Editor's note: Audrey is a 13-year-old student from California who is currently working on her own novel between school, sports and choir. She's also a Contributing Editor to Write4Kids, focusing on middle grade and YA literature. If you have writing-related questions for Audrey, or want to suggest a topic for a future column, please contact Laura at Laura@write4kids.com.

Hi!

Since I’ve received some questions from YA writers, I’ve decided to do a Q-and-A post. If you like it, I’ll do more in the future.

Elizabeth asks:

 Do historical mysteries appeal to you at all?

My answer:

I hate to have a cop-out like this, but honestly, it depends. The historical fiction we read in school is so darn boring. Everyone agrees about that. It’s because every single book we read in class has the exact same plot: orphan goes on a “quest” to find their remaining family/find out who they are. Seriously, all the books we read have the same plot, but just a different time period. The Girl Named Disaster (Nancy Farmer), Crispin and the Cross of Lead (Avi), The Sign of the Chrysanthemum (Katherine Paterson), The Winter People (Joseph Bruchac) are some of the books we’ve read, and if you are interested, choose a couple of titles out of that list, read them, and just see for yourself the oddly identical plots.

I know there is an influx of “glam” historical fiction coming into the YA market now. The Luxe (Anna Godbersen) is what, in my opinion, started this influx. But I apologize in advance, because some people now equate insulting The Luxe to dissing Twilight (but dissing Twilight has become somewhat PC now), but I really didn’t like The Luxe. Ok fine, it was superbly researched, but it was just boring, because once you get over the pretty cover picture and fluffy vocabulary, it’s like, “Plot? What plot?”

So I guess it depends. A historical novel I enjoyed was Wicked Girls (Stephanie Hemphill), which was a beautiful novel-in-verse about the Salem Witch Trials. I liked Wicked Girls because the characters were very interesting and entertainingly creepy, and the poetry was stunning. Another that I enjoyed was Abundance (Sena Jeter Naslund), a fictionalized account of Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution (Abundance is listed as adult fiction, but I’d say it is very YA). I liked Abundance because it was very intriguing, and painted the queen in a sympathetic manner. I also enjoyed the semi-insane cast of supporting characters. What I didn’t like about Abundance was that it got really boring and overly political in the middle/end parts.

History has always interested me, but I’ve yet to find a completely engrossing historical fiction novel, which is a shame.

Taurean asks:

What's Behind the Curtain anyway. What is it about Ty that's so irresistible?

My answer:

Behind the Curtain is a very well-written younger YA mystery by Peter Abrahams. Check it out.

Now that I’m over Ty (fickle, fickle teenage girls) I can tell you why I liked him without being all fan-girly.

Ty was awesome because he was a normal badass. Like, he didn’t carry around a switchblade and he couldn’t fly. He was also pretty detached and had his own life, but he was super sweet and/or protective (NOT in a creepy Edward stalker way) to girls. Also, he was the only freshman on varsity football and I found that cool, because, I don’t know, athletic guys are usually pretty cool.

But he did have his issues. He was on steroids for a lil bit there, but he got it all sorted out.

And also somewhere it said that he looked like an Abercrombie model, and that’s always a plus.

So, yeah. That’s why I liked Ty Levin-Hill.

Nancy asks:

From your last post: “A lot of times, the language in YA books seems really dated and not authentic…." Not to split hairs, but a sincere question: Do you mean to refer to YA manuscripts? Or do you actually find recent, published YA books to be dated/not authentic?

My answer:

Both. I remember reading a book a few weeks ago aloud to my mom, and laughing about how out-of-touch it was. And it was published in February. One of the many examples is, “'Oh, nuts,' she sputtered, looking down at her once perfectly creased tan slacks that matched the stripe in her violet sweater vest.”

Actually, I’ve researched, and turns out it’s an entire series of books (I only read the first one). So yeah, books with awfully outdated slang have been published.

Also, I read another book (published last year), and the only sort of slang it had was an abundance of swearing. And trust me, swearing isn’t slang.

Amber-Dawn asks:

You mentioned that you hate it when young people in books have dialogue that sounds like they’re from another time period. Do you feel the same way if a book is written in a fantasy world that is supposed to be from, well, you know, a long time ago? And also, I’ve never tried to do accents before, but you mentioned it’s a pet peeve of yours for writers to sound out the words like an accent would sound. So is it ever cool to try and write a character’s dialogue in the accent where they’re from?

My answer:

I meant that I don’t like it when books that take place in modern times have characters who speak like they’re from another time period. If you are writing a book that takes place in a fictional world or is set in 1853 or whatever, you should definitely have the characters talk like they’re from the past.

