You'd think after years of writing and reading fiction, I would have put this together sooner. But I finally figured out why it's important to read a ton of YA now that I'm working on a YA novel.
I used to think I didn't want to read anything resembling my story because I didn't want it to influence me. But now I see how wrong I was.
In the past three days, I've read three novels. Three! I read two Sara Zarr books (Sweethearts and Story of a Girl), and Lisa Schroeder's I Heart You, You Haunt Me. This last one I read in an hour and a half today. It's written in verse so it was a quick read, but very good.
I have learned more in the past three days from those books about writing for YA, than I have from any writing book on YA. I've learned about pacing, characters and plotting.
I have a list of books I want to check out of the library next. I can't wait.
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9 comments:
I soooo agree with you. I've heard the argument not to read and I think it's a mistake. It's good to learn from others and to see what the genre really is all about.
I write YA, too, but I'm currently reading one of my favorite authors for adults, Margaret Atwood, and I find myself going, "Oh, look at how long she waited to drop that little gem into the story." Or, "That information changes everything!" It's really eye-opening and inspiring.
I have come up with so many ideas for my story just by reading all the others. I've learned that I would have dropped all of my good information and backstory right away, where other authors take their time.
Oh yes!! I agree with you wholeheartedly. I think you really have to know your genre. A few might get lucky and appeal to a certain audience without intending to, but for the most part, you really have to do some homework to get it right, I think.
I completely agree with this. Reading in your genre is truly important. Especially as "moods" change. So glad you've learned so much!
Isn't that funny how that works? I have to remind myself of that all the time!! And I love Sweethearts, Sara Zarr is amazing! Have you read anything by Laurie Halse Anderson? She's amazing too.
Good for you :) :)
It's funny, I just recently discovered this myself. I mainly write contemporary romance, but I hardly read anything in my genre until recently, and it really helps!
Isn't it great when you get inspired? Yeah!
Crystal, I haven't read Laurie Halse, but I'll check her out, thanks!
I totally agree. I devour books while I'm writing (especially MG and YA). I think you can learn way more from reading a novel than from reading a book about writing (but maybe that's just because I'm not very good at reading nonfiction!)
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