Writing and Selling the YA Novel

by K L Going

  Interviews are also excellent ways of learning about the past or finding out key information. Ask people questions about their past and present. Maybe your neighbor was one of those first "teenagers" we learned about in Homeroom. Find out what it was like to live

  through "World War II, then let those memories suggest possible story ideas. Even if you don't end up using the actual events the person describes in a book, you might get an idea based on the emotions involved. Hearing the true account of someone's first love or last goodbye might spark a novel full of romance or pathos. Just be sure to make the story your own.

  Interviews aren't relegated to the elderly, either! Try interviewing teens. Ask them about their lives. What kind of school do they go to? What are their daily struggles? What do they want to be when they grow up? What kind of books do they like to read? Or you could interview school principals. What do they see happening in the halls from day to day? Which kids break their hearts and which ones drive them crazy?

  Questions work so well as idea-generatingtools in part because they allow us to reach out to the world around us. Whether that takes the form of imagination, empathy, or fact gathering, when we're asking questions we're engaged with reality—what it is, what we wish it were, and what it could be. Engaging in the world is essential for any writer. The more you notice and experience, the more extensive your palette of ideas.

  By now your brain should be wide awake, ready for action. It's time for the real workout to begin. Anyone can warm up, but only true athletes run the race to the finish line. "What's the finish line for a writer? It's moving from having many potential story ideas to choosing one and turning it into a book. Can you reach the finish line with your writing? Absolutely. The first step is choosing the best idea to pursue.

  So, how do you find the one idea you want to write your book about? This process is twofold. You not only have to find the idea that works best for you; it also has to be the right time for that idea. Sometimes, an idea that seems only so-so at the present might come back strong a year or two later. Perhaps events in your own life might shift in a way that makes a story about loss or pain or joy suddenly more compelling. I know many authors who keep idea files for just this reason. They jot down their story ideas on index cards and then store them away. This way they can go back to an old idea at any time; an idea is never lost.

  Personally, I let my subconscious do the sifting for me. When an idea is compelling enough that it won't leave me alone—when I come back to it again and again and again—that's a story I'll pursue. Some ideas might stick around for years before I'm ready to write them. Others force their way forward fairly quickly.

  The "sticky" factor is extremely important in determining which idea to turn into a novel. Writing a book can take months or even years, so it's important that the idea you choose can hold your interest for that amount of time. It needs to be something you deeply care about rather than something that seems good at the moment.

  A large part of this "stickiness" will be how you feel about your main character. We'll talk more about characters next period, but for now I'd like to mention that idea generating is not just about coming up with plots. This is a common misconception among beginning writers who equate a fabulous idea with the next great plot device. In reality, ideas can come in the form of characters as well as plots, and it's often the characters who are the most apt to grab us and not let go.

  One thing I learned during my time in publishing is that no matter how unique you think your idea is, chances are someone else has thought of a similar plot. I asked my editor about this when, just before Fat Kid Rules the World was to be published, another editor sent us a link to an Australian book called Fat Boy Saves World, by Ian Bone. I was shocked. How was it possible someone else had come up with a title so similar to my own? I panicked, but my editor did not. She told me that when a story comes from the heart, the way an author writes it and the characters she creates are what will make the book unique. I've kept this in mind ever since, focusing on characters and my own emotional involvement rather than depending on a clever plot device when choosing which ideas to pursue.

  You also need to choose ideas that have meaning and relevance for you rather than ideas you perceive as marketable. Just as our perception of originality can be shattered by someone unexpectedly publishing a book with a similar title or plot, our perceptions of marketability can also change in an instant. Before the first Harry Potter was published, fantasy was waning, but afterwards it has seen an unprecedented surge in sales.

  This is great for aspiring fantasy writers, right? Maybe you have only a marginal interest in fantasy but think you could produce a solid submission while the market is ripe. Unfortunately, you're not the only one who thinks this. Whenever a book in a given genre makes it big, there's always a corresponding surge in people wanting to write and submit similar books. So, although the market has increased, so has your competition.

  Many aspiring authors don't realize how long the publishing process takes, and they assume they'll have time to write and submit a book before the market changes again. In reality, even if you are a very fast writer, the submission process can take many months or even years. If you've based your book on an idea of what will sell, chances are that will have changed by the time your novel is being considered by editors.

  It's been said many times before, but it's worth saying again: Write what you love! When choosing an idea to pursue, banish all thoughts of marketability and focus on where you can invest the biggest piece of your soul. Which idea has personal relevance for you, and which idea do you think will have the most relevance to your teen readers? Which book would you write even if I told you right now that it would never sell to a publishing house?

  That's the idea to choose.

