What is YA Lit?

What is YA Lit?

I have been thinking about this question a lot lately. Is YA Lit the books being written for Young Adults/Teens as designated by the publishers and authors? Is YA Lit any book that a Teen or Young Adult reads? Or is it some combination of the two? Or is it something totally else entirely?

Who defines what YA Lit is?

Wikiepdia

Young-adult fiction or young adult literature (often termed as "YA"), also juvenile fiction, is fiction written, published, or marketed to adolescents and young adults, although recent studies show that 55% of young-adult fiction is purchased by readers over 18 years of age. The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) of the American Library Association (ALA) defines a young adult as someone between the ages of twelve and eighteen. Authors and readers of young adult (YA) novels often define the genre as literature as traditionally written for ages ranging from sixteen years up to the age of twenty-five, while Teen Fiction is written for the ages of ten and to fifteen. The terms young-adult novel, juvenile novel, young-adult book, etc. refer to the works in the YA category.

Merriam-Websters, Oxford Dictionary, American Heritage Dictionary 

They don't define it.

Those that have been reading this blog might know I work at a public library and I am the Teen/YA Librarian. I see just as many teens as I do adults checking out books from the YA section as I see teens just as many teens checking out adult books.

There is no rating system yet for books like there for movies, TV shows, and video games. Though I will not lie; I am waiting for this to happen. But then again they tried this with comic books and it worked for a while with the Comics Code and then the publishers decided to start policing themselves and rating stuff. We see the ratings on manga.

Sorry I am straying from my point as to what really is YA Literature? Is it something created by the publishers just to sell books? Or is it a guide of books which would be appropriate for those ages to read. I know when I was kid/teen there was no YA Lit. There was kids’ book and adult books. So I delved into the world of sci-fi/fantasy literature like Tolkein and Weiss and Hickman. I read the Star Wars books that were out there and all the comic books I could get my hands on. There was also the Doctor Who novelizations; how could I forget about Doctor Who in all of this. But none of these would be consider YA Literature.

I think the topic of what is YA Literature is an interesting one. I believe, and it is just my opinion, that there are many YA Lit books that far more superior in craft and writing style than Main Stream Literature and New York Best Selling Fiction. There is a lot more freedom in writing YA Lit. There is mixed genera. There is even a mix of age groups in the protagonists; though I will admit they are younger; teen like in age.

But in the aspects of my library’s YA section I have Frank Herbert’s Dune; the Weiss and Hickman Dragonlance books, Robert Jordan’s the Wheel of Time, Doctor Who, Star Wars, etc.

I also have Lemony Snickett, Tom Angleberger, Rick Riordan, and Eoin Colfer all who some would say could be too young for the section.

Then I have everything they consider “YA Literature.”

But look at the authors who are writing it; everyone is getting in the game look at Patterson, Grisham, and  Reichs. When is Nicholas Sparks going to write one?

So what is YA Lit?

How is it really defined?

Age of the Readers?

Age of the Characters in the book?

Setting?

Demographic?

Subject matter?

Content?

The authors who write?

What is YA Lit?

What really defines it?

Is it all based on a matter of perspective?

Or does all of this define what YA Lit? Is it a living organism which will change with the times and the readership?

I don’t know.

Though I am curious to see how you define YA Lit, so please feel free to share your thoughts and feelings about YA Lit.

Davey

The Importance of Diversity in Your Beta Readers/CPs

Most of the CP/Beta feedback I received on my first novel was from white, twenty to thirty something dudes. Like me. The responses I got were somewhere along the lines of:

"This rocks!"

"Awesome."

"I love his voice!"

I was riding high. I had knocked it out of the park. Then I met a female CP who was digging it, too--until the third chapter. At that point, she said my MC was a jerk who seemed to just want to use women.

I laughed to myself.

I figured she just didn't "get it". She didn't understand how young guys thought. And she was just one voice crying foul from the dark.

Then an agent said the same thing, almost verbatim, that she enjoyed it until the same point in the story and then just saw my MC as a player douche.

Well, dang.

And after casting eyes across the pages once more--they were right.

Thankfully, the agent said she would look at it again if I fixed her area of concern. I crawled back to my female CP on hands and knees and asked her to look at my revision that focused on making the star of my book less of a tool.

