Why YA? Five Reasons to Write Young Adult Fiction
2 minutes read
Penny Joelson, tutor for Faber Academy’s Writing YA course, shares her top five reasons why you should write for young adults.
Freedom to experiment
You can have so much fun with YA! Books for teenagers/young adults often address big issues in new and experimental ways.
The heightened emotions of teenagers
Navigating the teen years is such an emotional, one-of-a-kind experience. There are so many ‘firsts’ on the way to independence, so many things to learn, so many mistakes to be made along the way.
We were all teenagers once!
If you can connect with the memory of your first love, first break-up, most embarrassing moment as a teenager, or any memories from your teens, then you can write YA! The emotions are the same, even if today’s experiences are different. And if you want to set your story in the 70s or 80s, that is fine. For young adults, it counts as historical!
Accessible to write and to read
Teenagers are less interested in complex literary styles and more focused on story and character. Many YA books (though not all) are written from a first-person perspective. The language is easier to write and to read.
Take your pick of genres!
YA includes all genres – realism, fantasy, romance, romantasy, humour, horror, dystopian, thriller, sci-fi etc. You can also mix and match genres.
Why sign up for Writing YA with Faber Academy?
This course, taught by a multi-award-winning YA author, is a wonderful mixture of writing tasks to do in your own time, along with two one-to-ones, two workshops and two whole class meetings on Zoom. Timings are arranged according to availability so don’t worry if you are in a different time zone.
The course is suitable for all, whether you are a beginner, have done a writing course before and are looking for next steps, or are an experienced author who wants to branch into YA. You will get support, encouragement and constructive feedback to help you find your way with your writing.
Writing YA is an invigorating introduction to writing fiction for teenagers and young adults that will give you the skills – and inspiration – to get your YA novel started.
This online course will equip you with knowledge of genres and themes for YA, and give you skills and techniques to go from idea generating to plotting, developing interesting, relatable characters and strong, engaging dialogue along the way. You will build confidence in your writing, finishing the course with an opening chapter or more that will grab the reader’s attention.
Find out more about the course here.
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