I don’t know what you mean by accent. If you’re writing about a character from the South, you should definitely have the stereotypical Southern-isms in it, such as “y’all”. But please don’t write the character’s normal speech like “can yah pah-lease tell me the tahme?” That would be really annoying, like, trust me, as annoying as reading a The Clique book. Because that’s how they talk in those books (for example, “'Uh’v koursse!' said Ah-nna.”)

Tobi asks:

What’s your take on the incursion of “dark” young adult novels?

My answer:

I hate vampires. Sorry. They’re lame. Like, Edward Cullen is the most stalkerish, creepy, epic fail at badass-ness character ever. So he basically killed all curiosity in vampires that I could potentially have. And all my friends feel the same way. Also, Stefan, from the Vampire Diaries, really annoys me because he’s all sensitive but tries way too hard to be a tough guy. And I don’t particularly like werewolves either, but everybody knows they’re dead by now.

Also, the Ellen Hopkins novels (Fallout, Glass, and others) are something that I have absolutely no interest in. People with serious and creepy mental problems don’t interest me. Same with Wintergirls. I don’t particularly like books about mentally disordered people (such as cutters or anorexics), but I do enjoy the books by Mary Downing Hahn, which are interestingly scary.

Don’t follow trends, because trends will be dead and gone by the time your novel is out on the market. So, if you’re writing a book about vampires (dead last year) or werewolves (dead last summer), stop now, hit the Control-f keys to find and replace the word “vampire” or “werewolf” with “guido” and the word “pale” or “furry” with “orange”.

Any other questions? Comment or email!

Audrey

The folks at OnlineCollege.org alerted me to their newest post, 10 Biggest Predictions for the Future of Book Publishing. I'm listing their predictions below with my take on how they apply to children's books (click on the link to read the whole article with additional links):

1. Vanity presses and self-publishing will swell in popularity. As it gets easier (and cheaper) to self-publish, more authors are choosing that route. With children's books, authors who enjoy marketing (especially visiting schools and communicating with their readership via blogs and web sites) find they prefer to cut out the middle man of the traditional publisher. But before you self-publish, do your homework. Know exactly what you'll need to do to promote yourself, and figure out some creative ways to reach your market.

2. More writers and artists will experiment with motion comics. Don't know what I'm talking about? Read this. Motion comics are a natural evolution of the whole comic book and graphic novel craze.

3. There will be little need for gargantuan publishers. The big houses are becoming less relevant as authors and illustrators find new ways of directly reaching the consumer. In children's books, I believe this opens the doors to innovative new formats, subjects, and a redefining of what a "book" is. Kids are more open than adults to trying new things, and they'll embrace whatever clever artists and entrepreneurs create next.

4. More people will be authors. See numbers 1 and 3 above. In the children's/YA field, more teens will be authors in the coming years.

5. eBooks will only get more popular. The genie's out of the bottle on this one. And when you're talking about illustrated books for kids, the eBook format opens up all sorts of possibilities for multimedia and interactive experiences. Now that eBooks have been around a few years, the data should comfort those who predicted the print book was dead: eBook sales have been found to actually increase sales of the print version of the same book.

6. Authors will grow even more media-savvy. Authors don't have a choice, especially when your audience is kids and teens who have grown up on computers. They don't think twice about Googling an author, checking out a new book's web site, or blogging about their favorite reads or recommending titles to their friends on Facebook. Authors who aren't comfortable on these platforms will be left out of the loop.

7. Memoirs expand as a genre. This has always been a more adult-centered genre, but it makes sense that memoirs geared to middle grade and young adult readers will catch on. Kids are more aware of the world and different cultures than in past generations, and accounts of interesting lives by all types of people should be welcomed in schools and libraries.

8. Books will no longer have a minimum length. Word count and page length in children's books are more important than adult books, because we're dealing with shorter attention spans and different reading abilities. However, I do believe that the strict page lengths of picture books will be changing as it becomes easier to print books more cheaply, and as more picture books are produced in electronic formats. This should be good news for authors and illustrators who feel confined by the traditional 32 pages.

9. eBook readers will move further away from E Ink. In other words, eBook readers no longer have to closely mimic the printed page. This is good news for illustrated and interactive children's books, and even novels that can include links, animation and audio within the text to enhance the storytelling experience.

10. More young adult books will hit the shelves. The proliferation of YA titles in the last few years, along with the arrival of new young adult imprints at the big publishers, speaks to the market share teen readers command. This is a generation that loves to read and talk about their favorite books, along with a generation of parents who read what their kids are reading. Who knows when this bubble will burst, but it's sure to be here for a while.

