With the success of young adult fantasy novels such as the Twilight and Harry Potter series, supernatural protagonists were the standard over the last few years. Even though readers may be tiring of vampires and wizardry, it seems that characters with supernatural powers or paranormal tendencies are here to stay. Supernatural protagonists are everywhere in…

Katniss Everdeen, Eden Newman, Bella  Swan—if it weren’t for some of these strong female protagonists in young adult novels, teenage girls may still be looking for that fairy tale ending of being rescued by their knight in shining armor—on a white horse, of course. Beautiful as those fairy tales may be, there’s nothing like having…

In the past few years, there’s been a surge in popularity among young adult fantasy novels. There was a huge boom in paranormal romance novels with all the Twilight fanfare, spurring a multitude of vampire novels that seemed never ending. Yet now readers seem to be losing interest in vampires in wizardry, but not necessarily…

Writing young adult novelsis not as easy as you might think. It’s not just about writing something hip or trendy, nor is it as simple as writing from an adolescent perspective or having a teenage protagonist. While a major part of the audience is in the standard young adult demographic (12-17), people from all ages…

The widespread popularity of young adult fiction books is an anomaly to many—it’s hard for people to understand why adults want to read books targeted to a teen audience. “Want” is an understatement—teens and adults alike line up at bookstores to get their hands on books the day they’re released, flock to conventions and wait…

Does the majority of our society believe we are doomed? Our fascination with end of the world books seems to indicate that we do. Whether it’s the Mayan predictions of 2012 or the words of Nostradamus, prophecies about the end of the world have been debated in books, idealized in films and flooding our pop…

It’s clear that young adult novels appeal to all ages—adult women flock to Twilight conventions and book signings, and it’s not just to accompany their teenage daughters (though clearly, they’re big fans of as well). Everyone from tweens to the middle aged swarm the bookstores for the latest young adult fiction books. It’s an interesting…

Creating characters for young adult novels may not be the easiest thing to do, especially if your teenage years seem a lifetime ago—but they can definitely be the most gratifying to write. An author has to really know and understand their characters, even the antagonists, so that they can create real individuals who readers can…

If we were back in 2005 and you were an author trying to submit dystopian novels to publishers, you probably would not get much response. The thought of gambling on young adult novels written about depressed societies just didn’t sound like a good one. Fast forward to present day—dystopian literature is flourishing. The success of…

Paranormal romance novels are hot as ever—more books are being made into films or televisions shows, sequels are being churned out and conventions are teeming with fanatic readers. It’s an interesting phenomenon that many experts have differing opinions about, but that writers and publishing houses across the world are capitalizing on. With roots in Gothic…