She loved the revision.

Good! Great! Grand! Everybody on the bus!

But I wasn't finished. I met a self-declared feminist on Twitter and asked if she would look at it. She also brought in one of her CPs, who was not only a feminist but also a woman of color. They gave me great notes and thankfully my revision had hacked away any flagrant douchebaggery that had weighed my MC down without changing the story.

The point of this little learning experience is to do your best to have CPs from a wide range of characteristics and view points. It's the only way to really have your manuscript run the gambit and test its metal. Welcoming diversity in your beta readers means you'll have the perspective of individuals who are not like you. You don't have to agree with every critique they give but it'll give you a better idea of the different types of people who will walk the aisles of a bookstore where your tome may sit. And the whole point is to get those pedestrians to pick your baby up and head to the cash register, right? Right?


Sean

BURN ME!

We all know our readers like to read up into different genres so today I would like to introduce my interviewee of choice - Shelley Watters with her NA novel BURN ME!  Caveat:  BURN ME is best suited to our older readers, as it does have some more adult content.

Let's find out what Shelley had to say about the questions I asked her on BURN ME and on writing itself!

1)      Tell us about BURN ME – what was your inspiration?  What gave you the burning desire to write this story down? 

Honestly, BURN ME all started as a crazy Nanowrimo project. I’ve always been a HUGE fan of firefighters, and besides, what girl doesn’t have a firefighter fantasy?  I’ve always written YA, and mostly fantasy/paranormal type at that, so I wanted to give contemporary romance a try. It started as a whole long slew of sex scenes strung together, but after finishing Nanowrimo, I realized just how much I was in love with my characters and that I wanted to explore their story more in-depth. The result? BURN ME!

2)      If you had to pick a favorite character from your book – who would it be and why?

Greyson Neal, hands down. He’s the quintessential firefighter every girl dreams about. Well, at least this girl. He’s the perfect alpha male, in my opinion. I love how strong and sexy he is, but most of all I love how he loves Kat. I love a hero that makes my stomach clench when I think about him, and Greyson does that for me! 

3)      What do you think makes BURN ME different from other books in its genre?

BURN ME is a dark, intense, emotional ride. The mystery and suspense I weaved in with the romantic plot, hopefully, makes it stand out amongst the other contemporary romances out there. A lot of contemporary romances tend to only explore the relationship between the two main characters. I wanted to explore who my characters were, apart from how they interacted with each other. I wanted to explore their world and their career. And I really wanted to explore how far I could push them, how much I could torture them, to see if they were strong enough to pull through it all.

4)      Will we see Katrina and Greyson in a sequel book?

While Kat and Greyson’s story is complete in BURN ME, you will see some cameo appearances in CUFF ME, the intended companion/sequel book to BURN ME. I don’t want to give away the plot of CUFF ME or the ending to BURN ME, but I’ll just say that I do intend to give readers little glimpses of Kat and Greyson in future books. 

5)      You hit upon the theme of grief – did you find that challenging to write?

I don’t really think BURN ME has the theme of grief, but it is one of the catalysts that make my characters the people they are at the start of the book, and ultimately at the end as well and how they changed throughout the story. But yes, the grief was challenging to write. I wanted to stay true to my characters and how they were changed as a result of that grief, resulting in having to consider myself and my reactions to a certain situation. There were definitely a lot of tears shed while writing BURN ME. And in reality, firefighters deal with grief and loss every day, be it their own, or working with victims who have just lost someone, or holding someone’s hand during their last moments. They have to deal with this on a daily basis. So I felt I had the duty to include that part of their lives when writing about them. 

6)      If you couldn't be an author, which career would you choose?

I did it for five years before quitting to be a stay at home mom and pursue my love of the written word: an epidemiologist. I love the data crunching and exploring trends, finding ways to best serve our communities health needs. Yeah, I’m a geek.

7)      BURN ME is termed as a New Adult book, which is a genre commonly read by Young Adults as well as New Adults.  What do you think both target readers can get from your book?

I should throw out there that BURN ME has explicit sex, language and violence. That’s part of the beauty of the NA market – we can explore more in depth things that might be shied away from in the young adult market. This book is definitely NOT about or written for teens, and doesn’t shy away from showing life how it is. I hesitate to say that teens should read my book, for that very reason.

