Writing Young Adult

Prolific author and story coach Jessica Brody presents a comprehensive story structure guide for anyone who wants to write a young adult novel by applying the famed Save the Cat! screenwriting methodology to the world of YA fiction. Filled with practical advice, easy-to-follow templates, and "beat sheets" analyzing the structure of popular young adult novels such as Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows, John Green's The Fault in Our Stars, and Lois Lowry's The Giver, this book is the ultimate reference for anyone who's ever dreamed of writing their own young adult bestseller.

Do you have a young adult novel idea but are unsure about where to begin? Have you started a novel, only to get stuck? Or perhaps you've completed a first draft, but you want to add the luster of professional writing? Then this audiobook is for you! Featuring lively interplay between authors of young-adult fiction Steve and Dani Alcorn, this engaging narration gives you all the inspiration and tools you need to create a best seller.

I’d kill to be the kind of dancer my mom wants me to be, but it’s just not in the cards. I’m sick of dieting. I'll never fit into the perfect ballerina mold, and I’m tired of wishing that I could. I’m over it. I’m done trying. I’m perfectly content to dance alone in the dark while the rest of the school is sleeping.

Louis is a Trumpeter Swan, but he has no voice. Leaving his wild and beautiful home, he finds a young human friend, Sam Beaver, who helps him learn to read and write. When he returns to the lake, Louis discovers his education isn't enough: the beautiful swan he loves, Serena, can't read his declarations of love, and he can't trumpet them. Louis' resolution to win the swan of his desire launches him on an adventure that will take him far from home and lead where fate and love have a few surprises in store.

A Comprehensive Guide To Writing Compelling Dialogue Scenes! This Updated 2023 Edition is an Essential Guide and Powerful Reference Tool to Crafting Realistic Conversations in Fiction. Dialogue is one the most important aspects of fiction writing and a writer needs to know how to compel readers to keep turning the page through riveting character exchanges. This handbook is specifically for fiction writers that want to learn simple techniques on how to create exciting and powerful dialogue scenes that propel the storyline, create instant tension, and reveal characterization. Writers will ...

Here's some good news for everyone who's ever been bullied into believing they can't speak their own language: The grammar snobs are bluffing. Half the "rules" they use to humiliate others are really just judgment calls and the rest they don't even understand themselves. Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies is a laugh-out-loud funny collection of anecdotes and essays on grammar and punctuation, as well as hilarious critiques of the self-appointed language experts.

Even though I’m around hot football players every afternoon, they are not allowed to date me. If they even come close to flirting, my dad, Coach “The Boss” Davis, makes them run laps around the field until they puke. Not only has he forbidden me to date anyone at all, he’s even made me the football team’s water girl so he can keep tabs on me. What Dad doesn’t know is that I spend every last second of those two blissful hours of practice in the scorching California heat staring at Tyson Blake. He is the epitome of perfection. And Dad hates him.

These four bestselling writing and thesaurus guides, “The Writer’s Guide to Character Emotion,” “The Writer’s Guide to Character Expression,” “The Writer’s Guide to Vivid Settings and Characters,” and "The Writer's Guide to Characters, Plots, and Scenes" have been combined to create one remarkable single volume! This comprehensive edition contains over 600 pages of guidance to inspire your creative muse with descriptive ways to craft a riveting novel that instantly grabs a reader’s attention. Writers will get the essential skills needed to significantly enhance their ...

Lenard Childs is a young man who has slowly seen the world fall apart. The storms that used to be mild have intensified with each passing year. But it wasn't until the earthquakes and tsunamis hit that people started to panic. Clearly, the world was changing, and not for the better. As natural disasters increased in frequency, Lenard knew that the apocalypse was imminent. A quarter of the world's population was wiped out, and those who remained struggled to survive in a rapidly deteriorating world. Despite all this, Lenard refused to give up hope. During times of crisis, he had seen the ...

