teens – Almost An Author

Five Things You Must Do To Reach Teen Readers

Sometimes it’s hard to remember all the emotions, feelings, and concerns that young teens have. Times change, attitudes change, technology changes, but some things remain the same. A wise author taps into universal truths to write a compelling story that resonates with readers.

Consider the Concerns of Your Audience

It’s not enough to care about teen and preteen readers. To reach them, authors must connect. Young readers want to know that the things they care about are being addressed.

Ask the teens in your life what they’re worried about. The issues today’s teens deal with seem far from what previous generations faced, but commonalities exist. The same threads are woven throughout coming-of-age stories, because all people go through some predictable processes, experiences, and emotions as they mature. There are variations but there are just as many, if not more, similarities. The trick is to translate past experience into material relevant and accessible to today’s readers. Stretch yourself and find the connection, a way to relate to what your audience is going through right now. Dig deep, draw on the experiences of your own adolescence, and make specific applications to the best of your ability.

Talk to People

If an author chooses to ignore the concerns and fears at the forefront of their audience’s mind, they risk a disconnect. If you’re unsure or unaware of the issues, start a conversation with a favorite teen or two (or three). Teenagers are not always the most forthcoming of conversationalists—depending on who they’re talking to—but give them a chance to express themselves by going to the source first, your target reader. Listen to what they have to say. Then, ask teachers and youth counselors what they feel are the most important issues facing young people today.

Have a Sensitive Heart

Once you’ve found an issue you want to address, approach it with sensitivity, caring, and compassion. No one wants to be preached at, talked down to, or lectured. This is true no matter the age of your audience.

Make good use of beta readers and critique partners. Ask them to look for places that are preachy or heavy-handed. Enlist the help of a sensitivity reader when needed.

Be Authentic

Everyone has been disappointed, suffered a loss, felt misunderstood, felt lost, failed, been embarrassed, and so on. Without authentic emotion, it’s difficult for a reader to become invested in a story. The saying is true, No tears in the writer, No tears in the reader. Don’t be afraid of powerful emotions. Capture them and put them on the page.

Go Beyond Surface Research

Understand the culture and attitudes of your audience, going beyond the surface. What’s popular today may be obsolete tomorrow. Points of view, ways of seeing the world, and cultural influences can have more of a lasting impact than trends. It’s important to know where people are coming from, how they interpret their environment. If an author doesn’t understand their intended audience, they aren’t likely to reach them.

If your story is contemporary, by the time it goes to press current fads may have fallen out of fashion. Stick to describing details that will remain the same for a few years or longer and avoid anything trendy. On the other hand, if you want to date your writing, use details firmly establishing your story in a particular time period.

Keep your eye on the prize. Writing for young adults is a calling. It’s an opportunity to have a tremendous influence on the future and change lives with the potential to have a lasting impact.

Donna Jo Stone is an award-winning author of young adult contemporary and adult historical fiction. She writes about tough issues but always ends her stories on a note of hope. Her novels are about common struggles and finding the faith to carry on through those battles.

The first book in Donna Jo’s young adult series is scheduled for publication in 2025, and her adult inspirational novella, Book Five in The Apron Strings Series, will release in May of 2024. You can find out more at donnajostone.com.

Five Principles to Follow When Blogging for Teens-Josiah DeGraff

For the past five years, I’ve been blogging for teenage fiction writers. As the editor-in-chief of an online magazine for teenage writers, I’ve alternately approved and rejected many articles targeting teenagers and have gained a lot of experience on what works. While the prospect of writing for teenagers may seem intimidating, as someone who wasn’t a teenager all that long ago, writing effectively for teens is very doable if you follow a few simple steps:

Get to the Point. We live in an era where a lot of different opportunities are pulling on people’s attention. This is especially true for teenagers. I don’t believe that means we need to write short pieces for teens (most of mine tend to be between 1,500 and 2,500 words). But it does mean you need to get to the point immediately and not waste time rambling. If you avoid writing fluff and hit your points hard, you may be surprised at how many committed teens will keep reading your writing. [bctt tweet=”If you avoid writing fluff and hit your points hard, you may be surprised at how many committed teens will keep reading your writing.” username=””]
Don’t Try to Sound Sophisticated. In my experience, teens can handle complicated topics just like anyone else. But you need to know how to phrase it—and you can’t put it in sophisticated terms. Teens aren’t looking for someone who sounds smart and educated. They’re looking for someone who communicates effectively without putting on any airs. You’re not doing yourself any favors by using words that sound intelligent. Instead, learn how to speak their language, explain complicated concepts in simple terms, and reach them where they’re at.
Be Personal. Teens value authenticity and relatability. The more personal you can be in your writing, the more effective you’ll be in writing for teens. Perhaps more than any other group, teens want to read about someone who sounds like them and who can communicate to them in relevant ways. Don’t be afraid of revealing a bit more of yourself than you would otherwise, or sounding a bit less professional in your blogging style. The more personal you are, the more teens will trust you and care about what you’re saying. Remember: a little humor can go a long way!
Connect Complicated Concepts to Practical Examples. As a high school English teacher, I often have to explain complicated literary concepts to teenagers. Breaking concepts down into simple terms helps, but relating these concepts to practical examples—like a current event or a current trend—can make a world of difference in the classroom. The same principle applies to blogging. When I’m helping teens with complicated writing concepts, showing applications of those concepts in popular books and movies makes them a lot less complex. The more you can connect what you’re saying to what teens are familiar with, the better.
Writing for Teens Isn’t Much Different than Writing for Adults. Sometimes, writers get too concerned about changing their writing for teens. But at the end of the day, teens can handle a lot more than we think they can. Speaking as someone who wasn’t a teen that long ago, we don’t like it when people dumb stuff down for us. Many of the principles I’ve already described apply when writing for adults as well! The only difference is how you apply these principles. If you assume that teens can’t understand important concepts, you’ll reap what you sow. But if you treat them as intelligent adults while tweaking your style appropriately, you may be surprised by how much they can rise to the challenge.

If you write high-quality content that hits teens where they are, you’ve already won the main battle; everything else is in the details. When I was a teen, I was consistently frustrated by how shallow most books and blogs targeted at teens were, and ended up reading many books targeted to adults if I wanted to learn anything. There’s a huge untapped market for reaching teens effectively with writing that’s actually helpful—particularly in the fiction writing sphere. Treat teens like anyone else while keeping their idiosyncrasies in mind, and you’ll be well on the path to writing effectively for teens.

Bio: Josiah DeGraaf is a high school English teacher and the editor-in-chief of http://kingdompen.org/, a site that equips teens to write for Christ with proficiency and purpose. When he’s not working at either of those pursuits, he spends his free time reading fantasy novels and trying to break into the fantasy market. You can follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JosiahDeGraaf