Category: Writing Tips

3 Things I Learned from Reading Quality YA

3 Things I Learned from Reading Quality YA

Another new YA author to introduce to you. Annika Klanderud hasn’t published a novel yet, but she has published short stories and articles, and her unpublished YA novels have won national awards. She’s here today to share “3 Things I Learned from Reading Quality YA”. Welcome, Annika!

I recently read the first chapter of three very different young adult (YA) novels (The Forgetting by Sharon Cameron—Dystopian; I MUST BETRAY YOU by Ruta Sepetys—Historical; and THERE YOU’LL FIND ME by Jenny B. Jones—Contemporary). Each opening chapter was totally gripping and drew me in right away. So, it was no surprise that I found they all shared three craft elements that must be included in every YA novel to pull the reader in.

The experience reminded me of how the Apostle Paul, in Ephesians 3:4, assured Christians that “. . . when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ.” In Paul’s case, he was encouraging Christians to read the Scriptures in order to perfect their spiritual understanding. As far as YA fiction goes, I encourage authors to read quality YA in order to perfect the craft of writing fiction for teens.

Whether chapter one was about a teenager hiding from authorities on the wall of her city, a boy in school in Romania trying to get up the courage to talk to a girl, or a teenage girl sitting beside a celebrity on an airplane, every opening chapter grounded me, the reader, in time and place. I could taste the dust in the air, smell the sweat from the crowds surrounding the main character, and I felt like falling asleep along with the main character in the dimly lit airplane cabin.

Of course, no YA novel is complete without a healthy dose of teenage angst. But what I found in the first chapters of each of these novels was that the normal teen drama of testing authorities, crushing on a girl, and battling the emotional struggle of losing a family member too soon were all just small transitions. Soon each main character would learn that things can get much harder. Little did each main character know that a much bigger problem was just around the corner.

But to my delight, as the reader, I found that each main character was open and honest about their internal struggles. What they were passionate about. What scared and worried them. Okay, so maybe they weren’t completely honest with the other characters in the story. But they were honest with me, the reader. On every page they poured out their hearts. Always honest and raw with the reader. Never fake with me. It was as if they trusted me with their deepest secrets. What more could a reader ask for?

Each one of these authors proved that it is possible to transport a reader to a specific time and place, introduce a seemingly real problem, and convince the reader that a fictional character has just as much heart and emotion as a real live human being. I never would’ve believed it if I hadn’t experienced it myself by reading books like these. I guess it’s true what they say, “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have time to write.”

Read more guest blogs from YA authors here.

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There’s just something about an old house . . . Whether it inspires memories, fond or sad, or generates questions about the people who lived there, the things that might have happened within its walls, there’s just something about an old house that makes us pause and wonder, think, remember.

Join eleven authors as they explore the theme of “This Old House,” and invite you into the worlds of their imaginations. Whether it’s a mystery, a fantasy quest, a touch of romance, a scary story, a fond look back over the years, a touch of nostalgia or even heartache, there’s something here to satisfy every taste. Join the ACFW Ohio chapter in celebrating young writers, with the four top writers in our first scholarship writing competition featured in these pages. Students from Christian schools across the state were invited to send us their idea of “This Old House.” We think you’ll be pleased by what they created.

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Annika’s MG novel, I Lived Through a Wind Chill Advisory, won the 2024 Cascade Christian Writers Contest. Her YA novel, Red Rock, was the Cascade Christian Writers Contest winner in 2022. And her YA novel, Qualify, was a runner up in 2024. Over forty of her articles have appeared in numerous publications such as Keys for Kids.

In addition to seeking traditional publication for her novels, she is passionate about revolutionizing the Christian publishing industry. She has worked with numerous Christian authors to start a book fair in the state of Oregon, facilitate critique groups, and host events like the Author Spotlight and book clubs. Visit her on X/Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and her website. When she is not wrestling with words for her novels, you can find her in the utility room battling her twelve children’s mountain of laundry.

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Why Write for the Young Adult Market?