That said, I was reading regency and historical romances when I was thirteen years old and loved them. I didn’t have a problem reading the graphic scenes, and I don’t think my emotional health was damaged by reading those scenes, but with that said, I’d put a “Reader be advised” stamp on my book when younger audiences are considering reading it. 

Readers who are prepared for and can handle the graphicness in a novel will enjoy the mystery and suspense and honesty when it comes to my presentation of the characters and their struggles. Oh, and of course the romance… ;)

8)      What advice would you give to young writers?

Write. Every. Day. That’s the biggest piece of advice. Keep writing. Don’t give up, don’t let the critics tell you that you can’t do it. Read voraciously. The best way to learn to write well is to read, read, read. Know that publishing is a slow industry, and a tough industry. Everyone faces rejection at various parts of the process, and understanding that going in can help keep the process from being devastating. EVERYONE gets rejections, it’s all part of the game.

Oh, and knowing that creative writing is such a subjective industry. Everyone has critics, not everyone is going to love your work. Write for YOU. Write what YOU want to write, not what you think readers want. 

9)      What advice would you give to writers writing for the NA or YA demographic?

Like I said for the previous question, read voraciously in the genre (and age group) you want to write for. That’s the best way to find out exactly how to handle certain situations. Again, consider your audience when you’re writing – make sure your dialog rings true to the teens of today, not how you talked when you were a teen (because that’d be historical YA! Ha!). Above all, respect your audience!  

10)  Last of all – what was the hardest part of writing BURN ME, and what was the easiest?

Hardest part: blending technical accuracy of the firefighting scenes with a narrative voice that doesn’t alienate my readers.

Easiest part: the sex scenes. I loved writing the sex scenes during Nanowrimo, when I turned my inner editor off and just let the words fall out on the page, without worrying about censors and what others would think about what I wrote.

Thanks so much for having me! 

Thank you for being here, Shelley!  I'm a big fan of showing readers books that aren't necessarily strictly in their "genre", because I think it's safer for readers to experience more challenging topics and issues within the confines of a great book that handles them with respect.  As Shelley said, BURN ME is a more adult content book, but I would say that older teens with overly curious minds would be better served learning these topics in a book like BURN ME than somewhere else!!!

Burn Me by Shelley Watters
 

When Katrina Hale's brother dies in a house fire, she's determined to prove she's stronger than everyone thinks she is. But grief can do strange things to a person and Katrina knows all too well how the death of a loved one can change a person. As the romance in her current relationship fizzles, she focuses on her work and fights the undeniable attraction she has for Greyson Neal.

Firefighter Greyson Neal is the type of guy girls dream about. But Greyson isn't interested in other girls. He wants the one woman he can never have: Katrina. As the two struggle with their feelings, Kat must choose between her career and her heart, and fight to keep them both when an arsonist threatens to take it all away.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20526279-burn-me?from_search=true

Shelley Watters

Shelley Watters grew up in Tucson, Arizona and currently resides Chandler, Arizona. She graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelor’s in Sociology with a focus on Women’s Health Issues and continued on to get a Master’s certificate in Public Health Epidemiology. After serving many wonderful years in the public health sector as an Epidemiologist, she left the field to raise her family and re-discovered a long-lost passion: writing. While her days are filled with extra-curricular activities, her nights are devoted to slinging words across the page. Her novels sizzle with the heat and passion that only growing up in the southwest can bring.

AUTHOR LINKS

Shelley Watters on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7761980.Shelley_Watters

Shelley Watters on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Shelley_Watters

Shelley Watters’ blog: http://www.shelleywatters.com/

 

Agentopia: Laura Zats

Welcome to the May edition of Agentopia! For more information and to see other Agentopia posts, click here.

This month Laura Zats from Red Sofa Literary is in the spotlight.

Laura Zats graduated from Grinnell College with degrees in English and anthropology. While completing her studies, she took advantage of her love of Young Adult (YA) literature and wrote a thesis on identity formation in YA. She’s been working as an editor since 2011 and has held positions at companies in both the US and the UK. In 2013, Laura joined Team Red Sofa as an intern but quickly became more of an apprentice, leveling up to Associate Agent in the same year.

