Writing Young Adult Fiction An Editor’s Guide to Awesome YA

Writing Young Adult Fiction An Editor’s Guide to Awesome YA Writing Young Adult Fiction: An Editor’s Guide to Awesome YA Last updated: 04/12/2018Young Adult is perhaps the largest category of new fiction today. Or, to put it another way, writing young adult fiction seems to be at an all-time high. There’s something about adolescence - coming of age, first loves, first triumphs, loss of innocence - that makes it the perfect backdrop for raw, honest storytelling. No matter how far we get away from them in time, the memories of our teenage years tend to remain fresh.Kate Angelella is an experienced YA editor, formerly of Simon Schuster. She has edited a number of popular series including Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys. In this post, she shares her top tips for writing Young Adult fiction. 1. Don’t think of YA as ‘adult fiction that’s been dumbed-down’Some of my favorite YA novelists are accidental children’s book authors. YA pioneer Francesca Lia Block - and author/maven of some of the most lyrical prose you’ll find this side of Gabriel Garcà ­a Mrquez - is a fine example. She did not intend to write her cult classic Weetzie Bat series as children’s books, but Weetzie was destined to be a YA protagonist for the ages, doing and saying things while she came of age that would make Holden Caulfield blush, and the rest of us rejoice.Though your character’s voice should be authentic to her identity and life experience, you never have to (and never should) simplify the language, story, or style choices in your novel in order to talk down to teen readers. YA authors should aspire to write at least as well as they would for adult fiction- and there are innumerable examples of YA fiction that outshine even the prettiest prose adult lit-fic has to offer. #YA Tip 1: Young Adult isn't just dumbed-down mainstream fiction. 2. Make sure your characters are the right ageDisney's adaptation of 'The Princess Diaries'Cabot also employs repetition to communicate her main character, Mia’s voice. Note in the first paragraph how two sentences in a row begin with â€Å"he’s cool if† and the next several sentences begin with â€Å"he’s NOT so cool if.†He’s cool if you’re Lilly Moscovitz.He’s cool if you’re good at Algebra†¦.He’s not so cool if you’re flunking Algebra, like me.He’s not so cool if he makes you stay after school†¦.He’s not so cool if he calls your mother†¦then ASKS HER OUT.And he’s not so cool if he’s sticking his tongue in your mom’s mouth.Almost as though she’s ticking items off a list. Through the repetition, you can feel her attitude. There is some snarkiness and drama present here, but note that it’s not off-putting or snarky to the point of meanness or cr uelty, which would make us dislike her. Mia is pretty justified in feeling what she’s feeling here, and she’s not overly sarcastic. There are a few places where Cabot uses caps lock to get across Mia’s dramatic nature, but she’s not so ridiculous that we’re rolling our eyes.The next example is from the opening of MT Anderson’s Feed.We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck.We went on a Friday, because there was shit-all to do at home. It was the beginning of spring break. Everything at home was boring. Link Arwaker was like, â€Å"I’m so null,† and Marty was like, â€Å"I’m null too, unit,† but I mean we were all pretty null, because for the last like hour we’d been playing with three uninsulated wires that were coming out of the wall. We were trying to ride shocks off them. So Marty told us there was this fun place for lo-grav on the moon. Lo-grav can be kind of stupid, bu t this was supposed to be good.Probably one of my favorite first lines in any book, ever. We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck. What does this sentence say about the main character, Titus, and the world he lives in?The language is casual like in Cabot’s example, but there’s a different feel to this voice. While Mia’s voice felt a bit dramatic, Titus seems just the opposite. â€Å"Shit-all† to do. Boring. Stupid. Without it being stated outright, Titus comes across as kind of apathetic and impassive. And though there are some words in there that Anderson has made up (null, unit) we are able to understand through context and tone that these words, too, are adding to the generally cool, dispassionate feel of Titus’ voice.The last example comes from the opening chapter of The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, which hit #1 on the New York Times Bestseller list its first week out. It’s a novel that explores police brutality and systemic racism in America.We break out the crowd. Big D’s house is packed wall-to-wall. I’ve always heard that everybody and their momma comes to his spring break parties- well, everybody except me- but damn, I didn’t know it would be this many people. Girls wear their hair colored, curled, laid, and slayed. Got me feeling basic as hell with my ponytail. Guys in their freshest kicks and sagging pants grind so close to girls they just about need condoms. My nana likes to say that spring brings love, but it promises babies in the winter. