Should I?

Elegy · Sep 4, 2009

I'm thinking that once I finish my horror novel, I'll write something YA. Funny, I know.

Maybe I'll just take a break from horror and do a YA short story.

Problem is, that means I have to write some day-to-day life of a teen, and I was home schooled, so I know next to nothing about the public school system and how things work there. I could fake it, but I think fake always looks fake, no matter how much paint you put over it.

And if I wrote what I know, it would be INSANELY BORING, because I had no socialization as a child and pretty much grew up in a room all by myself (note: it did not damage me, and the home school experience is not always like that; we had special circumstances. I firmly support home schooling).

Any suggestions?

Katrina S. Forest · Sep 4, 2009

YA just means young adult protagonist. It doesn't have to mean high school, or any kind of school. Write a story about a teenager who is home-schooled and use your own experience.

Or go crazy and write about a teenager who runs away, gets kidnapped by aliens, or meets a mermaid. Lots of possibilities in the YA world, don't limit yourself to just one idea.

Danthia · Sep 4, 2009

Ditto Katrina. YA doesn't have to be about school of the average life of a teen. Chances are, if that's all it is, it'll be pretty boring.

Have you read much YA lately? If you want to write in that market, you might consider reading a variety to familiarize yourself with what's out there now. There are plenty of threads on this board with suggestions, though just hitting Amazon and searching for YA and whatever genre you want to write in will bring up a ton of options.

I am curious as to why you want to write YA and not stay in the horror genre. Or not just write a YA horror.

Wark · Sep 4, 2009

I refuse to write high school.

Destroy the earth, make them wander the vast wasteland looking for canned goods. No, wait, that's mine.

Millie · Sep 4, 2009

I go with the rest of them, don't mention school. It's too difficult a subject to tackle, schools are different all over the world and I would thinks kids get enough of school without reading about it too.

Skye Jules · Sep 4, 2009

School books are getting tiring in my opinion. No author seems to know how to accurately portray high school without throwing in a bunch of cliques (my school never had cliques. We were all blended).

Do something fantasy, some sci-fi, possibly even a YA horror.

nayner · Sep 4, 2009

I was also homeschooled, and I can write school scenes just fine. Believe me, all those school scenes you see in books and movies? that's apparently pretty much it.

While I agree with the above commenters, that you can just skip school entirely by making it otherworldly or whatevs, you could also just skip school by... just skipping it. The time period could be the school year, and you just talk about the after-school hours of it. Or maybe it's summer vacation. Or you could go with your protags being homeschooled.

But if you want to write school scenes, I think you just need to watch a couple of movies/read a few books and you'll get the gist of it.

But if you DO write school scenes, don't do that thing where you describe every single minuscule social interaction that takes place between classes, thereby dragging us through the entire school day. That's just pointless and irritating.

and last, but not least, on "writing what you know"... please read this post by The Intern, she talks about what "writing what you know" actually means. http://internspills.blogspot.com/2009/08/f-week-day-two-truth-and-stuff.html

Sage · Sep 4, 2009

Some of my novels have scenes that take place at school, and I kind of hate writing those scenes. First of all, you have to worry about being consistent in when during the day you are. Like: these two people have what classes together? Before or after lunch? How close to the beginning and end of the day? What are they studying? How are they getting away with ignoring the teacher (I definitely don't want to write a class)? If they meet at their lockers, how much time do they have? Is there another break besides lunch? How much setting should I include without being boring? Etc.

Sometimes the story calls for you to include school. Sometimes it doesn't. Even though I'm not a fan of school scenes, my last two finished novels, and the current and last unfinished WIP both included quite a bit of school, even though they're all fantasy. LS required me to keep the MC around school because I was contrasting the fantasy aspects of her life with the normalcy of everyone else's. Her whole thing was how normal she wanted to be, and being in school around all those normal people was a huge challenge. Furthermore, it allowed her to meet and connect to another character--the pseudo-catalyst for the plot. I've used school for that a lot, actually. The one I wrote after that has one of two MCs meeting the other at school too, and for a long time, their only interaction is through school. My previous WIP was set in a boarding school, so everything that happens happens at school... but 18K in and I hadn't once shown my MC in class

In my current WIP, I did use school once like I did in LS--showing the normalcy of a school situation with a fantasy twist on it--but the rest of the time, my MC hangs out school because it becomes a place of power according to the rules of that book's world.

