That’s the thing with parents in Young Adult literature—can’t live with them, can’t live without them. Teens are exploring their world for the first time, attempting to establish their own identity separate from their families of origin, so you will find almost all characters going on adventures independent of their parents.

If you are writing a young adult novel, it’s important to consider your characters’ parents on the front end, and develop them into three-dimensional, well rounded, fully fleshed out people to avoid stereotypes and cookie cutter plot devices.

Where it Started, Where We Are

When some of the first young adult novels came out in the 1960s, Julie Just from the New York Times said the parent narrative “fit in neatly with the classic narratives: its strongest stories were about orphans and lost boys of one kind or another.” In these novels, issues weren’t with parents but with other kids. 

But by the 70s and 80s, the narrative started to shift the conflict from friendships to what was happening at home. This is where the problem parent narrative entered the scene, and has never left. It’s not to say all parents should be problematic, because surely there are still supportive parents out there, but you do have to consider the role the parents will play because it’s a significant part of young adults lives…and of course, how to get rid of them so teens characters can go on their adventures.

Approaches to Developing Your Characters’ Parents

Active and supportive parents 

By all means, you can make the parents a positive force in your protagonist’s life. Or even if the protagonist’s parents aren’t the greatest, one of the side characters could have supportive parents. They can serve as mentors, confidants, or sources of guidance for the protagonist. 

This approach emphasizes a positive parent-child relationship and showcases the protagonist’s growth while navigating challenges. 

Here are a few examples of novels who took this approach:

• The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas: The protagonist, Starr, has parents who are actively involved in her life, providing support and guidance as she navigates the aftermath of witnessing a police shooting.
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling: Although Harry’s parents are deceased so you wouldn’t consider them active, their love and sacrifice play a significant role throughout the series, shaping Harry’s journey and providing emotional support.

Tips for crafting Active and Supportive Parents

• Show moments of emotional connection between the parents and your characters.
• Illustrate how the parents’ guidance and presence positively impact the protagonist’s journey.
• Use the parents’ wisdom or advice to provide insights and lessons for your characters’ growth.

Absent or Neglectful Parents

Absent or neglectful parents create a ton of opportunities for tension and conflict. This can lead the protagonist down the path of having to fend for themselves or seek support from alternative sources, such as friends, mentors, or other family members. It allows for a greater sense of independence and self-discovery as the protagonist overcomes obstacles. 

And the reality for a lot of kids is this is their lived experience, so experiencing a character overcoming this struggle can help them process their own life circumstances. 

Check out these novels for examples of this approach to parents:

• A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas: The main character, Feyre, has a neglectful and unsupportive family. Her journey takes her into the magical Fae realm where she finds a new family and discovers her own strength.
• Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell: The novel tells the story of two misfit teenagers, Eleanor and Park, who bond over music and comics. Eleanor comes from a troubled home with neglectful and abusive parents, which adds to the challenges they face in their relationship.

Tips for crafting Absent or Neglectful Parents

• Explore the protagonist’s emotions and reactions to their parents’ absence, such as feelings of abandonment or independence.
• Emphasize the impact of the absent or neglectful parents on the protagonist’s self-reliance and resilience.
• Showcase the protagonist seeking alternative sources of support and building relationships with other characters.

Overprotective or Controlling Parents 

This is basically the opposite of the parental figure we just explored. There are so many challenges characters can face when dealing with overprotective or controlling parents, and a tremendous amount of conflict can come from this. 

In some novels, this role of the parents actually creates the plot in the novel. Obstacles arise as the main character tries to assert her independence, make her own choices, or pursue her dreams. The positive side, it creates opportunities for the protagonist to develop resilience and assertiveness. 

Here are a couple novels that wrote this kind of parental figure well:

• Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon: This is a novel where the main character’s overprotective mom creates the plot for the whole novel. Olly has a rare disease, where she is allergic to basically the whole world, and her mother keeps her protected from it. But when the new boy next door catches Olly’s eye, she begins to push the boundaries of her mother’s rules thus setting the story into motion.
• We Were Liars by E. Lockhart: The story features a wealthy family known as the Sinclairs, and the main character, Cadence, has overprotective parents who try to control her life. Their actions and secrets play a significant role in the unfolding mystery.

Tips for Crafting Overprotective or Controlling Parents

• Highlight the tension and conflict arising from the overprotective or controlling behavior.
• Explore the internal struggle of the protagonist, torn between their desire for independence and their parents’ restrictions.
• Allow the protagonist to assert their autonomy and challenge their parents’ control throughout the story, creating opportunities for the protagonist to defy their parents’ expectations and find their own path.

Complex Parent-Child Relationships

No one is really all good or all bad, right? Creating nuanced parent-child relationships that blend positive and negative aspects might be the most realistic approach to developing parents in young adult novels. 

Showing the complexities of family dynamics, with parents who have their own flaws, conflicting expectations, or differing values from the protagonist can add depth and realism to the story. 

A couple examples of novels that did this well are:

• Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver: The main character, Samantha, experiences a time loop, reliving the last day of her life repeatedly. Her complex relationship with her parents, including their expectations and conflicts, contributes to the overall narrative and Samantha’s self-discovery.
• Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo: The characters in this novel come from various backgrounds with complex relationships with their parents or parental figures. Kaz Brekker, for example, has a complicated history with his deceased parents, which shapes his actions and motivations.