  ARTICLES VS. NOVELS_

  Hopefully, by now you're ready to cool down. This is the time to stand back, breathe deeply, and take one more hard look at the idea you've chosen. I believe passion should be foremost in your mind right now, but there are some practical considerations as well.

  When I worked at Curtis Brown, Ltd., we often submitted nonaction proposals to editors. One of the most common reasons editors gave for rejecting a proposal was the phrase, "This is an article, not a book." In other words, it's a catchy idea, but no one's going to want to read two or three hundred pages of it. Whether you're writing fiction or nonaction, the "article test" is a good one to apply. Ask yourself what kind of depth an idea can inspire. What level of conflict is present? What might a character need to learn from beginning to end and which obstacles might she have to overcome? Is there enough substance to sustain a whole book?

  It might be helpful at this point to determine what your motivation is for wanting to pursue a given idea. Are you driven by a true desire to tell the story or do you see the story as a vehicle to make a point? When it comes to books for teens, writers often want to teach or guide, and there's nothing wrong with that as long as the story comes first. Otherwise, you'll most likely find that your idea fizzles midway through. Could you read a two hundred-page lecture? Probably not, and neither will the average teen. If your motivation is primarily to instruct, perhaps there's another venue better suited to what you have to say.

  In fact, choosing the right venue for an idea is as essential as coming up with a good idea in the first place. Certain ideas will, naturally, be better suited to certain styles of writing. I'll give you an example from my own experience.

  One afternoon, my husband was relating a story about an event that happened in an NFL football Xbox game he'd been playing with a friend. He told me about the event as if it had been real, and it was only because of my prior knowledge of the game's existence that I knew he and his friend had not actually made the play he was telling me about. This sparked a "What if " question: What if in the future games become so common and so advanced that people cease to do anything real but still feel as if they have accomplished great things?

  Based on this question,
I extrapolated a scene where a group of teens discuss their accomplishments. Only at the end of the conversation would the reader realize the characters had never left their own living rooms. Their "great deeds" had, in fact, all taken place in virtual reality.

  At first this idea seemed novel-worthy, but as I began to think about it, I wondered if it would really carry through for several hundred pages. Would I be able to maintain the illusion so the ending could be a surprise? How would my action and character development be limited because of my plot device? Was there a single character I could develop in a compelling way? How would that character change from beginning to end if the success of the story was dependent on the reader's discovery that the character had, in fact, been doing nothing?

  As I looked at the elements involved, I realized that for me, this story idea would work best as a short story. It's clever, but clever doesn't sustain hundreds of pages. Characters do. An alternative would be to develop an interesting character who could fit into the predetermined plot, but that kind of plot-driven novel often seems forced. So, while compelling, this idea was a wrong fit for my next novel.

  Figuring out which ideas are compelling and which ideas are merely clever can be one of the most difficult parts of your journey to becoming a published writer. As you gain experience, you will learn which forms of writing work best for you, and then you'll be able to decide which format most naturally suits both the idea and your writing style. This will save you countless hours of work and allow you to focus on the stories you can tell with passion and drive.

  As a teen, English was always my favorite class. I loved to read and already kept a journal, so the idea that I could get school credit for doing these things was almost too good to be true. I devoured every book the teachers assigned and fell in love with most of them—even the classics. If you'd asked me back then what made me love the books I read, I'm not sure I would've been able to answer. They didn't seem to have much in common. I read from every genre and loved most styles of writing. Like many teens, I was just as apt to pick up an adult novel as a teen novel, and my bookshelf was full of books like Wuthering Heights shelved side by side with the newest R.A. Salvatore fantasy novel.

  Now as an adult I look at the books I've loved over the years and can see that they all share one thing in common: great characters. Whether it's Heathcliff or Drizzt Do'Urden, the characters hook me into a book and make me want to keep reading. It was the love of character that made English my favorite class year after year, and creating

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  unique characters is now my favorite part of being an author. Ideas are wonderful, but they won't go very far without interesting, lovable, or infuriating characters to embody them.

  In Nancy Lamb's The Writers Guide to Crafting Stories for Children, she writes: "What happens to characters—how they suffer and celebrate, how they meet challenges, overcome obstacles and find redemption—is the heart and soul and spirit of story." This is true no matter who your audience is. Whether you're writing for teens, kids, or adults, creating memorable characters is what elevates an idea from a novelty to a story with substance that will draw us in and make us care about the outcome. If your audience invests in your characters, whether that investment comes in the form of love, hate, or morbid fascination, they'll keep turning the pages and following the story until the bitter end.

  So what makes a good character? Why do some characters live while others fall flat? How can you create teen characters who are both believable and sympathetic? In this chapter we'll take a look at creating the characters who will bring your stories to life.

