For
the sake of this process, I’m going to refer to my own first YA novel: Pride
& Princesses in this section.
Genre: Teen romance novel/ Young Adult
Synopsis: When two best friends invent a dating game that includes
a group of mean girls (known as The Princesses)
and the hot new guys in school, their lives change forever.
When
I do refer to it, please know I am not holding it up as a standard. I am aware it is imperfect. It is, however, uniquely
mine. I so enjoyed the process of writing it, I want to share some of that process
with you.
I’m
also going to mention writers whose work I have been privileged to read.
First up, Your
beginning has to grab the reader’s attention.
- In Pride & Princesses I had an image in my mind of a game I used to play at school with some friends. It was funny. It was kind of an acting game.
- I also thought of the consequences of a life-changing moment.
- Unbeknownst to the reader, Phoebe’s life-changing moment is meeting her future husband. Not to sound too dramatic but what seems like a throw-away line:
- “The first time I saw Mark Knightly, my world changed forever…”
- Actually has resonance.
With
your novel, find that image, find that moment and try to write a sentence that
readers are going to remember.
- I remember the first sentences of all my favourite novels.
- Who remembers this one?
- “When I stepped out into the bright sunlight form the darkness of the movie house…”
It’s
from The Outsiders by SE Hinton… If you’re a teenager and you haven’t read it,
well, I think you should.
