Although YA authors primarily aim their novels at teens, adults continue read these books for their voice-driven narratives and the issues with which they wrestle. In this workshop, you will focus on the facets of a successful YA novel, guided by weekly craft discussions and exercises centered on character development, dialogue, voice, beginnings, plotting, and strategies for revision.

Young adult fiction is a thriving part of publishing and includes genres such as historical fiction, coming-of-age narratives, fantasy, paranormal, romance and literary fiction. Although YA authors primarily aim their novels at teens, adults continue read these books for their voice-driven narratives and the issues with which they wrestle as well as the questions about what it means to be human and how to find a place in this volatile, ever-changing world. In this workshop, we will focus on the facets of a successful YA novel. There will be weekly craft discussions of and assignments centered on character development, dialogue, voice, beginnings, plotting, and strategies for revision. Each discussion and assignment will be augmented by readings from current YA novelists such as Nina LaCour, John Green, Libba Bray, Jennifer Donnelly, Stephen Chbosky, and Nova Ren Suma. Participants will write two chapters of a YA novel and an outline, and each writer’s work-in-progress will be critiqued with the aim of finding the most powerful way to tell his/her story.