Writing tip from author Donna Jo Stone

Introducing another new author here at JPC Allen Writes, Donna Jo Stone. Her latest book just released last week. You’ll find out all about Promise Me Tomorrow after you read Donna’s answer to the question, why write for the young adult market? Take it away, Donna!

When I first began writing Promise Me Tomorrow, it was a story for my daughter. I am a voracious reader, so it seemed natural that every time any of my kids were facing some difficult challenges, I would supplement our discussions with reading. Because we are a family of faith, we believe in the God of all comfort, but at the time, I could not find a book that addressed the issue of how a family dealing with autism might handle grief from a faith-based perspective. When I couldn’t find the book we needed, I wrote Promise Me Tomorrow. Fulfilling a need is a good reason to write for young adults.

Here’s another. In fiction, readers become immersed in another’s life, vicariously living through the character’s. For young people, reading about an age-mate who survived what feels unsurvivable can have more impact than all of the advice and reassurances the adults in their life can come up with. Books can remove emotional and mental barriers, take us into another world, and speak to the heart. It’s a little more tolerable to go through hard times knowing someone else has been down this path before and came out on the other side. No matter how old, or young, you are, it’s a comfort to know you’re not traveling a path alone, and that others have been down the same path before. Someone understands, maybe not perfectly, but at least a little. Reading other people’s stories, even fictional people, help us understand and process our own stories and experiences.

Fiction provides a unique vehicle to speak to today’s teens. Part of the normal growing up process of maturating into an adult is finding our own way, testing boundaries, exploring new ideas, and formulating our own unique understanding of the world around us. Hopefully, teens have a stable and firm foundation during this time of exploration, but because I’d been living with angsty teens, I understood the need for a well-placed word, just as I knew what would not resonate with my young person. (Remember your teen years?) It’s a delicate balance, communicating with teenagers. They aren’t easily mollified. It can be challenging to write for teens, but it’s oh-so worth it.

My goal in Promise Me Tomorrow was to convey that someone will always be here for you. We don’t always get the answers we want, but we will have the love we need, from family, friends, and ultimately, from the One who is the source of all comfort, God. 

Pointing teens toward the answers that will always speak to their hurts and needs may be the best reason of all to write young adult fiction.

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Three things consume sixteen-year-old autistic artist Nina’s thoughts: earning the privilege to paint the school mural, untangling her emotions about a certain boy, and finding a miracle cure for her mom’s terminal cancer.

For Nina, communicating her emotions is ridiculously hard. She expresses herself best through art, so when she’s chosen to design the school mural, she’s ecstatic. It’s a chance to make Mom proud. Then she learns her mother’s cancer has returned and is terminal. She can’t believe God would allow this to happen. Even worse, Mom refuses further treatment. 

If mom dies, how will Nina prove she can be the daughter her mother wants?

Besides, the family can’t manage without Mom. Nina’s twin brother is a meteorite-loving genius, but helpless at navigating certain situations because of his autism. Even though Nina has always been ready to jump in when Mom’s not available, she can’t fill a permanent mom-sized hole. 

As she struggles with her internal battle—and trouble at school—Nina gains a support system through a rag-tag group of classmates, but in her single-minded search for a miracle for Mom, she strays outside her own rules of behavior, risks alienating her friends, and pushes away the boy who only wants to help her.

BUY AT AMAZON.

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Award-winning author Donna Jo Stone writes contemporary and historical fiction, with the intent to leave readers with a sense of hope. When she’s not writing, she loves to read and talk about books, poke around in old bookshops and museums, and spend time with her family. Donna Jo is a regular contributor for the young adult column at Almost an Author. Connect with Donna at her website, blog, newsletter, Facebook, Instagram, and Amazon Author page.

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The Appeal of Writing YA Christian Fiction

Writing teen fiction

So glad to introduce a new author to you, Miriam Thor. She writes both YA and contemporary romance. She’s wearing her YA author hat today, writing about the appeal of writing YA Christian fiction. You can connect with Miriam with the links in her bio at the end of her post. The floor is yours, Miriam!

