be hugel y successful. However, there are reasons for most of these guidelines, and if you try to write something that runs outside the norm it should be for a good reason—and even if you have a good reason, your book will still probably be harder to sell. But that said, the most important thing, across all age categories and genres, is to tell a great story as well as you can tell it—because that’s what matters most.

 

For more on the difference children’s book genres, check out Know Your Genre Before You Write, and Which Age Group Should I Write For?

 

 

Hilari Bell writes “ethically ambiguous” science fiction and fantasy for young adults. Her series include the Knight and Rogue series, the Goblin books, the Raven books, the Farsala series, and the Shield, Sword and Crown series. See her books and more of her writing tips at www.hilaribell.com

 

This is a post from writeforkids.org. Read the original post: Understanding Children’s Book Categories from Picture Books to YA

Teens Review What Works, What Doesn’t in New Books

By Laura Backes

In this article from School Library Journal, five reviewers from the Kitsap (WA) Regional Library, ranging in age from 12 to 15, give their thoughts on the latest books from popular authors. Though titles vary from dystopian to horror to humor, the reviews have some interesting similarities. The readers spent a lot of time analyzing the books’ covers (pay attention, indie authors), and tend to poke holes in the believability of some characters. A must-read for anyone writing middle grade and young adult fiction.

 

Click here to see the full article.

 

This is a post from writeforkids.org. Read the original post: Teens Review What Works, What Doesn’t in New Books

Writing the Modern Fairy Tale: Use a Twist

By Guest Author

by Suzanna E. Henshon, Ph.D.

 

How do you update an old story?  Fairy tales have been popular for hundreds of years, and recently Red Riding Hood, Beastly, and Juliet Immortal have dominated young adult fiction.  Meanwhile, girls ages 8-12 love books like Ella Enchanted, Just Ella, Princess Academy, Snow in Summer, The Wide-Awake Princess, and Once Upon a Curse.  Why are fairy tales so popular?  Can you write a modern fairy tale with a twist that will enchant young readers?

 

To a certain extent, the plot of the fairy tale is established by the original story, yet you have the capacity to stretch the tale beyond its original sphere. And you have the advantage of starting with a well-known story has brand-name recognition for millions of potential readers.

 

Here are some tips for writing modern versions of fairy tales.

 

1. Reread the old story.  No matter how familiar Cinderella might seem, you still need to reread the Charles Perrault version (not the Disney film).  Or you need to rediscover Hans and Gretel through the Brothers Grimm.  When you reread the old story, you’ll see there are layers of meaning that you missed years ago as a child reader.

 

2. Study how other writers have modified and worked with the fairy tale.  If you want to rewrite Cinderella, read Ella Enchanted, Just Ella, Cinder, Cindy Ella, and Cinderella (as if you didn’t already know the story).  If you want to retell the Trojan legend, read Nobody’s Princess and Troy High.  Not only is it fun to see what other writers have done, you’ll be able to market your work more effectively if you understand what’s already out there.

 

3. Think honestly.  Do you have a new version of this story?  Why would someone want to read another version of Sleeping Beauty?  When you read Alex Flinn’s Beastly, you will discover it is a wonderfully modern blend of Beauty and the Beast, complete with a computer chat room.  When you read The Princess Diaries, you’ll discover Mia Thermopolis suffers the modern angst of adolescence (5’9″, flat-chested, with poor grades in math) while trying to assume her new role as a ruler of Genovia.  Be honest, and ask yourself if you are trying to cash in on an old brand—or if you have a new and wonderful story to tell.

 

4. Sketch out a plot.  Even if you are using an old tale, you’ll need to add new twists and turns to transform it from a fairy tale into a novel.  For a great example of how to transform an old tale, read Red Riding Hood by Catherine Hardwicke.

 

5. Sketch out the characters.  You’ll also need to do character sketches.  Using the old characters as a launching point, you must be innovative and creative as you breathe new life into Rapunzel, Snow White, or Beauty.