Thanks, OnlineCollege.org, for another thought-provoking article!

Do you enjoy writing poetry?  Are you captivated by lyrical phrases, fresh imagery, and the challenge of telling a story in a few lines?  Children find poetry appealing, and there are several magazines where you can market your verse.  Writing poetry might be your best chance to earn a byline; an editor can respond more quickly to a four line verse than to a 2,000 word article. Why not give it a try?

Many people think poetry has to rhyme. But some of the most memorable poems in literature do not have a strict rhyming sequence. For a helpful overview of poetry and its appeal to children, read A Child’s Introduction to Poetry by Michael Driscoll. Within Driscoll’s book, you will find an overview of famous poets who have appealed to young readers – from Lewis Carroll to e.e. cummings.

You don't need an MFA to tackle a nursery rhyme. It's important to remember that you do not need to use alliteration or other complex poetic techniques when you write for children. And you don't have to be an expert on poetry; you just have to be willing to study the craft and try your hand at it. But never forget that writing poetry for children is a complex and challenging task.

Here are a few tips for turning your rhyme into a publication.

1. Read children's poetry.  Read poems by Karla Kuskin, e.e. cummings, Mary Ann Hoberman, Jack Prelutsky, and Shel Silverstein. It’s important to understand the landscape of children's poetry, so studying a modern anthology is helpful. You’ll soon realize there is a wide variation in this format, and that the topics range from humorous stories to sensitive observations of humanity.

2. Read magazines that publish children's poetry.  Realistically, you can't expect to be the next Shel Silverstein right off the bat. But you can start by honing your craft and understanding the reading taste of children’s editors at magazines like Highlights, Cricket, and Ladybug.  Do these magazines suit your poetic style?

3. Read a specific magazine regularly. Get a sense of the general readership and the poems that have been published in this context during the past year.  But don’t write just for publication.  Write from the heart, and allow your muse to take you to a creative place.

4. Start with a single line.  Think about where this line can go.  Let the poem develop organically. Sometimes it is most effective to start with a topic that young readers can relate to — something to do with school, nature, home, family, fairy tales, or friendship.

5. Write a few rhymes.  See if your poetic style is better suited to a rhyming format.  And consider whether your content is appropriate for young readers.  If a magazine has a particular seasonal theme, consider writing to that topic.  Allow yourself to create verses that might be imperfect. Gradually hone your writing skills to a more professional level.

6. Read your poem aloud.  How does it sound?  Sometimes funny poems are particularly captivating to young readers, but you might also try a serious approach.  Eventually you’ll get a sense of your poetic voice and bring your best lines to the page.

7. Share your poem with a young reader.  How does it sound to her? 

8. Edit your poem.  Be realistic; don't expect to write publishable quality on your first try.  But at the same time, it is important to pursue excellence in your work.  Read your poem aloud again and again, omitting unnecessary words and phrases until it is the best poem you can write at this moment in time. Cut, cut, cut!

9. Study the guidelines of the magazine where you plan on submitting your poem.  Write a cover letter and make sure your work appears professional.  Proofread one more time.  Then submit your work with a self-addressed, stamped envelope, or whatever requirements the magazine requests of writers.

10. Don't play the waiting game.  Writing is an apprenticeship, not a one-time experience.  Continue to read and write poetry, and enjoy the experience.  Writing poetry is about a journey through the imagination, and the satisfaction that comes with bringing a fresh image to the page. Keep living a poetical and observant life!

Dr. Suzanna E. Henshon teaches full-time at Florida Gulf Coast University.  She is the author of several books for young adults, including Mildew on the Wall (2004) and Spiders on the Ceiling (2006).

Just in time to start off 2011 on a positive note, author Rob Sanders (a CBI Fightin' Bookworm and former attendee of Children's Authors' Bootcamp) has launched a new blog called Picture This! A Daily Guide to Picture Book Writing. Rob's first picture book, Cowboy Christmas, will be published by Golden Books/Random House in Fall 2012 (go Rob!), and his blog aims to share his journey of learning and growing in his craft with other picture book writers. Each week he'll focus on a different writing tip, principle or discipline, and occasionally include input from published authors and creative writing challenges. This week's theme: Dream It! Plan It! Live It!

Check it out, and pick up some inspiration for your own work.

Writing books that help kids deal with tough issues or scary situations takes a special kind of compassion and insight. In the podcast below, Dr. Laurie Zelinger talks about writing her books The "O, MY" in TonsillectOMY & AnedoidectOMY: How to Prepare Your Child for Surgery, a Parent's Manual and Please Explain "Anxiety" to Me! Simple Biology and Solutions for Parents and Students

Both books are published by Loving Healing Press.