Every one of us was a teenager at one point. Chances are…it wasn’t pretty, at least not all of the time. Being a teenager means being caught in the middle, not truly a child anymore but still not an adult. For many of us, our teenage years were when we started to figure out who we were and who we wanted to be. We began charting our own course, rather than simply following the one laid out for us.

One of the best parts of reading and writing YA fiction is the chance to explore that dynamic time in a character’s life. Teenage protagonists have so much room for character development, to the point that it would feel almost unnatural for them not to change or grow significantly by the end of the story. As an author, I enjoy taking a character through that journey, telling the story of who my character is at the beginning and how they’ve changed by the end.

In my contemporary YA novel, the main character, Ally Griffin, begins the story as a high school freshman searching for a talent that will help her stand out and praying that God will help her find it. She believes finding it will make her life so much better, and for a short time, she thinks it does. Then, her cousin’s accident turns her life upside down. As Ally deals with the aftermath and all the changes it brings to her family, she realizes that she had her priorities in the wrong place. This helps her grow as a character, getting much closer to the woman she will one day become, the woman God wants her to be.

As much as I have enjoyed reading general market YA fiction over the years, I write YA Christian fiction because I want my characters’ growth to be rooted in their faith in God. As a Christian, I believe it’s important that when we grow as people, we do it with the Lord, learning to trust Him and His timing, following His will. Ultimately, that’s the message I want readers to take away from all of my books.

In my own Christian walk, my teenage years were when I truly started learning to depend on God, even when things were difficult, and to seek His will for my life. During those years, I read a lot of amazing books with inspiring protagonists, but very few of them were Christian fiction. I wish there would have been more books available about characters who were growing in their faith the way I was. It would have helped me as I walked with God through the ups and downs of my teenage years.

I am grateful that the YA Christian fiction market has expanded since then and that I have been blessed with the opportunity to add to it. Teenagers, and many adults, now enjoy the dynamic character development entwined with faith that can be found in YA Christian fiction. 

Here are more blog posts from YA authors.

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During her freshman year of high school, Ally Griffin is determined to find her thing, a talent that will let her gain praise and recognition. Her cousins, Billy and James, have found theirs in sports and music, but Ally has yet to discover something that will make people cheer just for her.

At her best friend’s suggestion, Ally tries ballet. When that doesn’t turn out the way she hopes, she signs up to sing in the school talent show. Thanks to support from James, Ally’s performance goes well, and she thinks she has found her thing at last.

But when James gets into an accident, Ally’s whole world is turned upside down. As she tries to be there for her cousin, Ally wrestles with why God allows bad things to happen and whether she should keep doing her thing at all.

Buy at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Apple Books.

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Miriam Thor started writing in second grade and never stopped. Her first (unpublished) book was an illustrated picture book about seals that is probably still on her mom’s shelf. Currently, Miriam lives in Alabama with her husband and six adorable cats. Her published works include Listening to the Rain, A Kringle Family Christmas, and a number of short stories. You can learn more about her by visiting her website, miriamthor.com. You can also follow her on Instagram, Facebook, X/Twitter, and TikTok.

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How NOT to Plot a Series

How NOT to Plot a Series

A lot of the advice I read on plotting concerns stand-alone novels. When a novel is a stand-alone, then the advice authors give about creating the highest stakes and the worst setbacks for your main characters makes sense. As a writer, you want to leave it all on the field because you won’t be returning to these characters. But when you write a series, you must plot differently. Below are tips about how not to plot a series, lessons I’ve learned as I’ve worked on my series, Rae Riley Mysteries. Next week, I’ll have advice on how to plot a series.

Writing Without an Ending

If you are writing a series and know exactly how many books you are going to write and how the series will end, good for you! You are a rarity in the writing world. That makes plotting your series easier when you have the whole picture to work from.

But most series don’t develop that way, especially mystery series. A writer may had a great idea for the first novel, and a good grasp of what she wants to write in the second. But she might not have any idea what happens next.

I happen to know how I want to end my series. But I’m not sure how many novels it will take to get there.

Series writers have to be flexible, looking at what works in the novels they publish, and then figuring out to incorporate those aspects in the next book.