 

6. Write with a twist.  Whether this twist is telling the story through the princess’s voice (Ella Enchanted) or crafting your own fairy tale (Once Upon a Toad), you’ll need to draw the reader in through vivid details.  Or you could allow your character to visit fairyland as a tourist (The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making).  Whatever you decide to do, remember you can’t just retell the old tale. Change the setting, the age of the characters, or the time period. In short, give it your own twist!

 

7. Finish writing your story.  Then sit down and read it.  Does it follow enough of the original story to justify a connection?  Or have you written so far off the track that you should give your story a different title?

 

8. Edit to perfection.  When you write a modern fairy tale, the stakes are higher than you think.  You are not only writing in the tradition of an ancient tale, you are competing with modern rewrites that are currently on the marketplace.  Whether you craft a modern princess (Letters to Rapunzel) or a historic princess (Nobody’s Prize), you need to write with vivid details, bringing your favorite characters to life upon the page in a way she’s never been seen before.

 

9. Study the marketplace. How does your story compare? Have you written a story that girls 8-15 will fall in love with, or have you simply tried to cash in on a familiar story? If you have written a unique work, submit your piece. Then, see if your dream of your fairy tale of getting published comes true!

 

Dr. Suzanna E. Henshon teaches full-time at Florida Gulf Coast University and is the author of several young adult and middle grade books, and two collections of writing exercises. Her newest book, Andy Lightfoot and the Time Warp, is available for the Kindle on Amazon.

 

This is a post from writeforkids.org. Read the original post: Writing the Modern Fairy Tale: Use a Twist

Know Your Genre Before You Write

By Laura Backes

 

 

If you’re new to writing, sorting out all the different fiction genres, and figuring out where your writing fits, can be a daunting task. In this video, our Writer’s Coach Teresa Funke explains the various writing genres and how to choose which genre is right for you. For more terrific information from Teresa, including downloadable writing tools, click here.

 

 

This is a post from writeforkids.org. Read the original post: Know Your Genre Before You Write

Why I Write Teen Books with Diverse Characters

By Guest Author

by Michael J. Bowler

 

As a high school teacher for twenty-five years, I primarily taught kids of color. And yet, in the books and stories we read, almost all of the characters were Caucasian, and most with reasonably stable home lives. I decided as an author to write about the kids I knew best – kids of color, gay kids, marginalized kids, poor kids, kids with disabilities, gang members, and incarcerated kids – because I want all youth to see themselves represented in a positive light within the pages of teen literature.

 

To that end, I crafted a five-book series called The Children of the Knight Cycle that takes a fantasy concept – King Arthur resurrected in modern-day Los Angeles – and uses it to showcase a laundry list of crimes this society perpetrates against kids who don’t “fit the norm,” or won’t be shoehorned into the “one size fits all” mentality of public education, or don’t want to be a mini-me version of their parents. Virtually all the main characters in my series are teens of color, including Native Americans. Some of them are gay. But all are dynamic, memorable individuals that readers can relate to. Every day in America such kids are kicked to the curb. We don’t want them in our homes or classrooms or in our books. We’d rather they just disappear. In recent decades, we’ve decided we like putting them in prison. A staggering number of states incarcerate children younger than ten and charge them as adults for imitating the anti-social examples of adults, or for copying illicit behaviors popular media models every day.

 

I present these kids as real human beings with the same hopes, fears, needs, and wants as everyone else. My characters benefit from adults who choose to love them no matter what and who show them how to do what’s right, rather than what’s easy. The kids learn that every one of them can make a positive difference in this world, and that’s a message the students in my urban, working-class high school seldom got from the books I was forced to teach them. In those books, only “white” kids succeeded.

 

In my teen horror thriller, Spinner, I highlight the other forgotten kids I taught for many years – those with disabilities. These kids tend to be the most overlooked of all high schoolers because it is “assumed” by adults that they will never amount to much in life. Kids with physical or learning disabilities are no different from those without them – they can learn and achieve, but maybe not in the same cookie-cutter fashion teachers like to employ. I know what I’m talking about because I have a disability of my own – hearing loss. I’ve lived with a severe sensorineural hearing impairment my whole life, and did not even have access to hearing aids until I was in college.

