These are the three most important elements in YA. You need to know your YA reader. Let me take a moment to say that YA is a hopelessly basic term that applies to a wide range of genres horror, fantasy, dystopia, romance, mystery, etc. And, lucky you, you get to define both the genre of your story and the age group of your target audience.

In this post, learn how to write a young adult novel from beginning to end, including 4 approaches for the first chapter of your novel, how to write for teens without sounding like an adult writing for teens, tips on writing pitch perfect YA characters, how to write a young adult crossover novel, and more. On a basic level, young adult or YA novels are aimed at readers aged 13 to But as many people already know, adults read YA novels too. The 90,word "sweet spot" for adult novels is generally shortened to a 75,word or shorter "sweet spot. Click here to learn the key differences between middle grade and young adult novels. While a great opening will not guarantee a successful novel, a bad opening will usually guarantee a failed novel.

Young adult is perhaps the fastest-growing category of new fiction today. Indeed, more authors are writing young adult fiction than ever before! That's why, if you're hoping to create something that will stay with readers forever, writing YA is a great way to do it. In this post, she shares her top tips for how to write a young adult novel that readers won't forget. Before Kate takes it away, let's quickly go over what YA fiction is and why it appeals to so many readers.

By Deborah Halverson, M. The elements of storytelling are the same for young adult fiction and adult fiction, but writers of young adult fiction must come at those elements with a wholly different mindset. After all, this category has its own rules, its own quirks, and its own very opinionated audience: teens and tweens. The shift from tween to teen begins around age 12, and standard age ranges reflect that. Narrative voice — what your narrator says and how he says it — is a defining feature of young adult fiction.