UPDATED 2022 EDITION! Learn to Improve Emotional Descriptions, Create Believable Settings, and Craft Powerful Descriptive Writing. This updated 2022 guidebook is a companion to the first volume in the Fiction Writing Tools series, "The Writer's Guide to Character Emotion" on descriptive writing and expands on this vast topic. Within this in-depth guide are practical tools on how to apply descriptive writing to create realistic settings, visceral responses, and lifelike characters. Included are lists and advice on: Setting Descriptors Character Personality Traits Descriptive Writing ...

In 1994, an idealistic first-year teacher in Long Beach, California, named Erin Gruwell confronted a room of “unteachable, at-risk” students. She had intercepted a note with an ugly racial caricature and angrily declared that this was precisely the sort of thing that led to the Holocaust. She was met by uncomprehending looks - none of her students had heard of one of the defining moments of the 20th century. So she rebooted her entire curriculum, using treasured books such as Anne Frank’s diary as her guide to combat intolerance and misunderstanding.

When a book of unexplainable occurrences brings Petra Andalee and Calder Pillay together, strange things start to happen: seemingly unrelated events connect, an eccentric old woman seeks their company, and an invaluable Vermeer painting disappears.

The riveting memoirs of the outstanding moral and political leader of our time, Long Walk to Freedom brilliantly re-creates the drama of the experiences that helped shape Nelson Mandela's destiny. Emotive, compelling, and uplifting, Long Walk to Freedom is the exhilarating story of an epic life; a story of hardship, resilience, and ultimate triumph told with the clarity and eloquence of a born leader.

Young adult fiction is one of the most rewarding careers you can embark on! Young adults feel inspired and excited about the authors whose books they become addicted to! Unlike adults, who have been exposed to so many books that they hardly leave reviews, young adults can latch onto your books for decades, growing up with them and returning again and again to read their favorites from your collection!

To some, Lily was just a beautiful little girl. To others, she was a freakish albino who ate live chickens in a freak show. Charles Darwin called her his impossible girl and tried in vain to classify her. P. T. Barnum called her his angel and tried to take advantage of her. But the creature Barnum thought to turn into a money-making feature attraction is neither girl nor angel. She is something other, a species of unimaginable abilities, with the power to destroy—or save —our world. The power is hers alone, but only the strange blood coursing through her veins will decide when and how ...

#1 New York Times bestselling author Ruta Sepetys is known for creating vivid characters and harrowing plots. After five award-winning works of historical fiction and countless hours of meticulous research, she can affirm that the secret to strong writing is embedded within your life experience. You: The Story is a powerful how-to book for aspiring writers that encourages you to look inward and excavate your own memories in order to discover the authentic voices and compelling details that are waiting to be put on the page.

Teenage girls have a lot to say, and poet Betsy Franco shares some of it in this unique work. In both poetry and prose, the young voices here share their thoughts on topics all teens are familiar with—from self-confidence to body image, from sexuality to loneliness, and everything in between.

These essays recount his adventures alone and with friends, taking listeners through the seasons. In Paulsen’s north country, every expedition is a major one, and often hilarious. Once again Gary Paulsen demonstrates why he is one of America’s most beloved writers, for he shows us fishing and hunting as pleasure, as art, as companionship, and as source of life’s deepest lessons.

The candid, poignant, unforgettable writing of the young girl whose own life story has become an everlasting source of courage and inspiration. Hiding from the Nazis in the “Secret Annex” of an old office building in Amsterdam, a 13-year-old girl named Anne Frank became a writer. The now famous diary of her private life and thoughts reveals only part of Anne’s story, however. This audiobook rounds out the portrait of this remarkable and talented young author.

"An engaging read, particularly for cat lovers, and a promising debut." –Kirkus Reviews Twelve-year-old Vivie and her family flee for their lives during the 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary. Despite the trials and travails of life on the run—starvation, trauma, fear—Vivie remains haunted by the fate of her beloved feline, Norsk, whom she was forced to leave behind. She develops a lifelong affinity for the strays and ferals she encounters during their escape, seeing both her current situation and Norsk’s reflected in their existence on the street—skinny, scared, and without a real ...