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of them are conceived the night of Big D’s party. He always has it on the Friday of spring break because you need Saturday to recover and Sunday to repent.Starr is the narrator: her voice is thick on the page. Take the sentence: Girls wear their hair colored, curled, laid, and slayed. You can feel the rhythm, the cadence of these words. Word choices like â€Å"mommaâ €  and â€Å"everybody.† Slang like â€Å"kicks† and â€Å"basic,† â€Å"laid and slayed.† From this paragraph, I can tell that Starr is very matter-of-fact. There’s no room for sarcasm or dramatics or even apathy, as in the other examples I’ve read from today. She’s telling it like it is, no frills. No fuss.In all of these examples, see how the punctuation (or lack of punctuation) and sentence-and-paragraph length play a role in the feel of a voice too. #YA Tip 5: Try to nail your protagonist's way of speaking (and don't try to make 'Fetch' happen) 6. Don't write around heavy subject matterOne of the most common statements I hear in my freelance career? â€Å"My main character is a teen, but I don’t think my novel is YA because the content is too dark.†Now I’m not saying that no subject matter is too dark for the YA market (my husband, J.R. Angelella, did a superb job of showcasing that too dark can be an actual thing with his first novel, Zombie). But I will say this: remember that your target audience is experiencing sex, drugs, bad language, and all the other Big Bads you might dream up in their everyday lives, whether they are active participants or not; writing about the teen experience is what YA is all about.So long as you’re writing with purpose (and not just writing to be edgy), embracing heavy subject matter is essential when writing a YA novel that is both authentic and relatable. #YA Tip 6: Embrace heavy subject matter if you want to write a relatable YA novel. @kateangelella 7. Don’t write into trendsIt can be difficult to avoid the temptation of choosing your subject matter based on the latest Publisher’s Marketplace deal that just sold at auction for a â€Å"major deal.† But the truth is, trends in YA are fickle. By the time you get around to shopping your novel, the trend may have already passed.The surefire way to ensure that an agent, editor, or reader will fall madly in love with your book is to write about something that lights you on fire. Something you wake up every day ecstatic to write, regardless of the topic’s trend status. Your passion and originality will come through, and there is nothing more infectious."When reviewing YA submissions,† says Melissa Nasson, Associate Agent for Rubin Pfeffer Content, â€Å"one of my biggest gripes is when I start reading and immediately feel that I've read something similar before. Originality is so important, so when I sense that an author is trying to emulate Suzanne Co llins or Veronica Roth rather than telling their own story, it makes me less inclined to continue reading†¦. if I find the manuscript too familiar, then editors (and eventually readers) certainly will too." #YA Tip 7: Don't write into trends. When  you get to shopping your novel, the trend may have already passed 8. Papa, don’t preachSome call it preaching, some call it didacticism. Whatever you call it, whatever you do, please don’t talk down to your YA reader.By this, I mean that you should never set your main character up to take a fall simply to teach him or her a thing or two. Not only will your teen reader smell the fakey-fake lesson cooking in your prose a mile off, but your YA novel will also suffer for it. Because writing YA is not about the result at the novel’s conclusion; it’s about the journey, about finding the center of your character’s emotional truth to present a very real, very relatable human being who is currently in flux, and figuring things out.YA readers deserve your emotional honesty. They deserve authentic, emotionally resonant characters that serve to show them they aren’t alone, not characters who are being used as tools to sell moral high ground or life lessons. #YA Tip 8: Don't try to 'teach your reader a lesson'. Teens can smell that a mile off. @kateangelella To learn more about how to write a young adult novel, check out Kate's FREE course on Reedsy Learning,  The Ten Commandments of Writing YA Novels.Are you an author of fiction for teen readers? Do you have any questions about the art of writing young adult fiction, drop Kate a message in the comments below.