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Click here to listen to the podcast interview with Dr. Laurie Zelinger as she discusses special considerations authors need to have when writing self-help books for kids.

If you're looking for some last-minute gifts for the writer in your life (or maybe for yourself), the reviewers for The Writer magazine have listed their favorite books on writing. I'd like to add two of my own to the list:

Hooked: Write Fiction That Grabs Readers at Page One and Never Lets Them Go by Les Edgerton. This book focuses exclusively on those all-important opening pages. And we all know that if an editor isn't captivated by your first scene, she'll never read beyond Chapter 1.

And an oldie but a goodie: How to Write for Children and Young Adults: A Handbook by Jane Fitz-Randolph and Barbara Steiner. It's out of print, so you'll have to search the used book sites for a copy (or you might get lucky and find it in your library). Though some of the market info is obviously out of date (it was last revised in 1980), read it for timeless advice on plotting and developing a writer's mindset.

Add your favorites below. Happy reading!

Today, the myth that writers are a solitary breed is less popular than ever, thanks to the many forms of communication writers can use as they work with their editors, their publishers, and their readers. Being a writer nowadays doesn't mean you have to struggle in isolation as you build your career. In fact, it doesn't even mean you have to write on your own. One of the greatest ways to create new and interesting stories is to collaborate with another person on a project. So if you've hit a wall and are struggling for more ideas, here are four ways you can take advantage of connections with others in order to write new stories.

Work With Another Writer

Working on a story with another writer is a great way to get the words flowing onto the page. You can bounce ideas off of each other, or you can take turns writing the story to see where it goes. However, if you invite another writer into your creative process, be prepared to lose some control of the project. Make sure you're okay sharing with him or her. It's probably helpful if both of you have similar artistic visions.

Collaborate With An Illustrator

Many children's books are illustrated, so this tip makes perfect sense. If you know an illustrator, then consider asking him or her to collaborate with you on a new project. If you have seen illustrations out there that you like, don't be shy! Write the artist and pitch a new idea. Working with an illustrator up front can lead a project in new directions, especially if you and the illustrator go back and forth on the project and let it grow on its own. If you don't know of any artists, then pick a work of art that you love, and write a story that can take place inside of it. (Note: Use this as a creative writing exercise only unless the art is in public domain. See below for more on public domain works.) The only thing to keep in mind regarding this method of collaboration is that most publishers often do not accept manuscripts that are already illustrated, unless the author is also the illustrator. So if you do want to work with a particular illustrator, you might consider self-publishing the book to retain its artistic integrity.

Rewrite The Work Of A Famous Author

This is a less active collaboration, but it's still a great project. Think of some of your favorite classic stories, and see if you could adapt or retell it in a new way. Think also of all the new books out now that somehow retell a classic story, such as The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood, which retells Homer's The Odyssey but from the point of view of Penelope, Odysseus' wife. Do you have a favorite story that you could retell for a child? How would you do it? Think of your writing of it as a sort of homage to that famous author or classic book. But first, make sure the original is in the public domain, which means its copyright has expired. This is most common with older works. You will have to make sure the work in question has an expired copyright, which occurs seventy years after the author has died. For more information, check out the U.S. Copyright Office and other sites that can help you find works that are in the public domain, such as Public Domain Works.

Write From Music

Finally, you can write from music or work with a musician to inspire you. Think of the classic children's symphony Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev, and you'll know that music can do wonders for children's storytelling. This is the kind of energy you'd like to use to inspire your own stories. (And again, heed the warning to use only music in the public domain, unless you get permission from the creator of any work under copyright.)

Next time you're looking for inspiration on a new project, consider looking beyond yourself. Consider thinking of ways that you can work with other creators and pieces of art in order to come up with something new for children to read.

This guest post is contributed by Kate Willson, who writes on the topics of top online colleges. She welcomes your comments emailed to katewillson2@gmail.com.

Most parents wonder how to get their kids to read more.

In our house, we had to have a penalty for unbridled reading! We’d send our son to his room to get dressed, and twenty minutes later we’d find him on the floor, pants half on, reading. He’d read anything he could get his hands on. He’d probably have starved if I didn’t physically take his book away at lunchtime.

Though voracious readers like my son aren’t the majority, there are many. Enough, in fact, that their parents find each other online to ask the same question, over and over:

What should I do? My child has run out of books!

Specifically, at two points in these readers’ young lives, there is a dearth of books aimed at high reading capacity but lower social/emotional development. I’ll use my son as an example.