Even though she loved YA books first, titles that are Middle Grade, romance, and Sci-fi/Fantasy have been slowly taking hold. Picking a favorite genre now would be like choosing between puppies and kittens. In her free time, Laura likes to craft, swing dance, bake, and binge on Netflix marathons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Doctor Who.

Sub Guidelines: Email a query letter to laura@redsofaliterary.com titled "Query: BOOK TITLE"

Representative categories: 

· Romance of all kinds, but I prefer a higher heat level and feminist ideals.
· Young Adult and Middle Grade– Fiction, especially contemporary. I'm a huge fan of quirky or dark and gritty titles. Must have an exceptional and unique voice.
· Contemporary Women’s Fiction, particularly stories with humor.
· Science Fiction/Fantasy especially with diverse casts/new world views. Please no straight sword and sorcery.
· Erotica
· New Adult

1. What are you looking for in YA submissions right now?

I'm always looking for something that pushes the envelope and is incredibly engaging. Whether it explores a niche (like comic book fangirls), or dark, tough subject matter, I'm looking for a book that stays with me, and is written well enough to convert adult readers to the YA category. I welcome diversity in all forms, and crossovers do exceptionally well with me. For example, I'm not interested in straight YA romance, but if there's a romance as well as an investigation or some other big, tension-causing things, I love it. 

2. What's an immediate turn-off in a query, something guaranteed to get the author rejected?

There's nothing I hate more than when an author tries to sell me their book rather than letting their story engage me by itself. If you talk about why I should like the book, rather than sending me some intriguing copy that conveys the content and tone of that book, I'll send a form rejection in under 30 seconds. I don't want to be sold a product, I want to fall in love with the people you've created. Leave the selling to me. It's my job, after all! Also, it's a huge pet peeve of mine when someone starts off a query with a rhetorical question, or tells me to imagine a particular scene or set of circumstances. I automatically imagine situations and ask critical questions as a reader. You're wasting space by setting the scene when you could jump right in!

3. What's the story got to have to make you want to represent it?

My agency runs on the boutique model, which means that we represent books we love, rather than books we know we can sell quickly and get a big deal out of. Therefore, I'm okay with repping books that fill smaller niches, but your book needs to belong somewhere. That is, we need to be able to identify its audience. Additionally, I just need to love it. I fall in love when I connect with the characters and stay interested all the way through. Usually I'll finish a book and let it sit in my email for a few weeks. If I'm still thinking about it a few weeks later, I know I have to have it. However, I'm not afraid of turning down something I love if the author is difficult and isn't willing to work with me on edits or proposal materials. I'm looking to build long-lasting relationships, and no content will get me to sign on to a potentially volatile author. 

The Novel Plan: A Recap

For the past few months, I've been sharing the process I use to plan my novels. The tips and techniques aren't earth-shatteringly new, but my goal has been to present these ideas in a way that might give you the same "aha!" moment they gave me.

Most of these methods I'm sharing I learned through a great novel planning course I attended a couple of years ago. It was the way in which these concepts were presented that finally clicked for me. All the pieces came together in a way that made sense and, even more importantly, made sense in a way I knew I could follow. It was logical, and I'm a logic kinda gal.

I promised that this month would bring this series to the point at which all the individual pieces finally merged into one: the beat sheet. The beat sheet is the final tool I create before starting to actually write.

Unfortunately, as with even the most perfect novel plan, sometimes wrenches fly at you from all sides. For every post I've done in this series, I've gone into extreme detail, and I want to do the same when I discuss the beat sheet.

In the midst of a tight deadline for writing the sequel to BECOMING JINN, I received my copy edits for book one, which means we are getting close to being done. Yay! Cover, ARCs, all to come--and soon!

Exciting, but the reality is a very short (and I mean four days) time to review the copy edits. I need to accept that this particular wrench has been tossed my way and ask for your patience in revealing that final novel planning tool of the beat sheet. I can't do it justice at the moment.

However, perhaps you are new to this novel series I've been writing or you don't quite remember what I started with last fall. What better way to pass the time until next month than by reviewing all I've presented so far?

