Writing Young Adult Fiction For Dummies PDF
Preview Writing Young Adult Fiction For Dummies
Writing Young Adult Fiction For ® Dummies Visit www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/writingyoungadultfiction to view this book's cheat sheet. Table of Contents Introduction About This Book Conventions Used in This Book What You’re Not to Read Foolish Assumptions How This Book Is Organized Part I: Getting Ready to Write Young Adult Fiction Part II: Writing Riveting Young Adult Fiction Part III: Editing, Revising, and Formatting Your Manuscript Part IV: Getting Published Part V: The Part of Tens Icons Used in This Book Where to Go from Here Part I: Getting Ready to Write Young Adult Fiction Chapter 1: The Lowdown on YA Fiction Introducing YA and Its Readers Knowing what makes a YA a YA Understanding why YA fiction is for kids Looking at why it’s not just for kids Maneuvering through the Challenges Reaching reluctant readers Pacifying gatekeepers Enjoying the Perks of Writing for Young Adults Getting new waves of readers: Long live the renewable audience! Gaining a following: The young and the quenchless Breaking the rules Chapter 2: Targeting Teen Readers Identifying Your Teen or Tween Audience Choosing your age range Targeting gender Exercise: Name your category Knowing Your Genre Exploring genres of YA fiction Writing cross-genre novels Thinking through the Theme Looking at universal teen themes Making timeless themes relevant today Exercise: Choose your theme Making or Chasing Trends Chapter 3: Managing Your Muse Setting Yourself Up to Write Carving out your writing space Protecting your writing time Setting Your Muse Loose Capturing ideas Getting the words to flow Bulldozing your way through writer’s block Outlining the Right Way (for You) Outlining the whole story Planning portions Tossing out the outline Doing Research, YA-Style Taking notes and keeping records Following general research guidelines Finding reliable online resources Doing field research to make the teen realm yours Putting the brakes on research Revealing what you know Finding Your People: The YA Community Joining a professional organization: What SCBWI should mean to you Attending writers’ conferences Keeping up with the biz: YA-specific journals Checking out the online community Joining a critique group Part II: Writing Riveting Young Adult Fiction Chapter 4: Writing the Almighty Hook Understanding the Importance of a Hook Calling your shot for others Calling your shot for yourself Writing a Great Hook in Four Easy Steps Step 1: Introduce your character Step 2: State your theme Step 3: Assert your core plot conflict or goal Step 4: Add context Exercise: Write your hook Using Your Hook to Shape Your Story Chapter 5: Creating Teen-Friendly Characters Casting Characters Teens Care About Calling all heroes Selecting a jury of peers Offing the old people Bringing Your Characters to Life Revealing character through action Revealing character through dialogue Getting physical The beauty of flaws: Creating a not-so-perfect character Backstory: Knowing the secret past Exercise: Create a full character profile Putting Your Characters to Work Making the introductions Using character arc to drive your plot Granting independence to teen characters Writing Believable Baddies Giving the villains goals and dreams Seeing the good in the bad Making an example of an antagonist Exercise: Write a character profile for your antagonist Chapter 6: Building the Perfect Plot Choosing the Approach to Your Plot Acting on events: Plot-driven stories Focusing on feelings: Character-driven stories Seven Steps to the Perfect Plot Step 1: Engage your ESP Step 2: Compute the problem Step 3: Flip the switch Step 4: Dog pile on the protagonist Step 5: Epiphany! Step 6: Final push Step 7: Triumph Exercise: Plot your trigger points Tackling Pacing and Tension Picking up the pace Slowing the pace Creating tension Managing Your Subplots Pulling Off Prologues, Flashbacks, and Epilogues Prologues Flashbacks Epilogues Chapter 7: Creating Teen-Driven Action Grabbing Teens’ Attention Opening with action Tell ’em how it is: Giving key info Making promises Pushing Readers’ Buttons with Scenes and Chapters Knowing a scene from a chapter Mastering transitions Leaving Teens Satisfied Empowering your teen lead Keeping it real Keeping your promise Delivering a twist Chapter 8: Setting Is More than Somewhere to Be How the Where and When Affect the Who, What, and Why Place Time Social context Setting Up Your Characters Manipulating their minds Putting words in their mouths Kicking characters in the pants Tying Your Plot to Your Place Choosing the Best Setting for Your Teen Novel Making the Setting Come Alive Engaging the five senses Sample scene: Two girls on a bus Researching your setting Weaving the Setting into Your Narrative Sprinkling versus splashing Stacking the sensory details Keeping it young Giving the setting a job Freshening up common settings Chapter 9: Crafting a Narrative Voice Teens Will Listen To . . . and Love I’m Not Talking Dialogue Here: The True Meaning of Narrative Voice Getting a feel for narrative voice Seeing what goes into narrative voice Pinning Down Your Narrator and Point of View First-person POV Second-person POV Third-person limited POV Third-person omniscient POV The unreliable narrator Exercise: Developing your narrative POV Making Sense of Teen Sensibility Self-awareness and the teen psyche Embrace your inner drama queen Word Choice: It Pays to Be Picky Say what? Using appropriate words for your audience Getting fresh with your phraseology Exercise: Creating a word bank Showing a little style Syncing Your Delivery to Your Audience Sizing up sentence structure and paragraphing Putting punctuation in its place Show It, Don’t Tell It Chapter 10: Talking Like a Teen Telling Your Story through Dialogue Character and mood: Letting your teens talk about themselves Delivering information: Loose lips reveal plot and backstory Choosing the setting: Their “where” determines their words Even Old People Can Sound Young Rediscovering your immaturity Relaxing the grammar Ditching the fake teen accent Cussing with caution What the Best Dialogue Doesn’t Say Censoring the babble Dodging the question Avoiding info dumps Getting the Balance Right: Dialogue and Narrative Taking breathers with beats Making the action count He said, she said: Doling out dialogue tags Welcoming teens with white space Weighing your balance of dialogue and narrative Doing a Little Mind Reading: Direct Thoughts Part III: Editing, Revising, and Formatting Your Manuscript Chapter 11: Editing and Revising with Confidence Self-Editing, Where Every Revision Begins The read-through: Shifting your mindset from writing to editing Self-editing checklist Calling in the Posse: The Give and Take of Critiquing Participating in a critique group Hiring a freelance editor Getting input from teens and tweens
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