kimberlyderting

I think I was probably writing YA before I knew that's what I was doing. The main character in my first (unpublished) book was 16 years old but I thought it was an adult horror novel. I think I’m drawn to teen characters because everything they experience is so surface-level. Every day is the best day they’ve had or the worst day. Things are new and more exciting; they’re just less jaded than most adults. But writing teen characters doesn't necessarily mean you're writing YA. STAND BY ME by Stephen King is the perfect example of an adult novel with teen protagonists, and even now I'm reading THE SILVER STAR by Jeannette Walls, where the MC is 12 years old but it's definitely an adult-themed novel. Someone above mentioned voice and pacing, and that's definitely a large part of what makes a book young adult. It's also about the your main character figuring out who they are as an individual, and usually (I say "usually" because there are no hard-and-fast rules) YAs end on a hopeful note. Not happy necessarily, but hopeful. I do think the age of your protagonist has a lot to do with the age of your readers. Most high schoolers don't want to read about middle schoolers. Readers will usually (there's that word again!) read up for their main characters. Although there was that one guy named Harry Potter... I love these books. I'm proud to be part of a writing community filled with so much talent and imagination, fueling the minds of young (and not-so-young) readers. Defend my genre, I surely would. Why anyone looks down their nose at us is beyond me.

Athena - I’m not sure any day is particularly “typical” for me. I usually start checking my email very early in the morning, and after that, I generally get sidetracked by Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest—anything that seems like a shiny distraction. I try to rein it in within the hour and get started with whatever project I’m working on at the moment. Before I had an office with a lock, I would write in the kitchen, so chaos doesn’t really bother me. All I really need is my laptop, some comfy sweatpants, copious amounts of tea, and candy (preferably Skittles). Generally I work from right after the kids leave for school until early evening, sometimes later, depending on deadlines. rkebook - I don't know much about self publishing, but traditional publishing shouldn't cost you anything, especially if you query via email