Book Spotlight: Writing Great Book for Young Adults by Regina L. Brooks

Writing Great Books For Young Adults

October 7, 2014

By Regina L. Brooks

ISBN: 9781402293528 ● Trade Paperback/$14.99

Praise for Writing Great Books for Young Adults

“Written from the perspective of an industry insider, the book shows budding authors hot to edit their work with fresh eyes.” –Kirkus Reviews

“Brooks offers writers who are serious about attracting teen readers solid guidance through the creation process of writing YA fiction.”- Library Journal

“Brooks fills her book with clear examples that illustrate her points… If you’re looking for an A to Z guide on writing and publishing YA fiction, Regina Brooks’ how-to is the place to go.” – Writer Magazine

Break into the Young Adult market with this indispensable guide!

With an 87 percent increase in the number of young adult titles published in the last two years, the young adult market is one of the healthiest segments in the industry. Surprisingly, despite this, little has been written to help authors hone their craft, and truly connect with the young adult audience.

Writing Great Books for Young Adults gives writers all the advice they need to tap this this incredible and innovative market. Literary agent Regina L. Brooks shows writers how to listen to young adults so that they can create characters their audience can identify with.

Topics covered include meeting your young protagonist, developing a writing style , trying on points of view, and many more.

About the Author:  Regina L. Brooks (New York) is the founder of Serendipity Literary and has been developing award winning authors and books for over a decade. She has been highlighted in several national and international magazines and periodicals, including Writers and Poets, Essence Magazine,Writer’s Digest Magazine, and Sister2Sister. She lives in New York City.

Five Rules for Engaging Readers of Young Adult Fiction

YA Fiction Rule #1: The life of the story depends on the writer’s ability to convince READERS that the protagonist is one of them.

YA Fiction Rule #2: Don’t be condescending to your readers.

YA Fiction Rule #3: Read, read, read today’s YA fiction.

YA Fiction Rule #4: Silence your worries about commercial considerations.

YA Rule #5: In your new world of YA fiction, erect no concrete barriers, wire fences, or one--way signs. Instead, forge new paths.

Chapter 2 is about generating an idea, your story. It will talk about different ways to uncover stories that YA readers will want to read about. It will also help you discover new possibilities for stories within yourself that you may not have known you had.

Chapter 3 will discuss characters—-the heart of any manuscript. How to breathe life into interesting characters your reader will connect with is the main lesson of this chapter, but we’ll also discuss how to find the best characters for the story you want to tell.

Chapter 4 is all about plot, story, and how to tell the difference. Plot is like a machine that propels your manuscript forward, while story is the overall impression you want the plot to create in the reader’s mind.

Chapter 5 is about how to put together a believable plot. It’s all about action—-establishing the main conflict of your manuscript and putting it in motion. Of special concern will be integrating the events of the manuscript with the characters’ personalities, making sure that the characters react to events in believable ways.

Chapter 6 is about setting and timeline. Setting is the background of your story—-the when and where. This chapter is about understanding the atmosphere of your story and effectively manipulating the details of that atmosphere to influence your manuscript’s tone.

Chapter 7 is about point of view—-the perspective from which you tell your story. Point of view can be an extremely effective tool for connecting with character and clarifying or confusing the reader about events—-provided you use it correctly.

Chapter 8 is about the meat of your manuscript—-dialogue. Dialogue provides an opportunity for your characters to interact and opens up another way to build your characters.

Chapter 9 is about the theme of your manuscript. Theme is the overall impression you want your readers to take away. It’s a subtle but effective way for the author to express himself through the story.

Chapter 10 is about wrapping it all up, bringing your plot to a successful resolution. Endings can be very tricky, so there will be detailed discussion about what sorts of conclusions to avoid.

Chapter 11 is about how to find constructive feedback and incorporate it into your revisions. All authors need to edit and revise their manuscript, and this chapter will explain why the editing process is so necessary.

Chapter 12 is about getting published—what agents and editors do and how to get your work into their hands. This is the business chapter-—the one that details exactly how the publishing industry works.

Chapter 13 is about YA nonfiction and the emerging genre of New Adult. The YA market is constantly in flux, and this chapter will expose you to two recent developments in the market.

I hope all of these tools will be helpful to you as you begin the process of writing the next YA bestseller. Let’s begin exploring that magical new world.

So, as you can see if you really want to know how to apply those rules and if you really want to know how to creat the next bestseller in the YA genre you need to read this book. 

I have to admit I'm still reading this book for a non-fiction guide it surely made me think and feel a lot. All of that you can read in my review that will be published by the end of the month [hopefully :D]