Why YA?

With the announcement of the IAMTW nomination, and the fact that Strategic Reserve was entered in the YA category, I have been getting a lot of questions about the YA genre.

I chose to enter Strategic Reserve in the YA category, because I felt that was where its main appeal was. ALIAS seemed to be very strong with the young female audience, and the books appealed to that audience. The fans whose blogs and Webpages I read were primarily young women. It just seemed the right place for it.

I don't claim to know all the answers, and would love to have other people chime in here, especially if you think I get something wrong. I would also love to have the recommendations of others about what books/writers are good in YA.

Recommended writers, in no particular order:

Meg Cabot - Princess Diaries/The Mediator series, and a bunch of others. I don't think this woman sleeps!

Chris Crutcher - WHALE TALK is one of the finest books I have ever read

Francine Pascal - Sweet Valley High and spin-offs, Fearless, Fearless: FBI

Anthony Horowitz - the Alex Rider books, very British, kind of James Bond Junior

James Patterson - Maximum Ride books

Carl Hiaasen - HOOT and FLUSH - haven't read the Peter Pan books he did with Ridley Pearson, but I'd bet they're fun!

Niki Burnham - Spin Control Royally Jacked
Nancy Krulik - Love & Sk8
Scott Westerfield - The Uglies Trilogy

In looking over the list, I find that these are all very different writers. Which brings me to my first point.

In YA, you can write ANYTHING! Mystery, sf, fantasy, contemporary, funny, dark, sweet, racy, historical, romantic, adventure - YA books cover the spectrum.

YA covers every genre, and every tone. There are definite age categories: early readers, children's, middle grades, young adult. For now I am just lumping them all together, because otherwise I could spend a week just trying to sort out the sub-categories.

WHALE TALK (mentioned above) has some serious, heavy themes and action. PRINCESS DIARIES is sweet and funny. Naylor's ALICE books are very sweet, and intended for younger (probably 9-12) readers. There are inspirational books in YA, just as there are in romance and mainstream.

Ethnic books are good. ADIOS TO MY OLD LIFE is a great read. I was planning to buy it, then got it in my Rita nominees, and thoroughly enjoyed it. There are Latina/Latino books, African-American, Asian - and those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. Oh, and OPAL METHA was an Indian (as in India) protagonist. (Never mind the whole plagiarism thing. Point is, a book with an Indian girl as the protagonist was sold, and was slated for major publisher support, which means they expected it to do well.)

There are a zillion publishers of YA out there, and series seems to be the name of the game. If you are interested in YA, you should sample a little of everything. Again, off the top of my head

Alex Rider (STORMBREAKER is the first)

Princess Diaries

All-American Girl

Gossip Girls

The Clique

A-List

The 310 series

Fearless FBI

American Girl (multiple series in different time periods)

A few years ago, there was a line of ALIAS books that were straight YA (the ones I wrote were adult novels, but they had a wide YA appeal). A lot of other tie-ins have that same appeal to the YA audience: Buffy, Angel, Trek, etc. And then there are the "house name" books like the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys. To tell the truth, I haven't actually checked, but I think those are still being produced.


This is a huge topic, and may take several posts, but I also recommend looking at the Websites and MySpace pages, and see what's out there. You may be very surprised! I also highly reading Agent Kristen Nelson's blog, Pub Rants (http://pubrants.blogspot.com/) She represents several YA writers, and her blog is interesting and informative about a lot of areas, not just YA.


OK. Enough for now. I have stories to write!

It's a YA Thing!

First, a bit of very cool news! Strategic Reserve, the ALIAS tie-in that came out last spring, has been short-listed as best YA tie-in novel by the IAMTW. That's the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers, a professional group of tie-in writers. The awards will be presented at the San Diego ComicCon in July, which gives me a total excuse to go to the con. Of course, there's the little matter of having to get to San Diego, and all that, but hey!

I have more to say about that YA part, but first, here's the complete list of nominees. I am thrilled to be in the company of such accomplished master of the craft, and delighted that my book is among the nominees.

More information about IAMTW, and the Scribe Awards, can be found at www.iamtw.org

SPECULATIVE FICTION

BEST NOVEL—ADAPTED

SLAINE: THE EXILE by Steven Savile
SUPERMAN RETURNS by Marv Wolfman
TOXIC AVENGER: THE NOVEL by Lloyd Kaufman & Adam Jahnke
ULTRAVIOLET by Yvonne Navarro
UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION by Greg Cox

BEST NOVEL—ORIGINAL

STAR TREK CRUCIBLE: McCOY—PROVENANCE OF SHADOWS by David R. George III
STARGATE ATLANTIS: EXOGENESIS by Sonny Whitelaw & Elizabeth Christensen
THIRTY DAYS OF NIGHT: RUMORS OF THE UNDEAD by Jeff Mariotte & Steve Niles
WARHAMMER: FAITH AND FIRE by James Swallow
WARHAMMER: ORC SLAYER by Nathan Long


GENERAL FICTION

BEST NOVEL - ADAPTED

SNAKES ON A PLANE by Christa Faust
THE PINK PANTHER by Max Allan Collins

BEST NOVEL—ORIGINAL

CSI NEW YORK: BLOOD ON THE SUN by Stuart Kaminsky
LAS VEGAS: HIGH STAKES GAME by Jeff Mariotte
MR. MONK GOES TO HAWAII by Lee Goldberg
OAKDALE CONFIDENTIAL: SECRETS REVEALED by Alina Adams


YOUNG ADULT—ALL GENRES

BEST NOVEL

ALIAS APO: STRATEGIC RESERVE by Christina York
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: PORTAL THROUGH TIME by Alice Henderson
DRAGONLANCE: WARRIOR'S HEART by Stephen Sullivan
KNIGHTS OF THE SILVER DRAGON: PROPHECY OF THE DRAGONS by Matt Forbeck