But this article... I think I'll let my tweets (with annotations) say the rest. (Also, sorry for the swears, Mom.)
Look, I'm not saying that this Bustle article is as insulting to YA writers as the movie Young Adult was, but... https://t.co/DDUOu5zZVD
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
(To be fair, Young Adult is a super fascinating movie and not bad, per se. But I don't think it realistically depicts the life of any YA writer. Okay, maybe two. But not any that I know. And I know a LOT of YA writers. And I am one. So there.)
Actually, let's break this down. Point for point.
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
1. You've been dying to do it for ages. Okay, but you had to wait for the market to explode and for a Bustle article to give you permission?
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
Here's something I know: If you wait for someone to give you permission or the "right time" to chase your dreams, it won't ever happen.
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
2. YA Style is Incredibly Fun! Well, I can't argue with that. But! (You knew there'd be a but!) The further definition...
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
"High emotions, twisty tales, constant cliffhangers and short chapters define the genre."
I disagree.
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
YA is diverse. I don't think there's such a thing as a "YA style." Is your book meant for teens to read? Congrats, you have a YA novel!
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
You can write like Libba Bray, A.S. King, Sarah Dessen, Melina Marchetta, Jandy Nelson, etc. Doesn't automatically make your novel YA.
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
(We could go round after round about YA tropes, and storytelling techniques, strategies, and narrative styles that exist under the umbrella of YA. There are certainly some things that are more typical of YA than others, but there are ALWAYS outliers and exceptions. And I'd argue that high emotion should be characteristic of any good novel, most of what we call cliffhangers in YA aren't actual cliffhangers but unresolved endings, and short chapters? Seriously? Have you read a Rainbow Rowell novel?If you want to talk more about YA and writing styles, drop me a line. We can go to coffee and I'll bring my MFA hood.)
3. The Book to Film/TV Market is Hot.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
Excuse me while I go chat up my YA author friends who have film agents and options, but no movies.
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
(Look, I have two friends with film agents/movie options. If they got movies eventually, we'd all be ecstatic. But they'll also be the first to tell you that they would be shocked if that happened. Frankly, they're just kind of baffled and happy to have made it this far, but they don't expect much more even if we are all hoping for movies and multi-million dollar franchises. And without having hard numbers, I'd also say that most YA writers don't have film agents, let alone interest.)
ALSO, I know nothing about film but I'm pretty sure if you want to be a screenwriter, there are easier ways in than writing YA novels.
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
(ALSO, not every YA writer even wants to be involved in the process of making a film from their novels. I think films take a lot of time make, maybe, and that'd be time away from writing, which doesn't sound appealing to me or to many writers.)
Which, in case you haven't been paying attention, is hard as fuck. And getting movies made from those novels? Even more difficult!
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
And now we have to move on because that point is incredibly stupid.
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
(I mean, really.)
4. Your Adult Friends Will Totally Read Your YA Masterpiece.
OH THANK GOD. I'M GLAD YOU'RE GIVING THEM PERMISSION, TOO!
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
Here's a piece of advice, if you're an aspiring writer: Don't give a fuck about what your adult friends think about you writing YA.
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
You don't need that kind of negativity in your life. Good books = good books, no matter what age they're written for.
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
Actually, just scratch that last bit of advice. Don't be friends with those people, period. YA writers make the best friends. yo.
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
(Enrolling in an MFA program in Writing for Children & Young Adults is a really great way of submerging yourself into a community of like-interested adults. We also throw some hella good parties.)
5. The Social Media World Is Booming with YA Book Lovers.
True. And the community is an AMAZING one! I love it. However...
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
I think it's shortsighted to assume that just because you have 100K followers who love YA, you'll have 100k book sales. NOT HOW THAT WORKS.
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
Social media is a great way to connect and share your love of reading & books. But the minute writers start book pushing, people check out.
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
(But still be a part of the conversation! I believe people who are passionate about YA are going to change the world!)
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
(I have lots of social media followers. You're probably one of them. If they all gave me a dollar, I could pay off my student loans, but that's stupid because I don't want your dollars. I just want to hang out and chat and favorite--I'm sorry, LIKE--your funny tweets and maybe have intense feelings about books with you. The idea of social media audience = sales or profit of any kind is kinda silly.)
6. You Can Self-Publish and See Just as Much Success
The word "success" is very limited. What do you mean by success?
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
If success means seeing a book in print, then yeah, self-publishing is the quickest route. But you still need to do the work!
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
(Quickest, time-wise. Books take a lot of time! Books should take a lot of time because so much goes into them. This is a very important point--editing, copy editing, formatting, design, marketing, publicity, sales. These are all broad stroke points in a huge process. And I can tell you honestly, as a bookseller, you need to do your due diligence and make it all professional as can be, or readers won't give you much attention.)
And selling millions of copies is NOT a guarantee! Landing an agent from your self-pubbed book seems like an unrealistic expectation.