Tips for Crafting Complex Parent-Child Relationships

• Unveil the layers of the relationship through meaningful dialogue, flashbacks, or shared experiences.
• Explore the conflicts, misunderstandings, or differing values that shape the complexity of the parent-child dynamic.
• Show instances where the protagonist learns from their parents or reevaluates their relationship as they grow and change.

Parental Absence Due to External Factors 

Sometimes parents might be absent, but it’s not because they don’t care or are neglectful. External circumstances could be forcing the parental absence, such as work commitments, illness, death, or other external factors. 

This can create a sense of longing or loss for the protagonist, leading them to seek understanding or fill the void in their lives. It also offers opportunities for personal growth, resilience, and the formation of unconventional support networks. 

Check out these novels that show this type of parental relationship:

• Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi: In this West African-inspired fantasy, Zélie’s mother is absent due to being killed in a brutal raid. Her absence fuels Zélie’s desire for justice and sets her on a quest to restore magic to her world.
• The Clock Strikes by Dominique Richardson and Sorboni Banerjee: This is the fourth novel in my Everbeach series, and Elle’s father is absent but not because he doesn’t want to be there, but because he’s a truck driver and his work takes him on the road. This leaves Elle at the mercy of her soon-to-be-step mother Juniper, and she seeks guidance and comfort with her godmother, Titania. 

Tips for Crafting Parental Absence Due to External Factors

• Establish the reasons behind the parental absence, such as work, illness, or other circumstances.
• Depict the protagonist’s emotional response to the absence, capturing their longing, grief, or resilience.
• Introduce surrogate parental figures or unconventional support networks to fill the void left by the absent parents.

Whether the parents in your young adult novel will have a positive or negative impact (or even a mix of both) is yours to determine. Hopefully these ideas, examples, and tips will help you craft well-rounded, three dimensional parents for your young adult novel.

Dominique Richardson is the coauthor of The Everbeach Series—a young adult, romantic suspense series full of forbidden romance, deadly twists, and scandalous secrets that will keep you turning pages into the night. The fourth and final book in the series comes out June 6th. Check out the first book, Red as Blood, if you’re looking for your next bingeable read. Passionate about all things books and giving back to the community, she is also the Executive Director and cofounder of YA by the Bay, a nonprofit young adult reading and leadership festival, dedicated to inspiring teens to “be the author of your own life.” Raised between Jamaica and the United States, her biracial heritage finds a home in her books. She spends her free time passing on her love of unicorns to her twin boys, running in the Florida heat, and drinking all the coffee. She now lives in Tampa, Florida with her family.

She would love to connect with you! Find her online on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. If you’d like to stay in the know about her upcoming book releases, sign-up for her email list. To learn more about the YA by the Bay Young Adult Book Festival, check out the website.

The post Crafting the Parents in Your YA Novel appeared first on DIY MFA.

Going the Traditional Route

If you have your eyes set on traditional publishing, then you might want to pull back on pitching a three or four book series. There was a time when publishing was handing out three book deals to debut authors on the regular back in the heyday of vampire and dystopian novels, but times have changed a bit. Publishing got stuck with big losses after they had shelled out huge advances for multi-book deals for series that never took off. Thus, they became risk averse—with good reason—and now hesitate to purchase more than two books from an unknown author. Mary Kole’s advice in her book Writing Irresistible Kidlit echoes this sentiment: “A first book is a big investment, as the author is an unknown. The title could either sink (statistically more likely) or swim. A series represents an even bigger investment—and possible risk.” If you follow deal announcements on either Publisher’s Marketplace or Publisher’s Weekly, it’s far more common to see duologies being announced for debut, and even seasoned authors. 

I Hear You, but What About XYZ New York Times Series With a Three Book Spin-off?

While it might be tempting to hear this advice and then try to counter with, “But Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunter Chronicles has over thirty books in this series. Why wouldn’t <insert Big 5 publisher’s name here> want my fifteen book and counting thriller series?” Well, for starters, Cassandra Clare has been a bestselling author for fifteen years and counting, so she has a rabid fanbase ready to buy up every book set in the Shadowhunter world. 

Believe it or not, even current NYT best-selling authors of successful book series didn’t necessarily start with a three book deal. Jennifer Lynn Barnes, the author of The Inheritance Games series, didn’t know if there would be a second book. “I had a slightly different ending for a standalone book than a series. I didn’t add the last twist in the book until the last minute, when I knew I would get to write a book two,” Barnes explained in an article for Writermag.com. “Then for book two, I had the list of things that weren’t resolved in book one—the balls that were still up in the air.” The Inheritance Games now has three books published, a fourth on the way, and an entire spin-off series planned. Her strategy of making book one a standalone, but having plans for a different ending in case she got to write more after the success of the first book, is a great way to approach writing a series if you are going the traditional route. And this advice goes for both debut and seasoned authors. Barnes had published over 20 novels before The Inheritance Games. 

Don’t get me wrong, you can still sell a three or four book series to a commercial publisher as a debut author, but those opportunities are more the exception than the rule. The best bet, if you want to go the more traditional route, is to approach an agent with your standalone book that could have additional books in the series, or with a duology. 

