Customer Reviews

Writing And Selling The Young Adult Novel

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I disagree with the other reviewer re: lack of YA info.
Yes, there was information on writing and selling a book, which is essential to writing and selling anything, especially as a beginner, but there was also a wealth of information on YA specific writing.

Plus the teen panel Q&A were directly from teens and the homework assignments were designed to give you a way to practice in the field.

In only 250 pages, this book covers:

General information on writing and the writing process
Specific past great YA novels for you to read and why
Teen's voices
Homework assignments meant to improve your YA writing skills
Information on the editing and agent process

So, if you want or are hoping to write in this field, this is the book to have at your side to learn from and to reference. You won't read it once and put it on the shelf, you'll refer to it again and again.

I think this is an excellent resource if you are a YA writer or thinking about writing YA. There are not many current YA writing books out there and the ones that do exist were too basic and generalized for me. The thing I took away the most from this book was the teen Q&A sections. They were so relevant that I ended up changing a major part of my YA WIP. I would have liked even more of these sections.

Some of the information in the book was basic (for example, instead of spending a lot of time on POV and other beginning writing topics, I would have liked to have known more about YA itself or seen more examples from YA novels). I also didn't care for the way the sections were broken down by school subjects (too gimmicky).

But it is very rare that I read a how-to writing book from cover to cover, and I did so with this book. Overall I really enjoyed it. (Way more so than The Idiot's Guide to Writing for Young Adults).

K.L Going's book is definitely useful--it sheds some light on the YA audience and industry, and acknowledges the pain and terror of writing. The book provides basic writing advice without getting bogged down with every element known to literature or writing.

Two complaints: First, throughout the book Going continually relies on "the Oxford English Dictionary defines 'theme' as....," or whatever the Important Word is. Constantly. Isn't that, umm, pretty rotten writing? Just thought a book about writing was sort of a bad place to use such cheap tricks.

Second, Going uses an obnoxiously labored metaphor of a school day to illustrate writing a book. It doesn't work, it's juvenile (our audience, perhaps, but not Going's), and adds absolutely nothing to the informative value of the book. It's just a gimick.

That said, not much is lost by these two mistakes. The book is still worth buying.

I found this book very useful. I did not at all feel like the author was writing down to me. In fact I found the way she presented her information to be playful and fun. I ended up checking out the novels she's written and was pleased to find the same level of writing in her YA novels. She seems to have a strong following with young readers and since industry critics have recognized her as a great writer, I feel the lessons I learned from her "how to book" will, help me greatly.

I've been a writer for many years, but I could not figure out what YA fiction was for many years due to how many different definitions there are. This book and Writing Great Books for Young Adults: Everything You Need to Know, from Crafting the Idea to Landing a Publishing Deal helped me learn almost all the important information I needed to know on writing for young adults.

I really liked how the information was formatted, and it gave me an idea of how the publishing industry works. I've taken two college-level creating writing classes in 2008 and 2009, and a lot of the techincal writing information was a very barebones review for me, but I didn't skip any parts of the book. The best parts of the book for me were "Lunch", "Study Hall" and "Shop Class" because that was where I learned most of the information from. All of the sections have homework sections and helpful tips.

With any luck, I plan on using the infomation when I write and market my YA novel.

This book is an excellent resource for people thinking about writing a young adult book and who know nothing about teens or teen culture. It does a great job of trying to explain who teens are and what they like. The author gives teens a voice by interviewing them on a variety of topics including ebooks. The book also talks about how you should immerse yourself in YA literature, what to read(suggestions) and what are the boundaries for teen books. The book is also a helpful guide on the publishing world and realistically shows readers what will happen if they choose self published, small press, one of the big guys, working with an agent and without, etc.

This is all great information however......

If you work with teens, are a teacher or a librarian then you probably don't need this book. If you understand the publishing world and have done your homework then you may not need this book.

This book is for the 42 year old person who woke up one day and decided they wanted to write a young adult novel but they don't know teens, understand the culture and have never read any YA books. This isn't a knock on the book. I think the book is very helpful for the person I mentioned above(and I exaggerate when I say 42 year old it could easily be a 25 year old). But as I said if you already work with teens I'm not sure how eye opening this book will be.

I think you need to judge how close you are with teens and if you truly understand them. If you think you know teen culture and what teens like to read and you know how the publishing industry works then you may want to skip this book. If you haven't a clue but would like more information on the YA market and world then this is the book for you.

This book was incredibly helpful. I felt walked through the process the whole way! The best part is that KL Going has a manuscript critique service for a very affordable fee. So after reading the book, if you decide to pursue a writing career, she is willing to help you get there!

I found this book to be very helpful and I think it will be useful for teens who want to write for other teens and for adults who want to write YA novels. There is a lot of information in here and its easy to find what your looking for. Plus it was not boring like so many how-to books. I know an adult who read this too and she liked it also.

If this is your first and only book on writing, it might be helpful to you. If you have already read a number of how-to-write books then this will be disappointing. There is plenty of advice on how to write for young readers, but it basically amounts to: come up with a good story and write it well. Duh. Turns out YA readers want what we all want--a credible, exciting story with engaging characters.

Most of Going's advice is general and little is backed up with examples. I agree with another reviewer who thought the formatting into "class periods" was hokey. The writing is just plain boring; I am halfway through and skimming. Hopefully the "selling" part of the title will provide more useful information. Her lists of good YA books and the young readers' panel are the only useful parts I've come across so far.

As a final comment, I am disturbed by the quality of copy editing in most books, and this one is no exception. It has one of the most glaring errors I have ever seen: a typo in a main chapter heading. So if you are interested in "A Plateful of Heathly Plot", go for it. Otherwise, give it a pass.

Lots of excellent advice and examples specific to the YA genre, especially POV. A worthy purchase.