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
(Seems like an unrealistic expectation? Past Tirzah was so polite. It IS an unrealistic expectation. Unbelievably unrealistic.)
These self-pub success stories are people who got lucky. They found the right markets, had good timing. NOTHING IS GUARANTEED!
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
(Nothing is guaranteed: Also a good life motto.)
7. If It All Goes Well You’ll Get This Moment
{insert picture of Carrie Bradshaw in front of her book cover}
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
Writing (& publishing) is a long-ass haul. You need buckets of patience & perseverance. I believe in celebrating successes, big & small! BUT
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
Let's not lose sight of WHY you write in the first place. Some days you can motivate yourself with visions of success. But be realistic.
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
(Personal anecdote: When I was younger, I used to imagine selling the book I was writing. I would get $300,000 for it and its two sequels. I don't know why $300,000, it seemed like a nice round number. I would be flush! I would pay off my car! I'd buy a couch! You wanna know how far this fancy daydream got me? Nowhere, in the middle of nowhere.Now, I'm not saying that I don't still fantasize about what life might look like after publication, but I actively try not to because that shit is like a tiny innocent snowball that goes rolling down a very large mountain and turns into a boulder of snowy doom before its halfway down, crushing all motivation and focus on the actual work. And funny thing, if you want to be published, you need to do the work.
These days, I fantasize about getting a piece of dialogue right, or writing a metaphor that will make people say, "Huh, good one, Price." Also, chocolate for every 1,000 words I write.)
Here's another not-so-pretty truth: Measuring your success by market success is a first class ticket to crazy town.
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
(Don't even go there.)
Why do you write? I can't answer that for you. But if you want to write a book worth reading, a story worth WRITING, it has to come from YOU
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
Not because you think you can grab some piece of the pie.
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
(Mmm, pie.)
Maybe I am (too) idealistic, but writing for teens is something that we have to honor. Put yourself in those situations, make an effort...
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
to EMPATHIZE with teens, and write those stories w/ emotional honesty. That is what we do, because we care. Not because we hope to get rich.
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
(Now, I wouldn't argue if anyone wanted to pay off my student debts, but believe me, there are far easier and much more profitable ways of doing that than spending three hours every morning writing. I could wait tables, write ad copy, tutor a teen, open an etsy shop...and I can't think of any more skills I possess. But they'd all make me more money than I am earning or will hope to earn on anything I write between the last two years of my life and the next five.So why do I write? Short answer: Because YA books saved my life as a teen, gave me guidance when I felt lost, and made me feel less alone. I have some stories in me that I hope will someday do the same for at least one teen. I write because I can't not.)
You don't need a fancy degree to write YA. I have one, it has helped immensely, but you CAN write & pub a YA novel. And, unfortunately, you
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
can do it for all the reasons the Bustle article stated. What makes YA great is that the best writers don't write for those reasons, tho.
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
(Some words on the fancy degree, because I know there are people out there who might want to pick at this one point and while I am proud of my MFA, I don't want it to sound like I'm elevating myself above the MFA-less: You do not need an MFA to write and publish excellent books for teens--aka YA. You DO still need to do all the work, though. For me, an MFA was perfect because it gave me guidance, a structure, and access to amazing faculty members, all published and successful in their own rights, who offered me feedback on my work. As an added bonus, it expanded my mind--yay education!--and it gave me a built-in community I know I'll have for life. I highly recommend it. If you can't swing an MFA, then find the non-MFA equivalent of that! You'll need friends and a community and support that is all about that craft for when the market stuff gets depressing.)
So, in conclusion, write bravely and from the heart. And please don't write Bustle articles that make YA writers look like assholes.
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
And, encore! My friend compiled a thing and it is great:
Oh, one more thing! Here are some *REAL LIVE AUTHORS* (anonymously) telling you what pubbed life is really like: https://t.co/IsEnUceHB0
— Tirzah Price (@TirzahPrice) November 12, 2015
Thoughts, ideas, etc. welcome. Please no tomato throwing. Comment or tweet at me.
3 comments:
I just read the article you tweeted about. Thanks for bringing this to our attention and also compiling your tweets and annotations. I could agree with you! The article gives a pretty superficial view about writing YA fiction. First of all, it barely mentioned the audience. Instead authors are encouraged to write simply because the market seems hot. You and I know dozens of writers (including ourselves) who care about teens and care about producing a quality manuscript. Yet these authors know that selling a manuscript is not as easy as that article would have us all believe.
You are my hero.
This was excellent! As a bookseller (and, obviously, a reader) it's clear the YA market is booming right now, but that doesn't necessarily mean that every YA written = MASSIVE SUCCESS THAT'LL RAKE IN THE $$$
My favorite, though, was the bit about the short chapters. Has this writer never flipped through a Patterson/Dan Brown/Baldacci/insert ANY thriller author here. One of my all-time favorite authors, Steve Berry, has chapters so short they hardly qualify. We're talking a page or two MAX.
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