Small Town Mysteries. Big Time Suspense.
Last week, I posted four photos and people voted which one they liked as a main character for YA fiction. This week, I’d like you to choose an antagonist for this teen main character. An antagonist doesn’t have to be a villain. It just someone or something that prevents the main character from achieving her goal in the story. So please put in the comments who you would pick.
For more prompts for YA fiction, click here.
Give a warm welcome to author Melissa Knight, who writes YA Christian contemporary fiction. Today she’s writing about her three rules for writing YA fiction. And check out her latest novel, You Were There, releasing tomorrow!
Is writing fiction for a teen audience any different than writing for adults? Perhaps a better question for authors is, what will make a teen audience want to read your book?
Prior to writing my first YA novel, I taught English, among other things. I attempted to match up students with books which interested them, allowing the books themselves, and by default the authors, to captivate and entice the students into becoming lifelong readers. One of my biggest triumphs was watching a fourth grader, below grade level in reading and with precious little interest in books up to that point, almost walk into a wall because he was so engrossed in a Magic Tree House book and wouldn’t put it down! In my second gig now as an author, I have heard from a teacher working at a juvenile detention center that her incarcerated students enjoy my YA Christian romance books- even the guys. I’m delighted by this but don’t pretend to completely understand what the secret sauce is.
Here’s what I do know, and the convictions by which I abide.
Keep it real but honor the reader’s innocence. Yes, there are YA books out there with obscenities and suggestive, if not explicit, sexual encounters, and they sell. An argument for this is “realism”, meeting the readers in the everyday worlds in which they live. My counter to this as an author is that we can do better. We can depict gritty circumstances and convey the pressures teens face with solid, well-chosen words that resonate with our readers, without cheapening the reading experience with vulgarity. Maybe it’s the teacher in me, but I used to tell my own kids that cussing only reveals a poor vocabulary! Let’s honor our teen audience with solid, thoughtful writing, not sensationalism.
Keep it snappy. It helps me to imagine each chapter, or section within a chapter, as a scene from a movie. If it doesn’t have movement or conversations to carry the plot forward, does it need to be in the book?. Teens today have grown up with memes and brief social media posts. Involved descriptions of the way the sunlight shines on the water may be beautiful and seem necessary to set a scene, but make sure it’s downright magical or a lot of young adult readers are simply going to skip it. Even I do that! (And I’ll bet you do, too.) Great dialogue and strategic action will keep me, and those teen readers, wanting to turn to the next page.
Read what other YA authors are writing. I’m a firm believer that the more you read, the better a writer you become. If I want to perfect my peach cobbler, I’m for sure hanging out with the legendary cook at the church potluck or examining that southern chef’s cookbook recipe! I read YA romance all the time, as well as other YA genres, and have often been stopped in my tracks by a great line or a plot twist I did not see coming. I cheer for those authors, and also learn from them. How did that writer pace the story? How did she freshen up a tired trope? What made the flashbacks effective?
Bottom line? Solid writing is solid writing, regardless of a reader’s age.
Call me biased, however, but in my opinion our young adult readers, for a variety of reasons, deserve – and have- the cream of the crop.
*****
True love? What a fantasy!
Reese has plenty of reasons for being a skeptic. The Owens women, despite their thriving wedding planner business, have a sad history when it comes to matters of the heart!
And yet, there’s this guy…
Tall, athletic Daniel Dixon is full of contradictions. Super-competitive yet gentle, his bold stance on what love really means affects Reese deeply.
Complications arise when she discovers a not-so-secret figure from her past. Add a troubled ex-friend to the mix, and Reese questions not just her judgment, but her physical safety.
Reese’s journey to faith, and to a love that is joyful and enduring, is told with humor, honesty and a healthy dose of grandma advice!
You Were There is a Christian YA Romance, Book One in The Rayburn High Romance Series. Find it here on Amazon!
*****
A graduate of the University of Oklahoma, Melissa Knight and her husband live in west Texas. They enjoy exploring state and national parks, eating good food and hanging out whenever they can with their two grown-up kids. A former high school and special education teacher, Melissa writes YA Christian contemporary fiction and adult Christian nonfiction which entertains, encourages and challenges readers to deepen their relationships with God.
Over a year ago, I did this special, story-building writing prompt for the YA (Young Adult) genre, so I decided to use it again. Below are photos of possible main characters. Readers can select a protagonist for teen fiction, and the photo with the most votes is the winner. In the following weeks, readers can choose an antagonist, the genre within teen fiction, a setting, and the main plot, such as quest, riddle, coming of age, etc. By the time we’re done, we’ll have the seeds for a story of teens. Be sure to vote in the comments!
For more prompts for teen fiction, click here.
To open this month’s theme of all things young adult, or YA, fiction, I have a book review of Smoking Flax by Jennifer Hallmark, which released this past January.
Almost nineteen-year-old Read Anderson wants to belong in a world where he hasn’t always fit. Three days after graduation, he decides to ride a bus back to Louisiana and deals with the events of his thirteenth summer once and for all. Back then, he’d stood up to his abusive Pa, protecting Momma and his sister, taking control of his life. But who was the faded image of the child he saw that day? Aunt Lula predicted his life would shift and change. Something about space-time-continum and the fourth dimesion. He tucks her words in his heart. If he survives the shift, this could be his chance to start over. But the ghost child haunts his dreams. Even though six years have passed, does he want to confront the lies he’s always believed?
Jennifer Hallmark does the two things that almost always keeps me reading: she builds sympathy for her main character, and she lets me live the setting.
Reed is trapped in a very tough situation. The plot deals with racism and child abuse, and a rape from the past is mentioned. None of these are written in explicit ways.
I love how Jennifer makes you feel like you are living in the 70’s. It isn’t heavy-handed but written very much like how a book written in that decade would refer to current events and customs, so her descriptions are very natural. I also liked how she describes a southern summer. I could feel the heat. And if you want to know why I put Star Wars toys in my photo, you’ll have to read the book.
The ending surprised me and was very dramatic, which is fits very well with all the serious problems that have coursed through the story.
If you like speculative fiction mixed with history and realism, pick this one up.
For another recommendation of a YA book, click here.
To read guest blogs by author Jennifer Hallmark, click here.
JPC Allen Writes