If You Are Self-Publishing, the Series is Queen

The advice on planning a standalone or duology goes out the window when you are self-publishing. This is because, in the self-publishing world, series are your bread and butter. Not only that, but authors who self-publish will often give the first book in the series away for free as a loss leader to hopefully get readers hooked to buy the rest of their books. This is the strategy that Sarra Cannon, highly successful indie author of the Beautitful Demons series, uses and recommends. Cannon now teaches aspiring and seasoned writers what she’s learned in her more than a decade of success as an author on her website Heart Breathings. Indie authors target binge readers, so the more books you release, and the faster you release the books, the better. Not only should you plan and write a series if you are going the self-publishing route, but you should also plan to release them quickly. There is a strategy to this, and you can learn everything you need to know to get started by checking out Elana M. Johnson’s book Writing and Releasing Rapidly. 

So What’s the Verdict?

The answer is, it depends on a whole host of factors, but a starting point for your decision-making should be whether you want to go the traditional or self-publishing route. And even then, there will always be exceptions to the rule. There are successful self-published authors who write standalone books, and there are debut authors who sign a multi-book series contract right out of the gate. As with anything in life, it’s wise to understand the pros and cons of the approach you choose to take and then, in the end, you can eschew whatever advice is out there and go for what you believe is the very best vision for the story you want to tell. 

With the book series that I co-authored, The Everbeach series, the vision was always for four books with each of our main characters getting their own storyline. And with the advice of our agent, we went ahead and pitched it as a four-book series. However, book one could have always been a standalone, or it could have easily been transformed into a duology. The options were there for the publisher’s choosing. And in the end, we ultimately signed a four-book deal. It wasn’t easy, and we had our fair share of publishing rejections. But we stayed true to our vision, and it paid off in the long run. But we knew the publishing landscape and we were absolutely prepared to write this series however our publisher saw fit (one book, two books, or the four-book dream). 

So, I leave you with this: understand the industry, make the best choice you can given the publishing route you choose and always stay true to the heart of your story. Be prepared for multiple outcomes, but never stop believing in your vision. Just be willing to be flexible, seek the advice of experts, and enjoy the ride. Publishing isn’t an easy career, but it’s worth it if your passions are books and writing, so you have to find your joy in the journey. 

Dominique Richardson is a Lebanese-Jamaican author and CPA who now uses her number crunching excel skills to plot her stories and do good for the young adult community in Tampa Bay. She is the Executive Director of YA by the Bay, a 501c3 young adult book festival coming to Tampa, FL in October 2023. She spends her free time passing on her love of unicorns to her twin boys, running in the Florida heat, and drinking all the coffee. Raised between Jamaica and the United States, her biracial heritage finds a home in her books. She now lives in Tampa, Florida with her family. Dominique is the coauthor of Red as Blood, Book 1 in the Everbeach Series (Spring 2023).
You can find her on her website or follow her on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. Also, if you love young adult and want to hear from some of the leading authors in the young adult space, then sign-up for YA by the Bay’s email list.

The post Should You Write a Young Adult Series Today? appeared first on DIY MFA.

Have you signed up to be a DIY MFA Radio Insider yet? This is an exciting new monthly newsletter, especially for our podcast listeners. Every month, you’ll get an email from our podcast producer with recaps of the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for October is Horror/Suspense, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode SK Ali and Lori discuss:

• Why she gave her two main characters contrasting perspectives on life.
• How the constraints of a set structure can lead to creativity.
• Balancing a light tone with serious topics.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.

About SK Ali

SK Ali is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of several books, including Saints and Misfits, a finalist for the William C. Morris award, winner of the APALA Award and Middle East Book Award, and Love from A to Z, a Today Show’s “Read with Jenna” Book Club selection. Both novels were critically acclaimed and named best YA books of the year by various media including Entertainment Weekly and Kirkus Reviews. 

Her novel, Misfit in Love, was a People magazine best book of summer 2021. Her books for younger readers include the widely acclaimed middle grade anthology Once Upon an Eid and the New York Times bestselling picture book, The Proudest Blue. She has a degree in Creative Writing and lives in Toronto with her family, a very vocal cat named Yeti, and a very quiet cat named Mochi. Her newest novel, Love From Mecca to Medina, went on sale October 18, 2022.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Love From A to Z

A marvel: something you find amazing. Even ordinary-amazing. Like potatoes—because they make French fries happen. Like the perfect fries Adam and his mom used to make together.

An oddity: whatever gives you pause. Like the fact that there are hateful people in the world. Like Zayneb’s teacher, who won’t stop reminding the class how “bad” Muslims are.

But Zayneb, the only Muslim in class, isn’t bad. She’s angry.

When she gets suspended for confronting her teacher, and he begins investigating her activist friends, Zayneb heads to her aunt’s house in Doha, Qatar, for an early start to spring break.

Fueled by the guilt of getting her friends in trouble, she resolves to try out a newer, “nicer” version of herself in a place where no one knows her.

Then her path crosses with Adam’s.

Since he got diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in November, Adam’s stopped going to classes, intent, instead, on perfecting the making of things. Intent on keeping the memory of his mom alive for his little sister.

Adam’s also intent on keeping his diagnosis a secret from his grieving father.

Alone, Adam and Zayneb are playing roles for others, keeping their real thoughts locked away in their journals.

Until a marvel and an oddity occurs…

Marvel: Adam and Zayneb meeting.

