Cheryl Lynn gave me a gift certificate for Tidal Wave books in our writing group's Christmas gift exchange. (The perfect gift for me, thanks Cheryl!) In fact, the gift certificate was almost lost entirely as it nearly burned its way out of my pocket before I could make it to the bookstore.
Some of the books I bought were YA books. I also went to the library and checked out an armload of YA books with the help of my daughter Autumn and the fantastic children's section librarian, Jane. I've read several in the past, but felt I needed to read some more in this genre, particularly ones that have been very popular in recent years, as I am plotting out a Middle Grade or Young Adult book now. So I read 8 books popular with teens and tweens in the last 10 days.
Things I discovered by reading so many YA books all at once:
1) There must be sidekicks who are also kids in YA books. To be used as: *foils, *someone who represents
the hero's "conscience", *the 'other half' of the actual protagonist's soul, *to do the bad things the hero
can't do, etc.
2) Adult sidekicks are too weird to be useful.
3) There is less layering and far fewer subplots. (I already knew about the subplots.).
4) Things my writing group might chastise me for (in the spirit of good, helpful critique only) crop up in
amazing abundance in YA books. The number one thing that caught my eye, and which most of us would
criticize in a manuscript: children who seem to be too wise, too witty, too knowledgeable, or too cynical
for someone of that age group. The number two thing I see is...adverbs.
Any thoughts on that?
Sunday, January 2, 2011
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