It Can’t Always Be Highest Stakes and Worst Obstacles

If you write a series in which your main character (MC) is always fighting for the highest stakes imaginable and the worst events possible keeping happening to him, then you don’t have a series. It’s more like you have a retelling of the Book of Job. Or worse, a soap opera.

I don’t want to read a mystery series in which the MC’s father is murdered in the first book. In the second, she learns he led a double life. In the third, she finds out she has an evil half-sister. In the fourth, her mother led a double life. All these horrible developments do raise the stakes very high for the MC. But they also stretch believability to the breaking point.

Bad things do happen to people. But if I overwhelm my MC with such tragic events, then the fifth, sixth, and seventh novels will have to focus on the therapy she undergoes to handle such trauma. If I want to be realistic at all. It’s much easier to introduce all that heartache in a stand-alone because you don’t have to deal with the aftermath in the next novel.

To make my novels in a series both interesting and realistic, I have to balance the dramatic events that occur in my MC’s life by spreading the drama to other characters, while still giving my MC personal stakes and setbacks.

I’ll cover that in next week’s post about how to plot a series. For more tips on plotting, click here.

Writers, how do you plot a series? Readers, what series has especially good plotting.

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When You Have to Tell, Don’t Show

When you have to tell, don't show

Yes, you read the title right. And you may look as shocked as the woman in the photo. There are times in a story when you have to tell, don’t show. The reverse of the time-honored technique of “show, don’t tell” can be appropriate in certain situations involving plot.

When You Don’t Want to Repeat Information

If my deputy interviews a suspect and then informs his sheriff, I don’t have to repeat the entire conversation. I can just state the obvious.

The sheriff scooted back in his swivel chair. “Did you finally get a hold of Old Man Thompson?”

I repeated what Mr. Thompson had said about the crime. “But he stumbled around his words. I think he’s hiding something.”

Or I can add a little information, such as:

Mom said, “So what happened in school today?”

Sighing, I took a seat at the kitchen table and told her about the whole miserable mess, only leaving out what Ava said to me.

Repeating information that readers have already read is not helpful, unless you need characters to discuss or think about a specific point.

When You Need to Compress Time

I use this one a lot in my mysteries because the case unfolds over several weeks. If the investigation has stalled, I don’t need to “show” every attempt the cops make at solving the crime. I can compress their investigation into a sentence, like this:

After a week, Sheriff Malinowski was no closer to finding the killer than when he had walked onto the crime scene.

The point of my “tell” is jump ahead in the story’s timeline, and I can do that in one sentence, keeping the story moving.

When You Have to Mention a Plot Point for Realism

I often want to convey to readers that the mystery my main character is confronting is a very hard nut to crack. I can do that with a “tell” like this.

After a week, Sheriff Malinowski was no closer to finding the killer than when he had walked onto the crime scene. No one had come forward with any new information, and researching the victim’s socials had yielded not one lead.

In one sentence, I can convey that there is no new information for readers without creating a lot of pointless dialogue or scenes. It also makes the mystery more realistic to tell that the police are struggling to solve it. Most likely, I will have a “show” scene first, in which a few officers talk about leads they’ve followed and that led them nowhere. Then I follow that with my “tell” sentence, demonstrating that the struggle continues.

I also use “tell” sections for realism concerning my main character’s family life. Rae Riley is part of a large extended family, who are critical to the series, but not all their actions affect the mystery in each book. But I want to give readers a sense of the family dynamic, so I might use a “tell” sentence like this:

After I helped Gram clean up the supper dishes, I helped Micah with his sight words and gave out Spanish vocab to Rusty. When Dad came home, I had to wait until he’d finished his late supper before I could ask him about the case.

The two sentences tell readers something about Rae’s family without getting bogged down in a lot of unnecessary detail.

Keep It Brief

“Tell” sections are always brief in current stories. You can’t get away with more than a paragraph or two. If you find yourself writing a whole page of “tell” information, you should review what you’ve written and see how you can create a “show” scene for most of it.

What are your thoughts on “show, don’t tell” and “tell, don’t show”?

For more tips on plot, click here.

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