• About Me
  • Writer’s Corner

Elizabeth Fais

~ Where awesome begins…

Elizabeth Fais

Tag Archives: Science Fiction

YA Voice Dilemma ~ by Guest Author Shay Fabbro

16 Monday Apr 2012

Posted by Elizabeth Fais in Fantasy, Mystery, Science Fiction, Time Travel, Young Adult

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Dangerous Reflections, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Shay Fabbro, Time Travel, Twisted Reflections, YA, YA Voice

Today I have special guest author Shay Fabbro on board to share her secrets about writing in an authentic YA voice. It might seem easy peasy when you’re reading a great YA novel, but just try it sometime. You’ll find out it’s NOT. Take notes folks. Because Shay’s more than earned her street creds:

  • Shay Fabbro, PhD is published with BookTrope Publishing
  • A Finalist in the Indie Excellence 2011 Book Awards (Fantasy category)
  • The author of the Portals of Destiny series and The Adventures of Alexis Davenport series
  • A Member of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers
  • Website: shayfabbro.com

Shay’s new book, Twisted Reflections, just released and is the second in The Adventures of Alexis Davenport series.

Stop back this Friday for a chance to win a FREE autographed copy of Dangerous Reflections and Twisted Reflections!

Authentic vs. Realistic YA Dialog … What’s best?

Take it away Shay…

For me, writing dialog for adults is so much easier. I am, after all, an adult (alright
you guys, quit yer laughing!) so this sorta makes sense. But you can’t write dialog in an adult voice and connect with YA readers. You gotta speak their language, get in their heads and put on paper the way their thoughts sound in their own minds.

The problem is this: if I were to actually write dialog exactly how young people talk nowadays, it would have to be rated R and couldn’t be marketed as YA. I spent a lot of time listening to conversations carried on by teens who had no idea they were being observed as part of a scientific/writerly experiment. The results were not all that shocking to me: teens have filthy little mouths and use language that isn’t appropriate for a YA audience to read. They throw out curse words as well as derogatory comments that I can’t even write down.

They, like, also, like use the word “like”, like a lot! And it’s like so annoying and makes me, like, want to shoot myself. Even writing that was painful. As a professor of college students, it STUNS me how many young people can’t formulate a sentence without throwing in the word “like” after every other word. I think it’s the new “umm”.

So while I totally understand the need to write realistic dialog for a teen audience, I am restrained by the very rules that exist to make YA books appropriate for age 13 and up. Most moms wouldn’t want their teen reading something that has the F-word or the n-word thrown in every time one of my characters opened their mouth. I had to find a fine line between realistic and age-appropriate. My YA series, Adventures of Alexis Davenport, has some mild language (damn, hell, etc) and some mild violence but I think it’s totally fine for teens to read. No worse than Harry Potter.

Now as for the “like” every other word…*sigh*. I had to take s stand as a girl, as a nerd, as an educator to refuse to write characters that sound like idiots. I just couldn’t do it. I think it degrades those teens that are smart enough to construct a complete sentence and sound logical and mature. I would rather write dialog that makes my readers smarter, not encourage them to continue to like, talk like idiots.

So what are your thoughts? Should writers be completely genuine when it comes to teen dialog or is there some room to improve (refusing to use idiotic words)?

Leave your comment below for your chance to win one of two FREE autographed paperbacks of Dangerous Reflections or Twisted Reflections!

You can connect with Shay in the following ways:

  • Website
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Calendar

February 2023
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728  
« Jul    

Enter your email address to have new posts sent directly to your inbox.

Join 236 other subscribers

It's really me!

  • Elizabeth Fais

Life is Tweet

Follow @elizabethfais

Recent Posts

  • Wisdom of Richard Peck ~ Writing for young readers
  • The Writer and Rabbit Who Saved the Countryside
  • 3 TREE-rific Informational Picture Books
  • Musings from the Writing Cave
  • MG Review ~ HOW I BECAME A SPY
  • The “Creative High” is real!
  • MG Review: Louisiana’s Way Home by Kate DiCamillo

Past Posts

Officially SCBWI


Member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators

Reading Fun

Advice for Writers

I Write for Apples

Author Photos


Categories

Adventure Amazing but true! Animals Animation Blake Snyder Book Reviews Books Cats Character Dancing Disneyland Elizabeth Fais Fiction Fun Facts Funny Videos Giveaway Giving Back Holiday Humor Inspiration Middle Grade Movies Music Mystery Nonfiction Paranormal Reading Romance SCBWI Shakespeare Story Supernatural Thriller Winner! Writing YA YAppiest Young Adult Zombies

Keeping It Real

wordpress analytics

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Elizabeth Fais
    • Join 236 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Elizabeth Fais
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...