EXCERPT from "Ten Ways to Lose Your YA Reader" by Patrice Lyle in Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction
The young adult (YA) fiction market is totally hot. What’s even hotter is actually writing the stories that captivate teen readers’ hearts. The ones that keep them up past their bedtimes to finish reading. The ones they text their friends about during class when they’re supposed to be learning something constructive. The ones they can’t wait to spend their allowance on.
Writing for the teen audience is in many ways similar to writing for adults. Great pacing, strong characterization, vivid world building and a clever plot. Sure these are all essential. But there are more ways to lose young readers than adults. Here are the main ten.
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Patrice Lyle grew up in Astoria, Oregon, where she watched several movies being filmed in her neighborhood; such as The Goonies, Free Willy and Kindergarten Cop. Seeing these stories “come to life” at a young age instilled in her a great love of story telling. When she was nineteen, she embarked upon a European adventure to work as a nanny in Amsterdam with her sister; a trip that ended up being the greatest story of all. She returned home and eventually earned an MA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University and a graduate degree in Holistic Nutrition from Clayton College of Natural Health. She now lives near Baltimore with her husband and three cats, where she divides her time between her two passions in life: helping people get healthy and writing paranormal novels. Her YA paranormal novel, LETHALLY BLONDE, will be available in 2012 from Leap Books. Please visit www.patricebooks.com.
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