The Best of Daily Writing Tips in 2011

The Best of Daily Writing Tips in 2011 The Best of Daily Writing Tips in 2011 The Best of Daily Writing Tips in 2011 By Daniel Scocco First of all happy new year to all the Daily Writing Tips readers! Rest assured well keep sending you our best writing tips in 2012. Below youll find a compilation of the most visited posts we published in 2011. Make sure you havent missed any! 100 Mostly Small But Expressive Interjections 7 Grammatical Errors That Aren’t 100 Beautiful and Ugly Words 10 Latin Abbreviations You Might Be Using Incorrectly 100 Whimsical Words Should You Self-Publish? 50 Problem Words and Phrases 20 Classic Novels You Can Read in One Sitting Who Cares About â€Å"Whom† Anymore? How Spelling Diverges Between American and British English 10 Words That Don’t Mean What You May Think They Do 10 Comma Cases in Which More Is More 10 Pairs of Similar-Looking Near Antonyms 150 Foreign Expressions to Inspire You Is â€Å"They† Acceptable as a Singular Pronoun? 50 Redundant Phrases to Avoid 10 Intensifiers You Should Really, Absolutely Avoid The Other N-Words 7 Editing Pet Peeves 8 Steps to More Concise Writing Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the General category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:7 Types of Narrative Conflict20 Words Meaning "Being or Existing in the Past"Using "zeitgeist" Coherently

The Themes and Purposes of Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Themes and Purposes of Art - Essay Example However, as to the purpose of a work of art, I have often been confused whether art is for art’s sake or art is for man’s sake. Now, the online visit to the National Gallery of Art (NGA) helped me a lot to resolve much of the conundrum of the purpose of art. I found that whereas Benton’s visionary appeals value a human being’s sake or art’s aesthetic purpose, its static dynamism is for art’s sake, which is for eyes that are more skilled. After reviewing Thomas Hart Benton’s Trail Riders, I realized that his iconography is too simple that its naturalistic majesty can be exaggerated in no way. Amid the three-dimensional landscape of heartland America, the iconographic presence of the horse riders who are seen from a remote panorama conveys the static dynamism of his theme. The vantage point of the artist is such that it turns the remote objects and horse-riders almost into abstraction with the use of contours in implied lines. Though the use of light and shadow clearly contributes to the realism of Benton’s work, the glow of the light surpasses the reality of its atmosphere and adds to its surrealism to a great extent. It is the surrealism that evokes motion of spirit in the minds of the viewers. Remoteness is also a prevailing theme and perspective of this piece of Benton’s artwork. It has thoroughly been maintained through the manipulation of shapes of the contents within the works. Even the nea rest objects such as the flowers, the bush, and the stones do not have the individual clarity. Remoteness as well as the zenith of the mountain contributes to the silence of the artwork in which the motion of the riders refers to the fourth dimension, Time. Also Benton’s work can be interpreted from atmospheric perspective. From this perspective, human being’s kinetic smallness has been contrasted with the vastness of the universe. Though the overlapping of the

English Language Assessment and Testing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

English Language Assessment and Testing - Essay Example The test has an essential difference between the traditional grammar test for native speaker of English and the kind of structure test appropriate for the EFL/ESL learner. It is generally assumed that the native speaker of the language has mastered a grammatical system largely or wholly acceptable for informal discourse, grammar test at least on the high school and college levels have usually concentrated on matters of style and diction appropriate for rather formal written English. On the other hand, structure tests for foreign students will have as their purpose the testing and control of the basic grammatical patterns for the spoken language. Such tests would constitute no challenge for native speakers of Standard English, who, except for carelessness, would be expected to make perfect scores. Only for the most advanced foreign leaners are test of formal style and diction at all meaningful, and then they are better treated as tests of writing ability and kept quite separate from t he test of structure. The test devised includes the full range of structures that were taught in the course, and each structural type receives about the same emphasis in the test that it received in the classroom. The test contains two parts, in the first one (1-15), the student must select the most appropriate answers for the spaces to make grammatically correct sentences. Each item presents a context in which one or more words are missing, followed by several alternative completions. In the second part, the student must identify in each item one of the underlined words that is incorrect. Once identified, the student must circle it. Finally, I have discussed the principles of language testing in relation to the test I have designed. There are 20 questions in the test. They should constitute a total of 100 marks. This implies that each question should contain 5 marks. The table prepared should be followed in marking the test. Part.2: Specified Objective Reading Test English Language Assessment and Testing A. In the following questions (1-15), select the most appropriate answers for the spaces to make grammatically correct sentences. 1. George ____ in the library this morning. A. Is studying B. Study C. Usually study D. Are studying 2. Alice _______ the door please, it’s  ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­_____ hot in here. A. Open, quite B. Opens, too C. Opened, extremely D. Will you open, terribly 3. Jacob’s hobbies include swimming, jogging, and ______. A. Play football B. Playing football C. To play football D. Football 4. The book was as _____ the movie. A. Interesting as B. More interesting C. As interesting like D. Very interesting 5. Who is ______, Brian or Pete? A. Tall B. Tallest C. Taller D. Is the tallest 6. Mr. Joseph advises that someone ____ the data immediately by email. A. Send B. To sent C. Should send D. Has to send 7. There are only ______ Birthday cards left in the store. A. A little B. A few C. Some D. Few 8. Almost all the Olympic athletes ___ __ for a couple of years before they became stars. A. Trained B. Had been training C. Undergone training D. Underwent training 9. Joshua likes silver coated watches, ______, he does not like diamond coated watches. A. But B. And C. So D. However 10. The school will upgrade _____ Physics laboratory next month. A. there B. their C. its D. it’s B. In the following sentences, one of the underlined words is incorrect. Identify and circle it. 11. Mr. John is telephoning British red cross for help. A. Mr. B. Is C. telephoning D. red