Oddity: Adam and Zayneb meeting.

Love From Mecca to Medina

On the trip of a lifetime, Adam and Zayneb must find their way back to each other in this surprising and romantic sequel to the “bighearted, wildly charming” (Becky Albertalli, New York Times bestselling author) Love from A to Z.

Adam and Zayneb. Perfectly matched. Painfully apart.

Adam is in Doha, Qatar, making a map of the Hijra, a historic migration from Mecca to Medina, and worried about where his next paycheck will come from. Zayneb is in Chicago, where school and extracurricular stresses are piling on top of a terrible frenemy situation, making her miserable.

Then a marvel occurs: Adam and Zayneb get the chance to spend Thanksgiving week on the Umrah, a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, in Saudi Arabia. Adam is thrilled; it’s the reboot he needs and an opportunity to pray for a hijra in real life: to migrate to Zayneb in Chicago. Zayneb balks at the trip at first, having envisioned another kind of vacation, but then decides a spiritual reset is calling her name too. And they can’t wait to see each other—surely, this is just what they both need.

But the trip is nothing like what they expect, from the appearance of Adam’s former love interest in their traveling group to the anxiety gripping Zayneb when she’s supposed to be “spiritual.” As one wedge after another drives them apart while they make their way through rites in the holy city, Adam and Zayneb start to wonder: was their meeting just an oddity after all? Or can their love transcend everything else like the greatest marvels of the world?

If you decide to check out the books, we hope you’ll do so via these Amazon affiliate links: Love From A to Z, Love From Mecca to Medina, where if you choose to purchase via the link DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 432

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Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 432: Accessing Feeling and Emotions in Young Adult Romance – Interview with SK Ali appeared first on DIY MFA.

Or maybe you got hooked on a BookTok sensation like Inheritance Games, These Violent Delights, or They Both Die at the End. 

Whatever it was that led you to wanting to write for young adults, you’ll need to understand some basics to write in this exciting space.

Guess What? It’s Not a Genre

One of the first things to understand about young adult is that it is not a genre. It’s actually an audience, just like adult books are referring to the audience. A book written for young adults will fall into one of many genres, such as romance, fantasy, or thriller.

Thinking of it as an audience will also help you get into the right mindset to write for teens. And writing for teens can be a rewarding journey as you can build a rabid fan base who will be loyal to your main character (especially if you write a series), share your work with their friends, and stay up into the wee hours of the night reading by flashlight.

Make Sure You Get Several Things Right

There are a few basics you need to nail down when you’re developing your YA novel. They are as follows:

Age of Your Protagonist. 

Think high school when you’re writing young adult. Since kids typically “read up” in age, reading stories about kids older than they are, you should aim for your main character to be between 15 to 18, with some young adult books, especially in fantasy, having protagonists as 19. 

Younger protagonists, that fall in the age range of 11 to 14, will typically belong in the Middle Grade category—think Harry Potter when he first gets to Hogwarts.

Mind Your Word Count. 

You’ll want to keep your manuscript between 70,000 to 90,000 words. Fantasy and science fiction can skew higher than this, but books spilling over 100,000 words are usually reserved for seasoned authors with built in fan bases. 

Mary Cole, author of Writing Irresistible Kidlit, offers this advice for sticking to the shorter word counts, “It’s always easier to add just the right thing to a sleek and streamlined project than it is to cut from an overlong one.” 

If you do choose to go over in word count, remember it might be to your own peril because the truth is, longer manuscripts are harder to sell.

Remember You’re Writing for Today’s Teens.

Avoid setting the story in the same decade you were in high school (unless you just graduated, then have at it). Believe it or not, teen stories set in the 80’s or 90’s would more than likely be considered historical fiction, not a young adult novel for today’s teen audience. You’ll want to write in either modern or future time periods for this market.

Understand the Teen Mindset. 

Young adults are starting to step away from their parents and figuring out how they fit in the world beyond their family. Being a teenager is an all-consuming stage of life, filled with all of the firsts happening in rapid succession. 

Teens also start to see the darker side of life for the first time, and fiction can be a safe place for them to explore these issues, explains Cole. 

Since teens are naturally in a stage of constant self-reflection, it makes sense that the stories themselves are also full of self-reflection and internality. Because of this, YA novels are often told from the first-person point of view.

Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll…Yes, No, Maybe?

The question of content is something you should strongly consider up front. Many of today’s books written for the young adult audience deal with real issues, and because of this, real content is permissible (content defined as sex, drug and alcohol use, and violence). 

Although there are books in the young adult section that would make any adult’s cheeks blush, take care if you’re considering writing explicit scenes, staying away from erotica. Since teens are exploring their own sexuality, the lines are fuzzy and you might be surprised at what you find on the page. 

The reality is most books on the young adult shelves will have a love story in it whether it’s the main plot or a subplot because romantic relationships are important to teens, bordering on obsessively important. I mean, you remember your high school crushes as clearly as I remember mine, right?

The same goes for drugs and alcohol. It is permissible in young adult, but take care when adding edgier elements to your work ensuring it is essential to telling your story. There are some publishers that will steer clear of substance use and many others who publish books exploring this side of life. 

Violence and profanity are also allowed, but typically not to the level a George R.R. Martin novel might take it.

