#247. 5 Secrets to Writing YA Fiction (That Actually Feels Like YA)
Fiction Writing Made Easy with Savannah Gilbo | How to Write a Novel & Writing Advice
Outro
Savannah closes the episode, points to her Notes to Novel course, and thanks listeners.
Learn the five craft secrets to writing young adult fiction that actually feels like YA—so when you sit down to write your own, you know exactly what to aim for.
You know what YA feels like when a book is doing it right. The voice pulls you in. The protagonist's world feels enormous and immediate. You finish the book before you remember to put it down. The hard part is being able to do that yourself—on the page, on purpose.
In this episode, I'm walking you through the five secrets that make YA fiction actually feel like YA—the specific craft moves you can use to write the kind of YA novel you love to read.
After ten years as a developmental editor and book coach—and over 1,000 writers through my Notes to Novel course alone—these five secrets are the patterns I find myself teaching over and over again. They're not vibes or instincts—they're learnable craft skills you can use on purpose in your own writing.
What You'll Learn:
- [02:06] What it actually takes to write a YA voice that feels like a teenager living an experience in real time—not an adult character looking back on it with hindsight.
- [07:11] Why peer relationships—not parents or mentors—are the engine of every YA novel that lands, and how to check whether you've accidentally given your adults too much of the wheel.
- [10:12] Why YA stakes feel huge even when the events look ordinary—and how to scale the emotional reality on the page to match what your teen protagonist is actually experiencing.
- [12:57] How to handle the big themes YA is known for—identity, grief, mental health, family—through scenes and character interiority instead of monologues and moralizing.
- [16:24] Why the best YA protagonists hold two contradictory things at once—and why resolving that contradiction too early in the book is what kills the engine of your story.
Whether you're sitting on a YA idea you haven't started yet, or you have a draft that's nearly there but doesn't quite feel right, this episode will give you the craft moves you need to write the kind of YA novel you love to read.
🔗 Links mentioned in this episode:
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