Ally Carter is a YA author that’s represented by Kristin Nelson.  One of her books, I’d Tell You I Love You But Then I’d Have To Kill You, is sitting in my to-be-read pile.  It’s not something I would normally get excited about reading but with the way Agent Kristin raves about the book (she sold it, why shouldn’t she?), the fact it’s doing quite well and it screams ‘teen,’ it nagged at me enough to pick up.  Mainly because I’m trying to read as many teen voices as possible, across all genres of YA, to get a better feel for it.  But don’t hold your breath that I’ll be buying a Gossip Girls novel any time soon.  I just can’t bring myself to do it.

This post, though, it about asking the right questions when you have the opportunity to do so.  Why reiterate the same old thing over and over again when you can present yourself as being up to speed on the genre and in-tuned to what agents and editors are looking for?  Makes sense, right?

Ally fairly recently (the post it from the cusp of beginning to mid-September) went to a writers’ conference and realized that she’s in a different place than many of the writers there and fairly so.  She’s an author with a few published books under her belt.  I think it’s safe to say she has a little more knowledge about her than many of the fledgling writers that attend those conferences.

While she was there she took notes while biting her tongue and has highlighted on her blog the wrong questions being asked and what to ask instead (because she couldn’t do it there).  They’re fairly simple questions, just worded differently and skewed slightly to the side so you better yourself wholly instead of superficially.  I’ll highlight the questions and give my two cents but be sure to read Ally’s post in full.  There’s a lot to be learned from an already published author.  I know I learned a great deal just from reading her post.

WRONG QUESTION: How do I develop an authentic teen voice?

THE RIGHT QUESTION: Do I have a voice that’s appealing to teens?

You write the way you write and there’s not much else to it.  You can’t change your voice any more than you can change your finger prints.  It’s often said that if someone like Stephen King were to write under a completely unrecognizable pseudonym, his fans would still recognize him because, regardless of the genre, he’d still have the same voice.

So you either have a voice that’s appealing to teens or you don’t.  I wish I had a voice that worked well with horror.  Unfortunately I don’t.  If you have a voice that is appealing to teens, it can further be developed but developing an unrelated voice into a teen one would be rather disastrous.

WRONG QUESTION: How long does a YA novel have to be?

THE RIGHT QUESTION: How important is pacing in YA novels?

Wham bam thank you ma’am.  The less fat you have in a YA novel, the better.  Teens want it.  They want it now, right from the beginning and right until the end.  Not all, of course.  It’d be unfair to attribute a blanket statement like that but word count means nothing if your story doesn’t start until the middle of the book.

WRONG QUESTION: How much should I “lower” my writing when writing for teens? (Basically, how much do I dumb down my books?)

RIGHT QUESTION: Do teens have different attention spans, vocabulary capabilities, etc than adult readers?

If you think teens won’t pick up on the patronizing tone of an author that’s talking down to them, you need to do a little more research.  Of course writing for a teen is going to be different than writing for an adult.  Adults, by default, have more patience.  Teens don’t.  They’re also much more adept than what people give them credit for.  And they’re much less forgiving.

WRONG QUESTION: How is the best way to market to teens? Do I have to blog?

RIGHT QUESTION: Do teens use the Internet to connect with authors?

While we all know teens are extremely internet savvy, it helps to have an audience before piling your marketing ploys into the internet.  I blog now, as an unpublished, no-name writer, because I want to.  Because I like to.  I’m not doing it to pre-emptively build a fan base.  It usually doesn’t work like that.  If you’re not too involved with the internet now, don’t fret.  You won’t be left out of anything, nor will you be missing anything.  Let the interest build, then corral them in.

THE WRONG QUESTION: How much sex, violence, bad language can I put in my YA novel?

THE RIGHT QUESTION: My story contains very adult themes and elements. Will this change how it is published and marketed?

People still have very pigeon-holed views of YA.  It’s not all Babysitters’ Club or Sweet Valley High.  It’s much more realistic, which is something teens want to see in what they read.  They want to relate.  Don’t get me wrong.  Escapism is a fun thing but so is realism.  The voice, more so than the content, is what makes a work YA.  Publishers are much more eager now to take on the edgier stuff because it sells.  Proof positive that teens want to read that kind of stuff, for one reason or another.  It’s not about what parents will think.  It’s all about will it sell to the target audience?

Not everything is set in stone, of course.  But just remember, if you start hearing the same advice reiterated time and time again from multiple, unrelated sources, chances are it’s something to listen to.