So really it all comes down to what you want to do with your book? What's the idea you had for it? Why is school needed (I also have YA novels where it's only there peripherially)?

Elegy · Sep 4, 2009

Danthia said:
Ditto Katrina. YA doesn't have to be about school of the average life of a teen. Chances are, if that's all it is, it'll be pretty boring.

Have you read much YA lately? If you want to write in that market, you might consider reading a variety to familiarize yourself with what's out there now. There are plenty of threads on this board with suggestions, though just hitting Amazon and searching for YA and whatever genre you want to write in will bring up a ton of options.

I am curious as to why you want to write YA and not stay in the horror genre. Or not just write a YA horror.

Oh, I definitely planned on reading some of the bestsellers in YA before I start.

I'd like to write YA because it would be a huge challenge for me. I've never written specifically for kids, even though kids and teens are fascinating and fun to write (at least, that's the experience I've had with the other stuff I've written).

And YA horror? Well. Maybe, but I'd have to be very, very careful, and I think watching myself that closely would be stressful. I'd want to write something I wouldn't mind my own kid reading, and to be honest, there's a whole lot of things people consider "normal" reading material for a kid these days that just... isn't.

I'd want something more like an adventure, I guess. Something with a lot of good advice on life and morals, and little to no focus on relationships, because I think kids waste too much time thinking about those.

I don't know. There are more options here than I thought, so I guess I just need to dwell on it a while.

Thanks for responding!

Shady Lane · Sep 4, 2009

BREAK allegedly has a lot of school scenes. really I faked it. there are a lot of scenes just before and just after school and two during lunch breaks. creates the illusion of school. i'm very tricky.

strawberryblondie · Sep 4, 2009

My first novel takes place over summer vacation. Part of the reason I did that was because I didn't feel like dealing with school. My current WIP takes place during the school year but most of the school scenes take place before school, during lunch, and just after school.

lonestarlibrarian · Sep 6, 2009

My biggest request at the library is for "scary stories." Of course, by "scary stories" they mean things like Goosebumps (MG) and Fear Street (YA) and things like that.

)

There's also plenty of room in boys' adventure. I'm sure your horror background will translate very nicely if you bring over your experience with pacing, danger, and suspense, and make the rest age-appropriate. Good luck!

Stijn Hommes · Sep 7, 2009

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_8100000/newsid_8107900/8107973.stm

Apparently learning at home doesn't mean the kid in question has to be isolated.
Just go with your experience if you have to write a school scene and let your MC be homeschooled.

Elegy · Sep 7, 2009

Stijn Hommes said:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_8100000/newsid_8107900/8107973.stm

Apparently learning at home doesn't mean the kid in question has to be isolated.

the home school experience is not always like that; we had special circumstances. I firmly support home schooling

I know.

Maybe I could just write about an isolated kid. :Shrug:

Stijn Hommes · Sep 7, 2009

Sorry about that. When you read a lot in a short time, you sometimes overlook important details like that.

jmascia · Sep 7, 2009

Go for it. And I say, write about what you know to start. It'll make the transisiton from horror to YA easier. Hell, you can always try a short YA Horror.

Doctor Shifty · Sep 7, 2009

Elegy said:
I'd want something more like an adventure, I guess. Something with a lot of good advice on life and morals, and little to no focus on relationships,

You'd need to be careful not to get preachy with a formula like that, but there's a heap of very funny kids' and younger teen books that do this very well.

Roald Dahl is master of it. So is the Terry Palin "Ripping Yarns" stuff. Anything illustrated by Quentin Blake would probably qualify. It's a form I'd love to be good at.

Should I?

Elegy

Deceptively Horrific

Katrina S. Forest

Danthia

Wark

Mark Brockman

Millie

Skye Jules

March 15th: Issue 1 release

nayner

Needs more sleep.

Sage

Our Lady of Parentheticals

Elegy

Deceptively Horrific

Shady Lane

my name is hannah

strawberryblondie

lonestarlibrarian

senior bean supervisor

Stijn Hommes

Know what you write...

Elegy

Deceptively Horrific

Stijn Hommes

Know what you write...

jmascia

Doctor Shifty

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