Wait, weren’t we just talking about series writing? Welcome to my
right brain. (Hey, I never said I
did these posts in order! If you
want order, order the workbooks.)
No, actually, this post today is because I am teaching a
Screenwriting Tricks workshop at the RWA National Conference on Wednesday, and
the focus is YA, so this is a good way to get my thoughts in order while
letting you all benefit from the conference by osmosis. Plus, switching topics mid-stream is an excellent way for me to demonstrate that writing series, or writing YA, or writing YA series, or writing anything, will all benefit from exactly the same starting point: your personal Top Ten List.
Now first, YA isn’t a genre. It’s an umbrella for ALL genres. So the structure patterns
for whatever genre you’re writing in apply just as completely to a YA book in
that genre (or subgenre, or cross-genre) as they do to any adult book in the
genre.
So when you’re sitting down with your new YA project to
brainstorm, and making your Top Ten movie list (a list of movies and books that are similar in genre and storyline to your own project), it is often more useful to look
at adult movies (I mean, not ADULT adult, but you know, adult) and books in the
genre than it is to look at teen movies, simply because there are more, and
usually better, adult movies out there with the structural patterns you’re
likely to want to study and learn from. (If you need more clarification about what I'm talking about: What KIND of Story is It?)
The only real difference in a YA book is the age of the
hero/ine and main characters, although there are some specific themes, elements
and techniques that are very popular in YA, and themes are what I wanted to start
off with today.
-- YA is very often written in first person – or a very close
third. You are in the thoughts and
skin of your protagonist.
-- There is very often a love triangle. Of course this is a popular trope in adult fiction, too – it
creates conflict and provides a fantasy sexual or romantic experience that a lot of readers are
looking for. But it’s especially prevalent in YA, not just because people are
copying Twilight and The Hunger Games, but because adolescence is hopefully a time for
experimenting, including trying out who to love.
-- There is often a rebellion against entrenched adult values
and political systems. The
Hunger Games is a
prime example, of course. It’s the
teenagers who have to make moral choices and take moral actions against a
corrupt or broken or even horrific adult system.
This is nothing new AT ALL, it was the spirit that defined the sixties
and is pretty much is the major theme of adolescence. And this is why, I think, dystopian fiction is so popular
with YA readers. The genre by its
very nature says that the system is broken and challenges the characters - and the readers – to fix it. I love that about dystopian! Makes my Berkeley heart proud.
-- The characters often have special powers, or
superpowers. This is another theme
of the teen age. Because it is the
absolute truth – we all DO have superpowers. We are all infinitely powerful, we just need to remember we
are. As Marianne Williamson wrote
in A Return to Love (a quote often attributed to Nelson Mandela, who used it in
his 1994 inauguration speech):
Our deepest fear is
not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond
measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask
ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually,
who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not
serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other
people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children
do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not
just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we
unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated
from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Deepak
Chopra says more succinctly, in a way that sums up the exhilaration of the Harry Potter
series: “We are all wizards and witches.”
Kids KNOW that. Adults all too often forget it and spend a lifetime
trying to remember.
-- There is commonly a theme of the changeling child. A classic childhood fantasy: “These aren’t my REAL parents. I’m actually a princ/ess in disguise!” Again, Harry Potter!
-- The changeling child is also an outsider, and the outsider theme is hugely popular in YA. Kids ALWAYS feel like freaks, and can easily relate to being vampires, shapeshifters, space aliens. New powers manifesting in embarrassing ways? You don't have to be Freud to get where that's coming from.
-- The changeling child is also an outsider, and the outsider theme is hugely popular in YA. Kids ALWAYS feel like freaks, and can easily relate to being vampires, shapeshifters, space aliens. New powers manifesting in embarrassing ways? You don't have to be Freud to get where that's coming from.
-- The King Arthur theme: that a seemingly ordinary person is
destined for greatness. The Hunger
Games, How to Train Your Dragon, Harry Potter. Cinterella is another one of these, of course.
So yes, YA
themes tend to be extravagantly idealistic and empowering. YA is also often paranormal and girl-driven. Now, this could
be attributed to the influence of Buffy, and Twilight, and you may have
theories of your own about it, which I’d love to hear. Personally I think that
the paranormal wave was in great part a reaction to the militaristic focus of
the post-9/11 government — the psychic, intuitive, feminine paranormal was a
reaction to and rebellion against the patriarchal domination of those war
years.