A great way to gauge what is allowed for the young adult audience is to read widely in the genre you wish to write in, which is a central tenet to the DIY MFA approach to your writing career. What level of content you might see in a young adult fantasy novel will differ from what you’ll see in a young adult contemporary. You’ll develop a sixth sense for what content works and what doesn’t and see how there truly is a wide range permitted for this audience. 

The most important questions to ask yourself when adding edgy elements to your story are these: Is this level of graphic content needed to tell my story authentically? Or could I dial it back and still achieve the same effect?

Are You Telling Your Own Story?

You’re writing fiction not memoir, so your initial response to this question should be, no, I’m making this up as I go along, nothing is real except in my imagination. Yet, it’s more complicated than this. 

In September 2015, the hashtag #ownvoices was born, used by the author Corinne Duyvis to identify books written by diverse authors whose main characters shared the author’s identity. This, coupled with the movement started by We Need Diverse Books, a grassroots organization focused on advocating for more books written by authors of diverse backgrounds, has changed the marketplace for young adult in a meaningful way. 

Today, shelves are lined with stories where every kid should be able to see themself on the page. There is still a lot of work to do, but great strides have been made over the past several years to make sure there is representation across the board.

And this brings us to the point of this section: When developing your main character, it is incredibly important that you choose their identity with care. 

Today’s young adult reader is looking for authenticity, and they want to know the person telling the story truly understands the journey the main character is growing through. And to avoid the harmful perpetuation of stereotypes and shallow treatment of diverse experiences that have too often occurred in the past, publishers and readers are looking for stories told from the experience and identity an author shares with the main character.

That being said, even if you are telling your story from your own experience, as of June 2021, We Need Diverse Books and the market at large started to reduce its usage of the term #ownvoices. Because the term expanded to become a “catch all marketing term by the publishing industry,” use of it started to raise “issues due to the vagueness of the term, which has then been used to place diverse creators in uncomfortable and potentially unsafe situations,” explained Alaina Lavoie, in this article from We Need Diverse Books. Instead of #ownvoices, choose to use the description the author identifies themselves as, such as in my case “Lebanese-Jamaican Author.”

For further discussion on why writing from your experience is important, check out this article by Colice Sanders on the DIY MFA website It’s Messy in the Middle: Unpacking Cultural Appropriation. Sanders does an incredible job of explaining why representation matters, and also, if you do choose to write outside your experience, she offers several great tips on how to do it the right way. 

To Help You On Your Way

If you want to dive deeper into the world of writing for young adults, then check out these books for an in-depth exploration of writing YA:

• Writing Irresistible Kidlit: The Ultimate Guide to Crafting Fiction for Young Adult and Middle Grade Readers by Mary Cole.
• Writing Great Books for Young Adults: Everything You Need to Know, from Crafting the Idea to Getting Published by Regina Brooks.
• Writing Young Adult Fiction for Dummies by Deborah Halverson.
• Save the Cat! Writes a Young Adult Novel by Jessica Brody (this one is a pre-order, but it’s worth the wait given Jessica’s written over 20 novels and is an excellent teacher).

In addition to the above books, Mary Cole also has a blog dedicated to Kid Lit, and you can read the young adult archives on her website.

If you love young adult and want to hear from some of the leading authors in the young adult space, then sign-up for my email list so you’ll be in the know when our show FIND YOUR FAIRYTALE launches, where we will interview young adult authors about their journey to find success in publishing.

Dominique Richardson is a Lebanese-Jamaican author and former CPA turned CEO of YA by the Bay, a 501c3 young adult book festival coming to Tampa, FL in October 2023. She’s worked in management across the business spectrum—from a Fortune 100 company to a Big 4 Accounting firm, from a tech start-up to several nonprofits. She spends her free time writing books and passing on her love of unicorns to her twin boys. Dominique presents #DomsDownload on FIND YOUR FAIRYTALE, the forthcoming show for YA by the Bay, breaking down books that help people live their best lives.
You can find her on her website or follow her on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. Also, if you love young adult and want to hear from some of the leading authors in the young adult space, then sign-up for Dominique’s email list.

The post The Ins and Outs of Writing a Young Adult Novel appeared first on DIY MFA.

Have you signed up to be a DIY MFA Radio Insider yet? This is an exciting new monthly newsletter especially for our podcast listeners. Every month, you’ll get an email from our podcast producer with recaps of the most recent episodes, a curated Listening List of episodes on a particular theme, and other fun goodies we only share via email. Best of all, it’s free to join! The theme for January is Debut Authors, and you can become an insider by signing up with your email at diymfa.com/insiders.

In this episode Leslie Vedder and I discuss:

• What genre inspired her and helped her keep a fast pace throughout her novel.
• Why she loved blending science and magic and how her characters approached each.
• How she approached varying levels of character relationships—both romantic and friendship.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.

About Leslie Vedder

Leslie Vedder is a queer ace author who loves fairytale retellings with girl adventurers and heroes! She grew up on fantasy books, anime, fanfiction, and the Lord of the Rings movies and met her true love in high school choir. She graduated from San Francisco State University with a B.A. in creative writing and currently lives in Colorado with her wife and two spoiled house cats.

When she’s not reading or writing, you can find her watching anime and sci-fi shows, walking in the woods and pretending they’re enchanted forests, or playing old video games. She always collects all the Skulltulas in Zelda and all the Dalmation puppies in Kingdom Hearts.