Here are the links to all the pieces of how to plan your novel we've covered up until now. Review and we'll all be ready for that ultimate tool--the beat sheet--next time!

Step 1: The importance of writing exercises

Step 2: Understanding inside and outside story and making sure you have both

Step 3: Creating real characters that have "a wound and a want"

Step 4: How to effectively use setting

Step 5: The essence of structure

Step 6: Merging structure and the free-write synopsis

Whew, I think that'll keep us all busy until next month!

Lori Goldstein is the author of Becoming Jinn (Feiwel and Friends/Macmillan, Spring 2015, sequel, Spring 2016). With a degree in journalism and more than 10 years of experience, Lori is a freelance copyeditor and manuscript consultant for all genres. She focuses on the nitty-gritty, letting writers focus on the writing.

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Big Fat Phony

So I've been writing for almost five years and in that time I've drafted over ten novels, a couple novellas, and some short stories. Four of my novels will NEVER see the light of day. NEVER.

In the beginning (when I didn't know any better) I thought I was the shit. Seriously. I was so proud of everything I wrote. I guess it's sort of like a kid mastering riding a bicycle by herself. I wanted everyone to look and cheer for me.

As time when on, I realized I really sucked. Like, sucking donkey balls kind of sucked. I didn't want anybody to see what I wrote. I wanted to quit. But somehow I forged on. Then I got a publishing deal. Then two. Then three. Then four and five.

So exciting!

But even after seeing four books, two novellas, and three short stories hit the virtual shelves, I still feel like a Big Fat Phony.

Frequently, I wonder why.

Is it because I'm falling for the stigma that small press books are substandard (when they're not)? Is it because I always feel like the underdog and that's a personal battle I need to overcome (probably so)? Is it because I haven't hit the best sellers list (really, I never thought I would anyway, so why am I flaking over that)? Is it because I still see that agent's feedback that I'll never get published and no one would ever want to touch my books floating in the back of my mind (yep, I still think about that way too often)?

I'm NOT writing this post to garner sympathy from you guys, but I AM writing it because I know I'm not the only writer/author/artist/creative type who's felt this way. Seriously, how many memes have you seen highlighting the low self-esteem of artists and how that means they're the REAL ARTISTS?

Why can't we believe in ourselves? Is it an attempt to avoid the dreaded Swollen Head Syndrome, lest we become blind to our own faults and lose the ability to accept feedback and hone our skills? Is it because the idea of sharing our work is TERRIFYING? Is it because we fear that someone will just rip our book/novel/short story apart, thereby figuratively murdering our creative self? Is it because non-best seller books or poorly selling books means failure?

I'm sure it's a bit of all of those things.

Honestly, all these fears and self-doubts are enough to crush anyone, sort of like when people keep walking on new shoots of grass--being constantly tread on will stifle growth and eventually kill you.

Yet grass grows, despite the odds. And so, too, do writers and authors.

I think it's because of the following attributes that all writers seem to have: Inspiration, hope, persistence, striving to improve skills, and, yes, that pesky trait of positive thinking.

I find that amazing.

I find that surprising that I'm a part of that group. I guess that means I'm a real writer and not a phony after all.

I don't know if any of this will strike a cord with anyone, but I hope it does.

Thanks for reading.

******

Laura Diamond is a board certified psychiatrist and author of all things young adult paranormal, dystopian, and horror. She’s a lucid dreamer, meaning she can direct her dreams while they’re happening. When she’s awake, she pens stories from her dreams and shares them with her readers. Laura has many published titles including the Pride Series (New Pride, Shifting Pride, and Tsavo Pride), the Endure Series (Endure and Evoke), The Zodiac Collector, a novella Sunset Moon in the Lore anthology, and several shorts stories. When she’s not writing, she is working at the hospital, blogging at Author Laura Diamond--Lucid Dreamer, and renovating her 225+ year old fixer-upper mansion.

If you’re interested in reading more about me, or interacting with me on the web check out the following links:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DiamondLB

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLauraDiamond

Author Laura Diamond: www.authorlauradiamond.com

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5815639.Laura_Diamond

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Laura-Diamond/e/B009Y7L432/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1377733776&sr=8-1

Blog: http://lbdiamond.wordpress.com/

Hope to “see” you soon!