 

I also didn’t know a single kid with hearing loss until after graduate school. I was one of a kind growing up, and that can be a very isolating feeling. However, my isolated childhood gave me true empathy for every youngster who is “different” in some way, and likely directed me to seek out such kids and work with them. After graduate school, I joined the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, wherein adults mentor kids with no father in the home. I was matched to a 14-year-old boy with hearing loss, and the experience was revelatory. Even as an adult, the relief, almost, that I felt to finally know someone who grew up like me was palpable. Imagine what it’s like for kids like me to see themselves in books they read, to understand that they aren’t alone or broken or crippled, to see hope for their lives because they see others like them achieving greatness. We all need to know that being different is not wrong. In fact, being apart from the norm is most often a net positive. My disability never defined me, and I want kids to see that theirs don’t define them, either.

 

We spend way too much time in this country focusing on what we perceive to be the weaknesses or differences in others. The teen characters in my books prove that our strengths always outweigh our weaknesses, and our diversity, i.e. our differentness, is to be celebrated, not hidden away. If more adults would focus on the natural talents and gifts of kids instead of always trying to make everyone “fit in,” then all children would have a real chance to soar. As a writer of teen lit, my goal is to empower every kid, not just the ones most Americans “look like.” Hopefully, other authors will do the same.

 

Visit Michael J. Bowler’s website here, check out his Facebook page, and follow him on Twitter @BradleyWallaceM.

This is a post from writeforkids.org. Read the original post: Why I Write Teen Books with Diverse Characters

Find Your Voice by Copying

By Guest Author

by Suzanna E. Henshon

 

Have you ever wished you wrote someone else’s book, particularly if it is a classic or a bestseller?  There’s nothing wrong with writer envy, but instead of being jealous, why not let another’s work inspire you?

 

Many writers write closely to what is already out there, hence the epidemic of vampire books after the success of the Twilight series.  But you can be inspired by something that worked without being too derivative.  You can use a classic or modern classic as a springboard for your piece without writing too closely to it.  A perfect example would be the Twilight series, which is a tribute to classic novels, or The Phantom Tollbooth, which was clearly inspired by Alice in Wonderland.  Let’s not forget The Whipping Boy, which is a unique twist on The Prince and the Pauper.  Sometimes a spinoff of a classic can become a classic in its own right!

 

When it comes to the actual craft of writing, take it a step further. Don’t just get inspired by the great books out there, copy them! Believe it or not, copying has been a wonderful tool to learn writing.  Ben Franklin used to copy essays, learning the subtleties of fine language and how to structure his thoughts. Thomas Hardy also sat and copied passages from fine works before going on to create his own.  Copying as an art has a long history, dating back to the monks who used to produce beautiful copies of Biblical texts.

 

Of course, copying another writer’s story and publishing it under your own name equals plagiarism. What I’m advocating is using copying as a learning tool, to understand the technical mastery behind the books you love. If you actually type or hand write another’s text, you’ll internalize the rhythm, the word choices and the pacing of published authors. Count the number of words on each page. See exactly how long it takes the author to introduce the main character, and how many more words go by before that character’s conflict is revealed. How many sentences, on average, does the author devote to each piece of dialogue before it’s interrupted with action? How many adjectives and adverbs appear in each chapter?

 

Then work to incorporate these new skills into your original stories. As you write (and write…and write…) you’ll gradually stop mimicking the authors you’re modeling and instead find your own voice. But now you’ll have a solid grounding in the craft from which you can experiment and stretch your creativity.  And in that moment, you will touch magic.

 

Dr. Suzanna E. Henshon teaches full-time at Florida Gulf Coast University and is the author of several young adult and middle grade books, and two collections of writing exercises. Her newest book, Andy Lightfoot and the Time Warp, is available for the Kindle on Amazon.

 

This is a post from writeforkids.org. Read the original post: Find Your Voice by Copying