Guest Post by Author Natasha Deen
A while back, Twitter had asked writers to weigh in about what non-writers say to them. There were the usual things writers hear, “Are you famous?” and “Is your book on Oprah’s Book List?” to “Oh, genre fiction, huh? I prefer literary novels,” and its
The one that caught my eye was the tweets from children and teen authors that shared a similar theme, “Oh, you’re a children’s writer. When will you write a real book?”
Leaving aside the not-so-veiled insult to kids, the writer, or the oversight that adults are adult readers because some book or author ignited their love of stories when they were children, I wonder if perhaps the comment comes from a misunderstanding of the intricacies of writing for a younger audience.
Writing for adults assumes the reader has a certain level of reading comprehension and vocabulary. Not so with the under-eighteens. Writing for kids divides into many subsets—the ones learning to read, early readers, middle-grade, tween, teen, older teen. But even with these categories, authors have to be aware of other factors.
Just because you’re writing for a thirteen-year-old doesn’t mean you’re writing for every thirteen-year-old who enjoys the particular genre of your story. If you’re writing for kids and teens, you need to know if your story’s reader is reading at grade level, above, or below it.
When it comes to writing for the children and teens, there are a few things to consider.
- Respect your reader: Just because they’re younger doesn’t mean they’re emotionally unsophisticated or incapable of embracing big ideas.
- The age of your reader: Generally speaking, the younger your audience, the less gory/graphic the violence. Ditto with romance.
- Speaking of violence…be aware of the use of guns. It’s not taboo or forbidden, but be aware of it.
- The plotline: If you’re writing for a teen who is learning English or who is considered a reluctant reader, then ease up on the subplots and try to stay (as much as you can) with a linear plot line.
- Simple Doesn’t Mean Boring: Just because the story is simply told, with a linear format and a cozy cast of characters, doesn’t mean it has to be boring. After all, a roller-coaster is a “simple” ride of up and down, and around and around, but it’s still a wild ride. 🙂
- Reading Up. As kids, we “read up,” meaning a nine-year-old will be more inclined to read about a twelve-year-old and less inclined to read about a six-year-old. It’s why most YA feature characters who are between sixteen and eighteen-years-old.
- Perfectly Imperfect. It’s okay to make your character slightly off-kilter and kind-of-unlikeable. None of us is perfect, right?
- A rose by any other name…When it comes to naming your characters, bear in mind that complex or hard to pronounce names can be wildly frustrating. Also, consider the sounds of letters. In Thicker than Water, I originally had my main character’s name spelled
Z-A-C-H, because that’s how I’d always seen it spelled. Thank goodness for my editor, who suggested Z-A-C-K, because “ch” could be a hard “k” sound but it could also be the “ch” sound in choo-choo. Could I have stuck with the original spelling? Sure, but do I want my reader’s experience with my books to be as smooth and fun as possible? Definitely. - Let them solve the problem: Something else to keep in mind is that the main character has to solve the problems themselves. Don’t have adults swooping in to make everything better.
- Speaking of adults… it’s tempting to use the book platform to “teach” or “caution.” Please don’t. Just as we could smell a thinly-veiled lecture when we were young, so can today’s teen.
- Embrace the fantasy of autonomy. In real life, kids and teens have adults constantly watching over them. As “unrealistic” as it can seem in YA to have the adults playing a minimal role, it’s freeing for your readers.
- Respect your reader. Yes, I know I said it already, but it bears repeating. Respect your audience.
Having said all of this, these suggestions are general guidelines and subjective. At the end of the day, it’s important for writers to do what is best for their work. Writers know themselves, their voice, and their story, and it’s important to stay true to those things.
About Natasha Deen
Award-winning author NATASHA DEEN writes for kids, teens, and adults, and she believes the world is changed one story at a time. When she’s not writing, Natasha enjoys visiting schools, libraries, and other organizations to help people to find and tell the stories that live inside of them.
She also spends an inordinate amount of time trying to convince her pets that she’s the boss of the house. Her latest novel, In the Key of Nira Ghani, is a Junior Library Guild selection, and a Barnes and Noble Top 25 Most Anticipated Own Voices novel, and an Indigo Teens Most Anticipated Teen Book.
Visit Natasha at www.natashadeen.com and follow her on Twitter and Instagram.