Her debut YA novel The Bone Spindle released in January 2022 from Penguin / Razorbill.

You can find Leslie on her website or follow her on Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads.

The Bone Spindle 

The Bone Spindle is a genderflipped Sleeping Beauty meets Indiana Jones fantasy, starring two girl treasure hunters!

Fi is a bookish historian under a dark curse. Shane is a fierce, queer, ax-wielding warrior with a past she’s left firmly in the dust. They team up to take on a lost ruin, looking for the score of a lifetime, but get a lot more than they bargained for when Fi pricks her finger on a bone spindle and finds herself face to face with the spirit of the sleeping prince, Briar Rose. Now she’s stuck with him—literally forever!—unless she and Shane can break the ancient curse on his kingdom.

Traps, ruins, riddles, curses, and bad exes all stand in their way, not to mention a mysterious Witch who might just steal Shane’s heart along with whatever else she’s after! 

Set in a lush world inspired by beloved fairytales, The Bone Spindle is a fast-paced young adult fantasy for fans of Sorcery of Thorns and All the Stars and Teeth.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link, where if you choose to purchase via the link DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 392

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 392: World Building and Character Friendships in a YA Fairy Tale Retelling – Interview with Leslie Vedder appeared first on DIY MFA.

Stephanie is a Jesus-centered, young adult and fantasy author, writing in the universe of Elledelle about black angels in magical worlds with impressive powers that mirror the human condition.

She loves writing stories centered around feisty angels with complicated pasts, unexpected futures, learning to take up causes bigger than themselves, who may or may not fall in love along the way.

Stephanie is a Canadian-born, Haitian-raised, Congolese descended, North American dweller who lived a colorful life in south Florida that cultivated a perspective on the world as unique as her background.

As the author of The Seraphim Resistance Prequels and The Transcendents serial, Stephanie has built her own self-publishing empire. She is also an avid reader of fantasy and fiction, and columnist for DIY MFA.

In this episode Stephanie BwaBwa and I discuss:

• How comic books helped her develop the world in her YA fantasy universe.
• Her method for crafting a serial series and dealing with the unknowns.
• Why she loves world building and how she avoided sharing too many details at once.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.

About Stephanie BwaBwa

Stephanie BwaBwa is a Jesus-centered, young adult and fantasy author, writing in the universe of Elledelle about black angels in magical worlds with impressive power that mirror the human condition.

She loves writing stories centered around feisty angels with complicated pasts, unexpected futures, learning to take up causes bigger than themselves, who may or may not fall in love along the way.

Stephanie is a Canadian-born, Haitian-raised, Congolese descended, North American dweller who lived a colorful life in south Florida that cultivated a perspective on the world as unique as her background.

Stephanie has authored the The Seraphim Resistance Prequels, and The Transcendents serial, and is an avid reader of fantasy and fiction. 

Jesus is her Lord, Disney+ is her safe place, she dreams of being a monkey mama and she’s always penning a new story in Elledelle. 

You can usually catch her going for a walk through a park, or simply binging Disney+ with too many snacks.

You can find Stephanie on her website or follow her on Instagram, Goodreads, Amazon, Bookbub, and Reedsy.

The Crescent and the Ash Queen

A deadly assassin seeking freedom. A manipulative queen seeking power. A depraved court hanging in the balance.

Zavala Nightingale is a deadly assassin with a slick mouth, and devastating magic. Even though she’s the most feared Crescent in the Bones Court, she still wants out.

Zavala has one more job to finish, then she’ll collect her coin and leave…

But the Ash Queen has other plans for her.

When the Ash Queen declares Zavala as her heir and the next Crescent Queen, Zavala will be faced with one of two choices:

Accept and be a Crescent for life, or deny the Ash Queen, drawing the wrath of every assassin alive.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link, where if you choose to purchase via the link DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 380

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 380: World Building and the Fantasy YA Serial – Interview with Stephanie BwaBwa appeared first on DIY MFA.

But I think more importantly, books were where I saw and really began to understand myself. The things I connected to and the stories that drew me helped me shape my sense of self, and I always connected most to the stories that had a strong friendship at their core. As a result, I’ve always had strong central friendships in my own books. 

The Role of Friendships for Teens

Friendships are generally where teens begin to explore social dynamics away from their immediate family. Not only does having friends create a feeling of security and belonging, it’s also where teens begin to test the identities they want to create for themselves, and where they learn who they are outside of parental influence. 

When different types of media send the message that teens are catty or are supposed to be enemies, it can be extremely isolating. It can make them mistrust people before they’ve ever had the chance to form significant connections. And it can create a sense of competition in situations where there should be camaraderie, which leads to unhealthy perceptions of the world when they are just beginning to find their place in it.  

When friendship is given care and importance, books can be windows, and they can also open doors. Stories give us the opportunity to see what we can be in even the most fantastical settings. They show us things we never knew we wanted or thought we could have, and they can shape the way we view each other as well as ourselves. 

When authors create strong friendship bonds between characters, it can illustrate how essential these relationships are in life. Being a teen is a complex time and it can often be lonely, even for those who exist in crowded spaces. But it becomes easier to navigate if they have people they can lean on who are going through similar things, if they have honest conversations, and they are able to open up about their experiences and who they hope to be.

