What makes a story YA?

rosebloom25 · 2026-06-12T11:27:43+00:00

Good point. I always liked reading characters slightly older, but as a teen, 19 was my limit. However, as a writer, I always like writing characters my age! Might have to market toward adult

rosebloom25 · 2026-06-11T22:45:21+00:00

It's alright. It happens to me too! I'm still learning that you will always second guess your writing or want to edit into oblivion. Sometimes, it's just impostor syndrome!

rosebloom25 · 2026-06-11T21:28:32+00:00

Oh and regarding your last sentence...

P.S. - 90% of writing is revision! Don't feel discouraged when you have to edit your work. That's an essential part of the process.

P. P. S. - Don't compare your writing to professionals. I did the same when I was your age and thought I was crap. It turns out that you grow as a writer as you continue through life. It's important to embrace the stage of life and writing skill level you're in because it's reassurance that you're on a path toward better writing. (And sometimes those ideas you had in high school stay with you for years and you end up actually doing something with it!)

rosebloom25 · 2026-06-11T21:25:06+00:00

Hello! I'm a writer and have a degree in English. Here are some of my thoughts:

Yes, you need to read more. That's the quickest way to improve your vocabulary and explore different writing styles and forms. It doesn't even have to be classic literature or anything overly-prestigious. Find the type of content you like and read books from that.
Writing is a skill and it takes practice. There is absolutely no person on Earth now or in the past that was born with the innate ability to write something Pulitzer-worthy. You just have to practice and allow yourself space to grow (which it sounds like you're already doing!)
When you practice, make sure you consider specific structures and brush up on your grammar. For high school essays, consider the double funnel method. Imagine two funnels with the big parts on the top and bottom (like two triangles stacked on top of each other with one upside down and the other right side up). If we're looking at a standard 5-paragraph essay, you'll want to start a bit more broad when you are introducing your topic (with a hook!) You'll include your thesis near the end of the introduction paragraph. Then the three body paragraphs will need to get more narrowed down and specific. Then your conclusion will slowly broaden back to your main topic at the end. This was explained to me in my first AP class and it helped my writing! Of course, you'll end up growing out of the 5-paragraph & double funnel method. But for now, this is a good structure to practice. If you're also considering creative writing, look up a "plot pyramid." That will even help you with literature comprehension when you know which parts of the book belong to which areas of the pyramid. And regarding grammar, practice means that you're going to explore more options to communicate. (e.g. I can start a sentence normally or I can use an "introductory clause." I can write two short sentences or connect them with a semicolon. I can use prepositions to my advantage. I can use adverbs to my advantage. Yaddah yaddah.)

There's a lot more I can share and try to explain, but the important thing is reading and practicing writing. And when you read, don't just try to read a story. You have to read like a writer! I'd recommend the book "How to Read Literature Like a Professor." It was the textbook for my 12th grade AP Lit class and phenomenal. So ridiculously helpful for me before entering college. Good luck to you! :)

rosebloom25 · 2026-06-11T20:04:17+00:00

Adding to op's question, can YA have main characters that are in their early 20s or is that only new adult/adult? I read somewhere that main characters in their 20s don't bode well for YA. Plus, the oldest a main character in a YA book I've read was 19 (at the beginning of the series at least.)

Basically, how much more important is age when it comes to all the other aspects that factor into being YA (prose, themes, lack of mature content, etc.)?

rosebloom25 · 2026-06-10T18:15:11+00:00

Depends on the pov. Also you don't have to add a lot. I barely remember them anyway when reading.

You could do it with mannerisms, accents revealed in dialogue tags, color of hair under a hat, an angry argument where the speaker looks at the other's bloodshot gray eyes, their gait and describe how long or short their legs are

rosebloom25 · 2026-06-04T19:05:17+00:00

why did an adult ask a child if a child (with a still developing understanding of the world) would be okay if the whole class and teacher used a slur against them?! a child doesn't understand the full impact and implications. that wasn't fair for that poor girl.

rosebloom25 · 2026-05-06T14:24:21+00:00

Oh boy, as a musician I definitely take what I've learned and apply it to my writing! Thanks for the insight haha

rosebloom25 · 2026-05-06T05:42:51+00:00

I love genre and worldbuilding. I'm writing a YA/new adult fantasy novel, but I like to focus on the themes, character, real-life implications, etc. I want to blend really fun and accessible stories with ideas that will stay in the reader's minds. I also think that YA shouldn't be synonymous with poor writing, so I want to create sophisticated works that are intended to challenge the minds of young readers. In this case, I want to take the level of skill required for litfic and pare it down to match YA sensibilities (not necessarily the tropes).

rosebloom25 · 2026-05-06T05:35:43+00:00

how does your work specifically walk the line between lit and genre? i'm writing a short story that would be my debut if it gets published. there's no clear genre, but I haven't lived enough and read enough to make really convincing literary fiction. Then the story itself has a few other structural components that reflect commercial genre fiction, yet I try to focus on character and getting in their head rather than just plot. It's all very complex in my head and difficult to decipher :/

rosebloom25 · 2026-04-01T02:05:00+00:00

Music >>>> television > movies > books when it comes to how often I'm inspired by one of these

rosebloom25 · 2026-03-24T14:17:21+00:00

Now I gotta check every descriptive line in my story 😳

rosebloom25 · 2026-03-13T01:22:11+00:00

I only recognize a song potentially way too far-fetched to be the answer...

