In a new post on the Pub Crawl blog, literary agent Sarah Gerton offers advice for writing for a YA audience from a younger person’s perspective. “One of the most common and simple reasons that I end up passing on submissions is that while the writer may pitch their project as YA or MG, the voice and/or perspective in the sample pages feels very grown-up,” Gerton writes. She reminds writers that teens and younger kids see the world from a different perspective than adults.
Gerton suggests writers check their manuscripts for the basics – outdated slang, dated pop culture references, and relevant technologies. Going deeper, she advises writers to watch their tone. Too much retrospection or nostalgia is likely to reveal the writer more than the character. And finally, she calls on writers to include dark matters in their works for younger readers. Teens and younger kids aren’t immune to tragedies or ugly, complicated feelings. While writing should be age-appropriate, it needn’t be all sweetness and light.
Photo by Clark Young on Unsplash
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