This is why I think friendships are so essential in YA, no matter the genre. Oftentimes, friendship is treated as a lesser relationship. The phrase “just friends” comes to mind, as if friendship is some form of settling. But having positive relationships modeled in the media can shape the way kids and teens approach each other. From a craft standpoint, there are several ways to make friendship a more prominent part of a story: 

1. Make Secondary Characters Unique 

People might have similar ways of acting, speaking, and thinking, especially in friendship groups, but they will still have things that make them stand out: things that are unique to them, qualities, quirks, hobbies, or skills that no other character has. By taking that quality or skill and giving them a specific purpose in the story, especially one where they are necessary to the overall plot, it will ensure they feel like more than set dressing to the main character. 

Even if every detail of a secondary character’s backstory and history remains off-page, they can become as layered and complex as the main character. The details will inform their actions and will end up making them more well-rounded as a result. 

2. Allow Friends to Be Vulnerable and Upset with Each Other

By letting characters lean on each other and be honest with each other helps create a bond between characters that readers will find relatable, but it’s also a good idea to let friends be angry with each other and resolve conflicts. 

Friendships are rarely all sunshine. There are disagreements, moments of gentle calling in, and hurt feelings. And the ways characters handle these situations can not only be revealing, but can also give their relationship more depth when they find ways to overcome issues and still be there for each other. Scenes like that can also solidify just how meaningful the relationship is as well, if it’s worth fighting for and saving. 

3. Avoid Diminishing the Role of Friendships 

Treating friendships within a story like they are expendable and there without purpose can make them feel like a lesser relationship. Giving rich conflicts and layered nuance only to romantic or familial relationships can cause the reader to feel like the friendships aren’t as worthy of their emotional investment. This can be disheartening to those whose relationship with their friends is such a large part of their own agency and self-discovery. 

Friendship is so important in The Lost Girls, to the point where the story doesn’t work without it. Taking girls who should (according to outdated media expectations) hate each other, and creating a situation where they depend on and lean on each other was something I always sought in stories when I was young and trying to find my own place among my peers. 

Friendship creates hope and community and a sense of belonging that most people want to feel and shines a light for those who are lonely, letting them know they won’t be lonely forever. 

Sonia Hartl is the author of Not Your #Lovestory and Have a Little Faith in Me (Page Street), which received a starred review in BookPage and earned nominations for the Georgia Peach Book Award, YALSA’s Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers, and ALA’s Rise: A Feminist Book Project List. She’s a member of SCBWI and the Managing Director for Pitch Wars 2020. When she’s not writing or reading, she’s enjoying pub trivia, marathoning Disney movies, or taking walks outside in the fall. She lives in Grand Rapids, MI, with her husband and two daughters. Follow her on Twitter.

The post The Importance of Friendships in YA appeared first on DIY MFA.

David is the author of the New York Times bestseller Frankly In Love, as well as the upcoming YA novel Super Fake Love Song and adult thriller Version Zero. He also drew the illustrations for his wife Nicola Yoon’s #1 New York Times bestseller Everything, Everything.

He and his wife are also heading up a new imprint of Random House Children’s Books called Joy Revolution. This imprint will debut in 2022 and will be devoted to publishing teen love stories by and about people of color.

In this episode David and I discuss:

• Why he decided to write a book for adults after success in the YA genre.
• Uncovering your central dramatic question and how to explore it in your writing.
• His process for “Marie Kondo-ing” his brain and what he does with the space.

Plus, his #1 tip for writers.

About David Yoon

David Yoon is the author of the New York Times bestseller Frankly In Love, a William C. Morris Award finalist and Asian/Pacific American Award for Young Adult Literature Honor book, as well as the upcoming YA novel Super Fake Love Song and adult thriller Version Zero. He also drew the illustrations for his wife Nicola Yoon’s #1 New York Times bestseller Everything, Everything. David grew up in Orange County, California, and now lives in Los Angeles with Nicola and their daughter.

You can find David on his website or follow him on Instagram.

Super Fake Love Song

From the New York Times bestselling author of Frankly in Love comes a moving young adult novel about friendship, identity, and acceptance. Perfect for fans of John Green and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.

When Sunny meets Cirrus, he can’t believe how cool and confident she is. So when Cirrus mistakenly thinks Sunny plays guitar, he accidentally winds up telling her he’s the front man of a rock band.

Before he knows it, Sunny is knee-deep in the lie: He gets his best friends to form a fake band with him and starts dressing like a rock star. But no way can he trick this amazing girl into thinking he’s cool, right?

Just when Sunny is about to come clean, Cirrus asks to see them play sometime. Gulp.

Now there’s only one thing to do: Fake it till you make it.

Version Zero

From the brilliant mind of New York Times bestselling author David Yoon comes a lightning-fast and scorchingly observant thriller about how we can save ourselves from the very real perils of a virtual world.

Max, a data whiz at the social media company Wren, has gotten a firsthand glimpse of the dark side of big tech. When he questions what his company does with the data they collect, he’s fired…then black-balled across Silicon Valley.

With time on his hands and revenge on his mind, Max and his longtime friend (and secretly the love of his life) Akiko, decide to get even by rebooting the internet. After all, in order to fix things, sometimes you have to break them. But when Max and Akiko join forces with a reclusive tech baron, they learn that breaking things can have unintended–and catastrophic–consequences.