Melvilles White Jacket as Public Forum on Corporal Punishment :: Melville White Jacket Essays

Melville's White Jacket as Public Forum on Corporal Punishment Author, Herman Melville utilized many of his literary works as a public forum for politics. Subsequently, the nineteenth century became a time period of great outspokenness among authors who condemned many of societies woes. Authors such as: Thoreau, Longfellow and Emerson all voiced their opposition to these tragedies. Melville wrote openly about slavery, abuse, and many other social injustices. In his novel, White Jacket, Melville wrote against corporal punishment aboard United States Naval Frigates. He cited many instances of flogging, imprisoning sailors, and other humiliating procedures endured by navy men at the hands of commanding officers. Unfortunately, corporal punishment was a legal means of punishment as governed by the Articles of War. Melville interjected a positive feeling into the narrative, White Jacket, by introducing three humanitarians. These included: Mad Jack, Colbrook, and Jack Chase. Each of these characters spoke out against corporal punishment in the narrative; however, the ultimate decision to punish the men remained in the hands of the unforgiving captains at sea. The main character of the novel occurred as White Jacket. Unfortunately, he committed an unwitting offense and was to be subjected to flogging. In his frantic last moments prior to flogging, White Jacket envisioned himself grabbing Captain Claret and flinging them both over the side to the more forgiving sea. Fortunately, humanitarians, Colbrook and Chase, both stepped forward at great risk to themselves and saved White Jacket from humiliation and abuse. White Jacket's desperate attempt to elude punishment conveyed to society the drastic measures needed to induce change. In the end, it remained obvious that Melville likened the ship to a wo rking model of society. He observed that naval discipline was not compatible with democratic ideology. Author Eleanor Simpson stated in her essay, "Melville and the Negro," that Melville attacks all forms of arbitrary government and legalized brutality. Though his immediate target is the military machine as codified in the Articles of War, his whole stance is one of democratic rebellion against the law or act of government, which undermines or simply ignores the dignity and rights of men. Melville stated, "He knows the same law which impels it-the same law by which the culprits of the day must suffer; that by that very law he also is liable at any time to be judged and condemned.

