Writing Young Adult Novels by Hadley Irwin & Jeannette Eyerly [Amazon|Barnes&Noble] was published in 1988 and is out of print, but it was surprisingly useful and interesting anyway.
Unlike the last YA writing book I picked up from the library, this one focused on topics specific to YA: how dialogue, setting, characterization, and plot are used in YA versus adult-focused novels. It also covered the importance of characters feeling real to the teenagers reading about them, and how children tend to “read up” in age.
The downsides are few, but they’re not small: the authors are dismissive of romance as a suitable genre for YA novels, and they focus on contemporary fiction. There’s no mention of fantasy, science fiction, or historicals as potential genres in which to write.
On the other hand, they do encourage writers to tackle difficult subject matter in their books: racism, pregnancy, self-discovery, homosexuality, etc. That’s a big change from the last YA writing book I read, which said, in essence, “If they want to read about that sort of thing, they should get it from adult books.”
If it were still in print, I’d recommend this book. As it is, I’m going to be looking for a more recent book about YA writing to read.
diannefox
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