- There’s another very common formula to YA: stories that are
revisionings of classic literature or fairy tales or fiction or plays, only with
teenage leads.
- And - maybe it's not exactly a theme, but school is almost always a setting, either a physical school or some kind of training that's the equivalent of school, and the issues of school and learning are always present.
- And - maybe it's not exactly a theme, but school is almost always a setting, either a physical school or some kind of training that's the equivalent of school, and the issues of school and learning are always present.
But I know there are a lot of YA writers out there, so I’d like
to hear some of the common themes YOU see in YA. And also as always, I’m very
interested in hearing people’s Top Ten lists. I need some good examples!
- Alex
Related posts:
The Dark Side of YA
=====================================================
Screenwriting Tricks for Authors and Writing Love, Screenwriting Tricks for Authors, II, are now available in all e formats and as pdf files. Either book, any format, just $2.99.
- Smashwords (includes pdf and online viewing)
- Kindle
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- Alex
Related posts:
The Dark Side of YA
=====================================================
Screenwriting Tricks for Authors and Writing Love, Screenwriting Tricks for Authors, II, are now available in all e formats and as pdf files. Either book, any format, just $2.99.

- Kindle
- Barnes &Noble/Nook
- Amazon UK
- Amaxon DE (Eur. 2.40)

- Amazon/Kindle
- Barnes & Noble/Nook
- Amazon UK
- Amazon DE
-------------------------------------------------------------------
7 comments:
Hi Alex,
Susanne Lakin told me about your blog. Loved this post and the quote rocked! I've written a few YA novels (none sold yet) that were paranormal suspense. Very fun to write. I read the Hunger Games but hated the premise at first and then I thought, wait a minute, I couldn't put the book down, I need to study this and why it worked. I dissected it at my blog and called it Book/Movie Biology. I'm going to read the second in the series soon. I hope to come back and read more here. I like your sense of humor, your writing voice. Thanks,
Michelle, Random Writing Rants
Great Post! And I love Marianne Williamson :-) I'm linking this to my blog post.
For me, young adult differs from adult fiction in that the "voice" is different--more youth-driven. Not just the use of slang or "imitating" a teen, but seeing the world from a teen's eyes.
Some young adult themes are broken families, peer pressure, and all those oh-so-important "Firsts" (first love, first cigarette, first time behind the wheel). And whatever the "First", it's usually intense.
I was talking to my 19 yr old daughter and she said her favorite had been Maximum Ride, Patterson. They started out cool but got stupid at the end. Not sure if she out grew them or it's just hard to maintain a series. She has always and still does love the Narnia books
She also like twilight and the Uglies but lost interest.
I subbed for a middle school art teacher for four weeks. She taught one class of Creative Writing.
By the end of week one I had to call her before running, screaming to the school counselor. Every writing prompt or story had to do with suicide, killing, abuse or abandonment. Their heroes had to face pure evil alone without any friends or family. She laughed and said she forgot to warn me to limit a topic. They can write about what ever but only once every three weeks.
That first week one girl had given my hope. Struggling (alone of course) to free her self from a self imposed prison, tightly wrapped in silk. She finally breaks free and discovers she can fly. She writes about the beauty of her new wings the world around her, is the same but so different with her new perspective. She dances and laughs ubtil without any warning her colors become splattered on the clear windshield splatteredand of a monster eighteen wheeler. Ha Their brains seem hard wired for tragedy.
Thanks, Michelle! Hunger Games isn't an easy premise. It seems very exploitive, but the political message is profound.
I'm going to go further into HG, here - we did an analysis of it in the workshop I did at RWA yesterday and it really is a good one to demonstrate how structure works.
Christina, yes, voice is key in YA.
Great point about the "firsts"! You're totally right.
Wow, Jolene, that's fascinating about the topics in the middle school writing class.
Of course >I< was hardwired for tragedy at that age, but I really thought it was just me.
The hormones can't help, honestly...
YA themes for me that I enjoy writing about deal with Trust at their core. Trust in self, your abilities, your judgment, and trusting others around you. That theme can move through many different scenarios from divorce to relocating to a new school to recovering from a betrayal or even rebuilding trust after a small slight by friend/family.
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