Customer Reviews

Writing for Young Adults

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

 

 

Author Sherry Garland takes the mystery out of writing and publishing children's books with her collection of guidelines devoted to writing for young adults. After reading many books on the topic of writing for children this is the first one I have found that deals specifically with the young adult market in detail. The author defines young adult genres and offers valuable insight for keeping your writing in tune with this quickly changing market. She gives the reader a detailed overview of how to write fiction and non-fiction that will keep this fast-paced age group interested. The business side of writing such as proposals, negotiating contracts, and dealing with agents and editiors is discussed at great length. Included is a resource list that contains children's writers associations, where to find additional reference materials and popular young adult magazine markets. This compilation saved me many valuable hours of research time before starting on my own young adult book. I would recommend this to anyone aspiring to write for young adults.

I don't know what book Michigan Writer read, but I thought that Sherry Garland's book on writing was excellent. I'm far from a beginner (numerous magazine stories, chapter books, novels published), and I still learned new things from this book. I also found it inspiring -- here's where you learn what you need to know. That's a much better inspiration than reading a book about writing, smiling and punching the air and saying "Yeah!", and still not knowing what to do next. Sherry Garland is an award-winning author. Read her book and then do what she says. She's a pro!

This book is a good start if you were just hit with the "I want to write" voice. While it covers the basic elements in little detail, the beginning writer will read it then want to move on to books with more depth on character and scene construction. Of course, the novice will continue to read a zillion novels as they are the best text books. With due respect to Sherry Garland for she knows the fiction genre, it was not very inspiring. Then again, it's a book on the craft and not really meant to inspire. Nonetheless, any writing book could offer some glimspe of hope that one CAN make a good living writing for children and teens. Anything is possible if you only believe it first. If you want to stay inspired and are vulnerable to disappointment at this early stage of your exciting new writing career, don't read chapter nineteen. Wait until you've written your first manuscript and sent it out before learning the facts from this chapter. However, I did like how she suggests breaking down your writing goals into months, weeks, and days. See chapter seven.

Garland has written a book for both the beginning YA writer and the published author--and that's not easy! Her organization, examples, and practical advice will appeal to writers on both ends of the spectrum and everyone in between. Like any good teacher, she does not "brow beat" information into you (neither does she insult your intelligence with simplistic advice). Included are tips on writing all kinds of YA literature...novels, non-fiction, poetry, etc. She also has a section with practical advice from a business standpoint. If I could only have one book on writing for young adults, it would be this one (and I've read MANY).

Ms. Garland provides writers interested in writing for young adults an invaluable resource, insight into the process of quality fiction for this genre. Writers will find the book helpful, it will inspire authors to general ideas about their own projects. For example, the chapter on openings inspired me to write the opening for my young adult novel "The Cafe," before I could finish reading the topic. Moreover, she gives advice to writers that can help them write challenging parts of a book. In addition, the book will help you write cover letters, examples that will get you accepted by publishers. Finally, the author gives the readers a realistic picture of writing to support yourself, she keeps things in perspective.

Didn't care for it personally, it seemed outdated and irrelevant to today's youth and their reading preferences. The basics are there, but otherwise, you could easily read any other book on writing and get the same information. It sits on my shelf collecting dust. You're better off buying "Wild Ink, How to Write Fiction for Young Adults."

The basic issue I had with the book was how to address teens and keep their attention when today's youth want instant gratification and how to keep them reading page after page. Some Do's and Dont's would've been nice and even some feedback from teens on what they specifically like about different genres would've been helpful.

Not very deep in it's explainations. Could provide much more detailed info. I would recommend this book only for new writers just starting out.