Audience – Write on the World

Dear Mandy,

When do you decide if your novel is YA? Do you decide before you start writing or after you are done?

Answer: One of the questions writers ask constantly is whether a novel “counts” as Young Adult fiction. Sometimes the answer is obvious from page one. Other times, writers finish an entire manuscript before realizing they may have written for a different audience than they originally intended.

When does a novel become YA—and how much of that decision happens before you even write the first page? This graphic breaks down the key factors writers should consider, from voice and protagonist age to audience and market expectations, and why knowing who you’re writing for shapes every story choice you make.

The truth is that YA is both a category and a marketing designation, and those two things do not always align perfectly. At the most basic level, a Young Adult novel is written for teen readers, generally between the ages of twelve and eighteen. In publishing, though, that definition becomes much more flexible than people expect. A huge percentage of YA readers are adults, and many books with teen protagonists are actually shelved in adult fiction. That’s why YA is not determined by a single factor.

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Finish Writing Your Novel Now!

The first step of the novel writing process: Planning

July 12, 2024July 11, 2024 Mandy Webster

Pro Tip: Grab a notebook or your laptop and take notes while you read today’s post– just jot down ideas and plans as you review each task listed. Tomorrow, I’ll be coming at you with your first writing assignment!

The first step in the novel writing process is the planning stage. The planning stage of the writing process is crucial as it sets the foundation for the entire writing project. During this stage, a writer typically engages in several activities, all designed to prepare for the drafting stage. This step is essential because once you sit down to write the first draft, you’ll be prepared to “just do it” without getting sidetracked or bogged down in details that may never make it into your final draft. The planning stage of the novel writing process includes the following elements:

Brainstorming is one of the first steps of the novel writing process. Image created with Canva AI Image Generator.

Generate ideas: The writer starts by brainstorming and generating ideas about the novel they want to write. They may use techniques such as mind mapping, freewriting, or listing to generate ideas. There are a variety of free online story idea generators that can also be helpful. These include plot generators and name generators by genre, among others. If you don’t already have an idea for your novel, play with these resources until you have something fun that you will enjoy writing. Remember, this is a fun experiment, so feel free to be as silly as you like if it helps you stay engaged with the project.

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Character Building

How to make the unbelievable believable

March 7, 2015March 6, 2015 Mandy Webster

I don’t know about you, by my fiction writing has benefitted a great deal from studying motivation and personality theories. | Evolution and Human Behavior cover (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What is believable? What does it mean to write a “believable” scene or character in a work of fiction that is not “true” to begin with? These are questions that fiction writers must tackle if they want readers to “buy in” to the tale they are telling.

Human beings act in unbelievable ways all the time, but it’s the motivation behind the actions that are most important. One fundamental element of writing is the study of human behavior and why people do the things they do. It’s not enough to simply tell a story about what our characters do. We must also explain why they act in a particular manner and do it in a way that will make our readers believe it.

Whenever a reader tells you that he or she finds your story or a particular character unbelievable, your first reaction should NOT be, “Well duh, it is fiction.” Instead, you should ask yourself, “What is this character’s motivation?” In other words, why is the character behaving so ridiculously? It’s not that your characters aren’t allowed to behave in an unbelievable manner. The problem is, you have to demonstrate for your reader that the behavior really is possible, or even probable, given the circumstances. Continue reading “How to make the unbelievable believable” →