  WHAT MAKES A CHARACTER?_

  Understanding character begins with understanding people. What makes them tick? How do we relate to others? How do people grow and change over the course of a lifetime? How are teenagers different from adults and children?

  Every human being has certain attributes, but those attributes are always in flux. We have physical attributes such as eye color, hair color, age, weight, and height, as well as myriad other features that make us unique—large ears, a small nose, or exceptionally big feet.

  Many of these physical traits will change as we grow and mature, and teen characters, especially, are in transition. Their bodies are growing, and this growth will have a vast array of consequences that will affect other attributes.

  For example, physical changes such as puberty often lead to changes in personality, and personality traits are a big part of defining a character. Teens can be irritable, kind, stingy, open, rude, false, generous, conniving, hyper, morose, or curious, just to name a few. They are often many of these things simultaneously, and over the course of a lifetime each person will embody almost every personality trait there is.

  Our personalities reveal themselves through our speech, actions, and body language. Every person has a unique way of talking, walking, sitting, eating, sleeping, and doing just about any activity you can think of. We all have habits and idiosyncrasies, but again, these habits don't stay the same forever. Consider how you acted when you were a teen. Do you ever look back and laugh at some of the ways you tried to seem grown up? Maybe you wore too much makeup or emulated your favorite pop star. Or maybe you look back and feel sad that you've lost some of the idealism you possessed when you were younger. Teens are often purposefully trying to shape their habits, looking to mold themselves into the people they'd like to become, and those imagined future selves might be rich and famous, or they might be saving the world. Or both!

  Watching what a character does or does not do can reveal what she wants and help create a fuller sense of who she is both physically and emotionally. This is especially true when we reveal the reasons behind her actions. Although different people may appear to make similar decisions, our choices are based on our varied life experiences. When

  we reveal a character's history and inner life, in addition to showing his actions, we shed light on his motivations, attitudes, desires, and struggles, and this adds depth to our portrayal.

  MAKING CHOICES_

  Do you have the feeling that all the attributes listed above still only scratch the surface of what defines a character? If so, you're right. Each character we create is a totally distinct person, and it's our job to reveal them to the world. But there's a wealth of information that can be conveyed about any human being, and teens are especially complex because they are still figuring out who they are and what roles they want to take in life. So how do we give the reader an accurate portrait?

  We do it by making choices.

  Part of what it means to be an author is deciding which information to convey to your reader and how to convey it. Writing isn't just about putting words on a page; it's about artistry. Like any artist, you'll need to make decisions about what to include or exclude in order to produce the most impact or the greatest beauty.

  When it comes to character development, choices are essential. Obviously you can't describe every character trait—if you did, you'd fill entire volumes with description and there'd be no room for anything to actually happen in the story, nor would there be any artistry. Instead, choose which features best define your character; this description can be a mix of physical traits, personality, backstory, and character choices.

  Perhaps the easiest way to think about this decision-making process is to imagine I've asked you to describe your best friend. If you

  tried to tell me everything about her, it would take forever because people are always changing, and just about the time you told me what your friend was like she'd have changed clothes, hairstyle, and attitude, and moved on to some new activity. So, instead of trying to tell me everything, you'd tell me the important things—the things I most needed to know to get an accurate picture of her.

  You might tell me the basics of what she looks like, such as hair color and whether she was tall or short, skinny or full-figured. You might also include some characteristics that make her unique. Maybe you'd tell me her skin color or religious beliefs, or perhaps you'd
mention her thin lips or large nose. But mostly, I imagine you'd tell me what kind of person she is, and you'd probably use examples of things your friend has done or said to convince me of your points.

  ... and on top of everything else, she's brilliant. She was valedictorian of her graduating class and she got a scholarship to Yale.

  She's so funny. Every time we go out, she's the life of the party.

  You might also tell me something of your friend's personal history to further illuminate her character.

  I love her, but she can be difficult to deal with. She's very temperamental, but I know it's because she had a tough life growing up with two alcoholic parents. Considering all she's been through, she's a real strong person. Once you're her friend she's fiercely loyal.

  Some people think she's shallow because she parties so much, but honestly, she's the most generous

  person I know. Her family was poor when she was young, so she has a strong desire to help needy children.

  People are complex—we aren't easily summed up by one or two descriptions. Teen characters are no different. To reveal them, we must draw from a palette that includes every available trait, but we must also make choices about which traits most clearly define the person we're describing.

  What we most need to know about a character is what makes him who he is and what will drive his actions. Many times, especially for teens, physical appearance plays a large part in this. An awkward teen will behave very differently from an effortlessly beautiful one. Not only will she make different choices, she will move differently through space. Race, sexuality, or family background can also affect our body language, our worldviews, and the decisions we make.