Comments on: Writing Totally On Fleek YA

By: Debbi Cracovia

Debbi Cracovia — Tue, 11 Jul 2017 00:34:14 +0000

OMG! I love the article, you’re my new BFF and BTW that might, like, change tomorrow ’cause, like, I have so many GFs.
GTGFN bu-bye

I have a thirteen-year-old, can you tell?
Please add my name to the pile.
TY

By: Writing Links 7/10/17 – Where Genres Collide

Writing Links 7/10/17 – Where Genres Collide — Mon, 10 Jul 2017 11:05:30 +0000

[…] https://authorkristenlamb.com/2017/07/writing-totally-on-fleek-ya/ Don’t dumb things down! […]

By: Iola

Iola — Mon, 10 Jul 2017 07:55:22 +0000

There are 10 comments, and no freshman photo. Just saying …

I opened this to find out what fleek means, and no joy. Or will you cover that next time?

By: Christy Goerzen

Christy Goerzen — Mon, 10 Jul 2017 05:46:25 +0000

I love this post, and all of your courses sound amazing! I found your site via an FB writing group I’m part of, and I’m so glad I did! I’ll be following you now, for sure.

By: Miffie Seideman

Miffie Seideman — Fri, 07 Jul 2017 01:53:39 +0000

OMG! The timing on learning to talk all feek couldn’t be better (and this is a good example of why).

By: Hannah Stahlhut

Hannah Stahlhut — Thu, 06 Jul 2017 19:52:53 +0000

Thanks for a great article, Cait! I am thinking of re-reading my novels I wrote in high school to get back into the YA voice.
We’ll see how it goes…. *cringes*

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 06 Jul 2017 14:44:46 +0000

In reply to Chris.

I’d forgotten the books where the young character has been forced or has chosen to be away from school and parents. From Huckleberry Finn, through W. H. Canaway’s ‘Sammy Going South’, to the brilliant ‘Heart of the Ocean’ by Jean Taylor, which I had the privilege to edit (She’s published by my own publisher, who I also do some editing for.) https://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/B012H0C1MU/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_show_all?k=Heart+of+the+Ocean&showViewpoints=1&reviewerType=all_reviews&pageNumber=1

I’m sure there are other books about runaways and refugees… or castaways like in Golding’s ‘Lord of the Flies’. The possibilities for ditching the realities of home and school life are endless really, if that’s what you want.

By: Deborah Makarios

Deborah Makarios — Wed, 05 Jul 2017 23:11:20 +0000

The situation can be different for YAs in fantasy worlds. On the other hand, my teenage MC still has to deal with an overbearing parent-figure, boring lessons when she'd rather be doing something that matters, and the frustration of being treated like a kid when she feels like an adult.

By: Alice Fleury

Alice Fleury — Wed, 05 Jul 2017 15:40:55 +0000

Loved your post. I am writing YA. Never thought to return to yearbook or keepsakes in my cedar chest. Bits of memories popped up while i read. A child of the 60’s, i wrote poems about Viet Nam war civil rights,and women’s lib. Teens must be passionate in today’s political society too. Put some Motown on that victrola and feel the pain.

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 05 Jul 2017 14:08:46 +0000

An interesting piece, Cait. I’m glad I don’t write deliberately YA books (though I know teens have read and enjoyed mine). My books are decidedly adult in language and themes.

The comment from one of your beta readers about school attendance made me realise something. In my school years, back in the sixties, books aimed at school age readers fell into two groups.

Group one – There were those that were adventures based on thrills and spills, like war stories (Biggles etc.), Sci-Fi and space stories, historical conflicts and similar (think Robin Hood etc.), or sporting adventures (This is from a male perspective).

The characters were mainly adults, even if the writing was geared towards a younger reader in terms of graphic violence, sex, and other matters.

Group two – The other books were about school aged characters, and as such fell into two separate camps; school stories, and what I’ll call ‘out of school’ stories.

School stories, for both sexes, were about school life… often set in boarding schools to get rid of parental influence and provide a little bit of ‘different world’ for most of us who lived at home with Mum and Dad. The characters’ day to day problems and activities were mixed with capers and scrapes, dilemmas and ambitions, rivalries and bonding, to produce plots that entertained young minds. Examples of this are Buckeridge’s ‘Jennings’ stories, or the number of girls’ school series that were around.

‘Out of school’ stories usually took place during the summer holidays (occasionally during the Christmas break) with groups of kids away from home having adventures while camping, boating, or just hanging out in their free time. Series like Enid Blyton’s ‘Famous Five’ and ‘Secret Seven’ books, or Ransome’s ‘Swallows and Amazons’ epitomise these kinds of stories.

There was a sub genre to all these groups and sub groups; the detective or police story. These would be either mysteries or action based (like their adult market equivalents) and fitted more into group one, or they involved youngsters as characters ‘showing the police how it’s done’, often within the plots of the school story or out of school story.