Accounting Cycle

The accounting cycle is a systematic process used to help perform the basic function of accounting, which is to identify, record, and communicate information. A business or organization may have its own unique way of performing its accounting cycle, but each must perform the task in one way or another. Alvarez Bookkeeping Services, a small family operated business, has a very simplified version of the accounting cycle. The company was established in 1971 and is located in Flushing, NY.The company is consists of four employees this includes the owner. One person, the owner, performs the entire accounting cycle for the Alvarez Bookkeeping Services. Gradually, the accounting cycle has evolved much like business have evolved; the multiple steps have been reduced as technology has simplified the process, â€Å"today, most companies use accounting software that processes many of these steps simultaneously† (Averkamp, n. d. , para. 3).The accounting cycle consists of: identifying, jo urnalizing, posting, trail balance, adjusted entries, adjusted trial balance, preparing financial statements, closing, post-closing trial balance, reversing entries, and financial statements (Kieso, Weygandt, & Warfield, 2007). Identifying a transaction or event is the first step in the cycle; businesses engage in various activities on a daily, as a result, determining when to record and activity is crucial. Once the activity is identified a transaction must be recorded, the next step is to journalize the transaction.The journalizing process can be completed in a variety of ways; the most common method is the general journal, although some companies keep other special journals. The next step in the accounting cycle is posting, which is the procedure of transferring journal entries to the ledger accounts (Kieso et al. , 2007), so that the transactions reflect in the appropriate ledger accounts balances. After the transactions from the general journal have passed to the general ledger a trail balance can be performed. The trial balance â€Å"lists accounts and their balances at a given time† (Kieso et al., 2007, pg. 74), which is very useful in detecting errors that may have occurred during recording or posting. In the event an error is detected or a transaction is missing, an adjusting entry is made. Adjusting entries may also be made to update an account, such as prepaid accounts. For instance, a company may have pre-paid insurance on its books as assets, at the end of the period an adjusting entry is made to reflect what is prepaid and what an expense is. Often times a trial balance is done after the adjusting entries are made just to be sure everything is still in balance.At this point in the accounting cycle, the financial reports are typically generated, the most common are the: balance sheet, income statement, and retained earnings. The accounting cycle concludes with the closing entries and closing trial balances. The expense and revenue accounts are closed against income summary, which is closed against retained earnings; thus, preparing the cycle to start again in the coming period. Today, technology is used often in accounting and has made it easier processing accounting. The way a company processes accounting is changing.Alvarez Bookkeeping Services uses accounting software called Peachtree Quantum has vastly improved the accounting cycle process. The transactions are recorded in the software’s general journal, if the transaction is out of balance the system will not complete the transaction and prompt to balance the transaction, therefore eliminating the need for trial balances. Once the transaction is recorded the system automatically posts to proper ledger accounts and also carries the information over to financial statements.If the owner wishes to review how the company is doing, he would run a financial report by selecting the report and forms option selecting the specific report they would like run. Adjustin g entries are still necessary, but the accounting cycle has been effectively reduced to: identifying, journalizing, adjusted entries, financial statements, and closing. The accounting cycle is proven methodical system is beneficial in performing accounting tasks at Alvarez Bookkeeping Service.The role of people and systems in the cycle has changed the way companies perform the accounting cycle; some companies have departments specified for specific tasks of the cycle, whereas Alvarez Bookkeeping Services has one individual who does the entire process. Nonetheless, companies have benefited from the advancements in technology and most notably in accounting systems. Accounting systems have expedited the process and given more accurate results, which allow the user to focus on analyzing the information.

Effects of Slavery on American Society - 2112 Words

African American slavery has a dramatic impact on slaves and it changed all time periods in American society throughout America’s history. From the 1600’s when slaves first arrived from Africa, through the Civil War, Great Depression, Civil Rights Era and up until today, slavery’s impact has been felt in America. Slavery was brought to America as early as 1619, but we chose to keep it here for over 200 years, longer than any other country who also adopted the ways of slavery. Our economy flourished with the cheap labor of slaves, and as new inventions, and products came to our attention, we always had a cheap way to produce a mass quantity of it. The South is known for being Pro-slavery, while the Northern states where known for†¦show more content†¦An example from his narrative is â€Å"†¦every one of their countenances expressing dejection and sorrow†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This shows that every slave was going through a time of depression. The author also shows how Equiano’s fear of the white men. This quote â€Å"†¦but, being afraid of him, I would not take it out of his hand,† demonstrates that he wouldn’t even take food from them, even though he was starving. Equiano feared the white men and wouldn’t even reach out when they offered a helping hand because of his past experiences. What is more important is what Equiano says about how the slave market affects families. He expresses how cruel the white slave traders were with slave families in the quote â€Å"†¦relations and friends separated most of them never to see each other again.† This is explaining that families were split up, and most of the time, never got to see one another ever again. In his slave narrative Equiano demonstrates the horror and struggle of living in slavery. His use of imagery conveys a powerful feeling of sympathy into his readers, and also a feeling of anger and hatred towards white slave traders. Equiano uses a lot of examples of families being separated from one another; I think he does this to give you an example of just how cruel and careless the white men were. Overall Equiano’s message was that slavery was a horrible thing, and he was trying to get that message into theShow MoreRelatedEffects Of Slavery On The American Society Essay2196 Words   |  9 PagesGerson Ventura and effect essay Nov 3rd, 2015 Cause and effect of slavery on the American society The term slave is defined as a person held in servitude of another, or one that has no control to a dominating influence. A long time ago people realized that the slaves could be used to make a profit, and during the early 16th century, and sailors began to travel to Africa to get slaves. 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