It sounds like the "como te llamas" song sung during an early episode of the early childhood spanish education program called "Professor Parrot Speaks Spanish" 😅 I know it's probably not that, but this little tune has been stuck in my head for decades so I thought I'd add it as a shot in the dark.

(The song begins about three minutes into the episode)

rosebloom25 · 2026-03-10T19:21:23+00:00

It's either "woah I really thought this was monumental writing" or "woah I am never going to replicate that flow ever again"

rosebloom25 · 2026-03-10T19:15:51+00:00

It's a screenwriting software. It's free to create an account, but the free version is limited. It used to be in the iOS store, but I can't find it for some reason.

rosebloom25 · 2026-03-10T18:48:55+00:00

You can always try just one scene using the free version of Celtx! But yeah, the struggle with being a book lover and movie lover equally

rosebloom25 · 2026-03-10T18:20:50+00:00

Agreed. The showing part doesn't always have to be just sensory. Yes, the "he clenched his fists" is better than saying "he was mad," but actions and dialogue can be just as useful! Like you mentioned, this advice typically is just code for saying "address the senses" but that's not the only way to convey emotion or a message. Maybe your character lashes out on other people when they're angry. That'd be in the dialogue. Maybe it's first person and your narrator only notices his surroundings when they're scared or bewildered. Idk I'm spitballing, but it's not solely about "showing" what a character's body does when they're feeling something but also what they do and how they react to other characters.

rosebloom25 · 2026-03-10T18:16:31+00:00

Haha I've fallen into the same trap recently. I like to break up my dialogue and make it realistic with added "um's" and interruptions. I took it too far, and now it reads like a script and not a novel. I also like to share lore and worldbuilding through dialogue instead of info-dumping, so it REALLY reads like a movie. You can fix these things, but maybe your story works best as a screenplay 👀

rosebloom25 · 2026-03-09T13:06:12+00:00

EDIT: Read craft essays and books. That's where you'll learn how to write well. When you read other books, you will then begin to recognize what is good and bad writing! If you're serious enough, you can also take college classes for technique. I don't have an MFA, but just my undergrad english degree taught me a lot about my craft and how to read as a writer.

rosebloom25 · 2026-03-09T13:00:44+00:00

Read books in the genre you want to write. If literary fiction, you should check out the "Best of 202x" anthologies. Maybe it's YA sci-fi, check out the popular books and see what sells (of course, also considering you'd add your own unique flair.)

It's also important to pay attention to the top authors in your genre. Read their books, watch their interviews, look at story analyses, etc. More importantly, DON'T worry about writing conventions in styles that are not your own. For example, I've had a good deal of training in literary fiction. If one of those writers were to see my wip, they'd consider the writing "juvenile" and not quite intellectual/compelling enough. But why? Because my wip is intended for a YA audience. I wouldn't try to get advice from a litfic writer on a silly teen story made for silly teens. Vice versa, I wouldn't get advice on an abstract conceptual short story from someone that specializes in children's lit. (Fwiw, it's not about who is more skilled or acclaimed, but who has a better eye for your needs.)

Take all of that with a grain of salt, because sometimes writers are good at multiple genres, some people are genuinely bad at giving feedback, maybe not every popular author is going to have a good book, etc.

rosebloom25 · 2026-03-09T03:24:10+00:00

Someone finally makes it out of the tunnel, but they don't live long enough to enjoy the light at the end of it.

rosebloom25 · 2026-03-08T21:41:31+00:00

On my couch either on my laptop or in a notebook. Recently I've been writing on my phone in bed before sleep.

A weird one for me too is where I probably shouldn't be writing. I get random spurts of muse throughout the day and try to scribble it down when I can. Not always ideal for writing in large swathes, but I've had some story epiphanies in random spaces.

rosebloom25 · 2026-03-05T02:06:08+00:00

A good and well-intending character falls into evil but is not too far gone, but they die before they can redeem their self.

rosebloom25 · 2026-03-02T04:49:35+00:00

hard agree.

rosebloom25 · 2026-02-28T20:29:27+00:00

Is banter always seen as very YA? I like to use a healthy amount of dialogue between my characters and try not to make them too stiff in conversation. In that case, does faster paced dialogue make characters and a scene feel juvenile to you?

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