Most, though not all, gifted readers start young. My son didn’t start young; he started to read at the boringly average age of 6 3/4. But unlike the other kids in his first-grade class, he didn’t slowly progress from ABC books to early readers to chapter books. In October, he was still pronouncing “the” as “tuh-HUH.” In November, he was reading anything he got his hands on.

The problem was, he was still six, and an emotionally young six at that. He blew through all the classic children’s repertoire in about a year. I remember my gratitude upon finding that there were over 30 books in the Oz series.

The advice we got from other parents, teachers, librarians, and booksellers was almost always off. Sure, Dick King-Smith books are adorable, but a kid like this can eat one up in half an hour. Harry Potter started out a boy, and the early books were just on the edge of too scary, but as Harry ages, the books get more terrifying to a young psyche and further from her experiences.

What these kids need is good, thick books with compelling storylines, rich vocabulary, and little-to-no violence. Writers could look to the past for models: White, Baum, and Wilder got these kids.

Somehow, we got our son through this period. We thought it would be smooth sailing till one day in the library he said, “I’ve read everything here.” Read more

Editor's note: Audrey is a 13-year-old student from California who is currently working on her own novel between school, sports and choir. She's also a Contributing Editor to Write4Kids, focusing on middle grade and YA literature. If you have writing-related questions for Audrey, or want to suggest a topic for a future column, please contact Laura at Laura@write4kids.com.

Hey!

This is my second column, and I’m totally like, taking on the topic of like, slang, n’ stuff.

I’ve critiqued manuscripts written for a YA audience before, and one of the major things that stand out to me about these manuscripts is dialogue. Nothing is better than reading a manuscript in which the author really knows his/her audience and the way they talk. Other times, I’m wincing while I read—the author has no clue.

One of the worst things (in my opinion) an author can do with teen language is mess up the characterization. Say you’re writing a novel about a girl named Anaìs. So, Anaìs is a child prodigy, who lives in Seattle, and is reserved and sort of icy.

How would Anaìs say hi?

If you said, “Ayy, girl, wassup?!”, it wouldn’t fit her character, right? However, some authors tend to try and oversimplify teen language, or they give every character the same way of speaking.

Anaìs would probably say something like, “Hello (insert name of other character here). How are you?” Something a bit more reticent and subdued.

Another thing I’ve seen authors do is have every character in a novel talk like this: "OMG, that’s totally, like, really cool, like, I can’t believe it, ya know?!” Sorry, but teenagers don’t really talk like that. I, for one, have overused the word ‘like’ before. But no one wants to read my tendency to stutter ‘like…like… like’ when I don’t know what to say.

An insanely annoying thing that A TON of authors do is spell things phonetically based on the way their character speaks. For example, “Ohmuhgawd, I cannawt bee-lieeve she’d do thaht.”

For some reason, that phonetic-spelling thing is probably my biggest language pet peeve. Don’t do it. Please. It feels sort of tacky and also a bit patronizing. It’s okay to say “so-and-so had very affected speech” but please don’t write her speech affectation.

Also, another thing that annoys me is when your protagonist is 17 years old and talks like she has a Ph.D. from Harvard. I know you’re trying to make her seem all sophisticated and smart, but come on. No true teenager talks like that. Unless she’s a 173 year old vampire, in which case… never mind.

Slang is hard. I strongly advise against writing a novel not set in your city (or fictional city like yours) or state. It’s really annoying when a person tries to write a novel set in your city, and they get it all wrong. Read more

Agent Chip MacGregor had a recent guest post on the Guide to Literary Agents blog that nicely sums up the new breed of Christian/Inspirational fiction. And though he's writing about the adult market, I think his words apply to the children's/YA market as well. I was especially taken with the following points: "…more Christian publishers are releasing generally redemptive novels with more subtle faith messages in place of the overt expository approach….The conversation has largely shifted from one of 'message' to one of 'craft.' "

Writers for children, many of whom can hardly restrain themselves from planting all kinds of messages in their books, need to take these comments to heart. The new Christian fiction for kids is "fiction" first, "Christian" second. It's mysteries, contemporary school stories, fantasy series, sci-fi novels. The characters struggle with all kinds of dilemmas, which may include crises of faith. They learn and grow and use whatever tools they have to solve their problems, which may include prayer, or seeking advice from religious leaders, or befriending peers with strong religious beliefs. The point of the books, however, is broader than imparting a particular religious dogma to readers.

Of course, trade publishers are apt to want more subtle and non-denominational messages than religious publishers. And Christian nonfiction for kids is a different discussion entirely. But if you want to write Christian fiction for children or teens, study some of the books on these lists to see just how important it is to layer the message under a good story.

Inspirational and Religious Fiction for Children

Christian Fiction for Children