5 tips for writing YA fiction
BY Tasha Harrison
30th May 2023
Tasha Harrison studied on our three-month online Writing YA & Children’s Fiction course in 2016. She is the author of the middle grade comedy Clementine Florentine and her YA novel The Thing About Lemons is out 1 June. Tasha also provides editor feedback to students of our six-week online Writing YA & Middle Grade Fiction course. Here she shares her insights on how to write engaging stories that teens will want to read.
People often assume that writing for children or teenagers is easier than writing for adults, but in many ways it’s harder. You take your adult vocabulary for granted – until you can’t use it as freely. You take your adult mindset for granted – until you realise you’ve got to think like a teenager. You take your experience and views for granted, until you realise that today’s teenagers are growing up in a different world to the one you grew up in and often have different views to the ones your teenage self might have had or your current self has! And then comes the responsibility of not misrepresenting them, preaching to them or inadvertently causing them harm.
Those challenges aside, writing for teenagers can be an enriching experience on so many levels – not least because we get to revisit our teenage selves, acknowledge what we went through and how far we’ve come, but it also gives us the opportunity to put ourselves in the shoes of today’s teenagers, to view the world through their lens and to learn a thing or two from them.
Here are a few tips to keep in mind when writing for teenagers.
1. Listen to how teenagers speak
Teens express themselves differently to adults – their vocabularies generally aren’t as sophisticated or verbose as adults. Which might sound obvious, but it’s easy to let your adult voice creep unwittingly into your protagonist’s voice – not just in dialogue but in general narration. So when you’re reading back through what you’ve written, watch out for random words and expressions the average teenager is unlikely to use – bearing in mind there’s a fair difference between what a 13 year old would say and what an 18 year old would say. At the same time, don’t go too far in the opposite direction using all the latest slang, as slang can date pretty quickly!
2. Read recently published YA fiction
If the last time you read a book for teenagers was back when you were a teenager, then you’ve got a bit of catching up to do! The world has changed since then – as have children’s and YA books. Make time to read books by YA authors you’ve never heard of, from all different walks of life and diverse communities. Read as widely as you can and watch recent teen movies and TV dramas too. If it’s something you wouldn’t normally read or watch, all the more reason to read or watch it.
3. Make your teen protagonist relatable
Your main character needs to have some flaws – flaws that create problems for them, for example; being over-confident, self-defeating, too laid back or too controlling. In my YA romcom, The Thing About Lemons, the story kicks off with protagonist Ori kissing her best friend’s boyfriend. This mistake causes her a lot of pain and disruption – as well as setting on her on a course where she learns some valuable life lessons. Which brings me onto my next tip…
4. Allow your protagonist to change
At the beginning of the story your protagonist’s flaws will be holding them back in some way. But as the story progresses, your character needs to change and grow. They need to step outside their comfort zone, and learn something about life and about themselves. They can’t be exactly the same person at the end of the story as they were at the beginning. Every time you read a book or watch a movie, observe how the protagonist gradually changes.
5. Be true to yourself
Read them and learn from them, but don’t try to be the new Angie Thomas or Simon James Green, just be you! It doesn’t matter if your plot isn’t the most original (mine aren’t), because the combination of your life experiences and your voice is unique. So be yourself and don’t worry what others will think. There’s a fair number of gross, cringey moments in both The Thing About Lemons (accidentally pooing on a plumber, eating a dog’s eye-gunk) and my middle grade comedy Clementine Florentine (a farting punk icon, a puking dog, a missing dead goldfish) all of which might not have ended up on the page if I hadn’t given myself permission to just be me!
Good luck with your writing – it’s a long, slow process, so don’t rush it, enjoy it!
Pre-order your copy of The Thing About Lemons now (out 1 June with UCLan Publishing)
Learn more about how to write imaginative, comeplling stories for young reader on our six-week online Writing YA & Middle Grade Fiction course.
If you're looking for a more advanced course, apply for our three-month online Writing YA & Children's Fiction course.
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