If you decide to check out these books, we hope you’ll do so via these Amazon affiliate links, where if you choose to purchase via the link DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 353

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio, Spotify, or Google and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 353: Making the Shift from YA Romance to Adult Thriller – Interview with David Yoon appeared first on DIY MFA.

Jeff is an author, musician, and podcaster and his debut novel, Symptoms of Being Human has received a ton of accolades. It is an ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults Selection, Lambda Literary Award Finalist, and has garnered starred reviews from Booklist and Publishers Weekly. 

Before becoming a novelist, Jeff acted on TV and toured as the lead singer of a rock band. He has a BFA in Film from Chapman University and lives in Southern California.

Now, I have been looking forward to this episode since last July, when Jeff and I met at a ThrillerFest cocktail party. We connected right away and when Jeff told me about his new novel The Lightness of Hands I knew I just had to have him on the show. This book grapples with some heavy topics, but one in particular that really hits home for me: mental health.

I am so thrilled to be recording this interview (finally! After 8 months!) and to introduce Jeff and his moving (sometimes gut-wrenching) YA novels to my word nerd listeners.

In this episode Jeff and I discuss:

• How real life experiences inspired Lightness of Hands
• Living with Bipolar II
• Breaking the stigma around mental illness
• Starting a book with a question you can’t answer
• Writing a character that is hyper-attuned to her inner life
• The power of mindfulness meditation
• The hero’s journey, applied to writing and life

Plus, his #1 tip for writers.

About Jeff Garvin

Jeff Garvin is an author, musician, and podcaster. His debut novel, Symptoms of Being Human, is an ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults Selection, a Lambda Literary Award Finalist, and garnered starred reviews from Booklist and Publishers Weekly. Before becoming a novelist, Jeff acted on TV and toured as the lead singer of a rock band. He has a BFA in Film from Chapman University and lives in Southern California. Check out his podcast, The Hero’s Journey, and connect with him on his website, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.   

The Lightness of Hands

Sixteen-year-old Ellie Dante is desperate for something in her life to finally go right. Her father was a famous stage magician until he attempted an epic illusion on live TV—and failed. Now Ellie lives with her dad in a beat-up RV, attending high school online and performing with him at birthday parties and bars across the Midwest to make ends meet.

But when the gigs dry up, their insurance lapses, leaving Dad’s heart condition unchecked and forcing Ellie to battle her bipolar II disorder without medication.

Then Ellie receives a call from a famous magic duo, who offer fifteen thousand dollars and a shot at redemption: they want The Uncanny Dante to perform the illusion that wrecked his career—on their live TV special, which shoots in Los Angeles in ten days.

Ellie knows her dad will refuse-but she takes the deal anyway, then lies to persuade him to head west. With the help of her online-only best friend and an unusual guy she pairs up with along the way, Ellie makes a plan to stage his comeback. But when her lie is exposed, she’ll have to confront her illness and her choices head-on to save her father—and herself.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link, where if you choose to purchase via the link DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 301

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio or Google Play and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 301: Dismantling the Stigma of Mental Illness – Interview with Jeff Garvin appeared first on DIY MFA.

Claire is a secondary school teacher who works with teenagers with mental health issues. She has had two adult horror novels (Predator X, Nine Eyes) published by Australian indie publisher, Severed Press. FUGLY is her first YA novel.

Claire lives with her husband, two daughters, a cat called Hiccup, and various dinosaurs. Her interests include drawing, baking, palaeontology, horror, and roleplaying.

In this episode Claire and I discuss:

• The very personal inspiration for Fugly
• The toxic love of cruelty online
• Writing a character that behaves in a problematic way
• Expectations for negative female characters verses male ones
• Bringing personal experience to a fictional character

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.

About Claire Waller

Claire Waller is a secondary school teacher who works with teenagers with mental health issues. She has had two adult horror novels (Predator X, Nine Eyes) published by Australian indie publisher, Severed Press. FUGLY is her first YA novel.

Claire lives with her husband, two daughters, a cat called Hiccup, and various dinosaurs. Her interests include drawing, baking, palaeontology, horror, and roleplaying. Connect with her on Twitter. 

Fugly

A wrenchingly honest, thought-provoking exploration of a girl judged and dismissed by society who must break the cycle of shaming that traps her in her real life and comforts her in her online one.

In real life, eighteen-year-old Beth is overweight, shy, and geeky. She’s been bullied all her life, and her only refuge is food. Online, though, she’s a vicious troll who targets the beautiful, vain, oversharing It Girls of the internet. When she meets Tori, a fellow troll, she becomes her online girlfriend-slash-partner-in-crime.

But then Tori picks a target who’s a little too close to home for Beth. Unsettled, Beth decides to quit their online bullying partnership. The only problem is, Tori is not willing to let her go.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link, where if you choose to purchase via the link DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 295

(Right-click to download.)

If you liked this episode…

Head over to iTunes, Stitcher Radio or Google Play and subscribe so you’ll be first to know when new episodes are available.

Also, remember that sharing is caring so if you know anyone who might enjoy this podcast, please tell them about it or leave us a review so other listeners will want to check it out.

Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

The post Episode 295: Writing an Unlikable but Sympathetic Protagonist — Interview with Claire Waller appeared first on DIY MFA.