Control: Making an Exciting Young Adult Novel

I, Dalton Lewis, write for young people regularly. Creating a young adult novel means something for me: it means a chance to deal with problems that I had a long time ago. I remember being unhappy in middle school and being yelled at that I was gay — and it was meant as an insult. That time meant finding out that everything wasn’t perfect or magical — a time of disillusionment and alienation and cruelty.

I just finished a novella in which I try to express all the worst problems that happen in middle school. Writing a novella about religion has a host of problems that come with it: how do I show real, flawed characters who have a lot of different views on religion? How do I show God as a possible answer, secular life as a possible answer, and worshiping Satan as an answer that some people pursue?

Creating a strong central character shows an audience someone to care about and follow and root for. I know it’s a cliche, but make someone unique and interesting. My character, Everett Cunningham, is clever, sharp, overweight, and fights back desperately against the unfairness and bullying in his life. He believes in God but also is attracted to guys and girls. Trying to figure out such a strong, interesting character is an important first step to writing an effective story.

Reflect reality. Using details from observing people creates a better quality of description. I wanted this novella to show a time when people just start to question the world around them and realize how dangerous and broken it can be. I also included the coronavirus to show something that happened this year and probably affected the students a lot.

My nephew is getting angrier and more sullen. He’s in fifth grade or so, and seeing him helps me to write for people of that age. I want to show him reality instead of giving him a nice lie, a story in which good guys defeat bad guys and nothing much challenging happens.

And the rumor that I should have waited a month and rewritten it again? Eventually you need to publish the damned thing and get a response. Eventually you need to take a chance and show something to the world. That means something — I want to show the world this story. This story means something to me.

Emulate something that works — a movie or book that spoke to you. Trying to show the sort of story that you like really elevates a story. Try to write the best novel you can. Don’t worry about action sequences — worry about the characters and the emotions, and let the action happen. The action will happen eventually. That’s just a few of my thoughts about how to write an effective, exciting story.

Thanks, and take care, friends.