Swearing in YA: Is it Worth It?

As I was reading over my current work-in-progress yesterday, I remembered that I'd included a fair amount of bad language. In my defense, this is an upper-upper YA (set in the summer after high school), and the main character is a boy who plays a lot of online video games. When I was writing his dialogue and that of his best friend, the swear words just flowed out.

But like other content issues like sex and violence, bad language in books intended for teenagers can be a hot-button topic. Although many young adults talk like that on a regular basis, that doesn't mean adults – who are often the ones buying them the books – want to encourage it or make it seem cool.

Personally, I like former literary agent Mary Kole's take on the subject: that using swear words is just a choice the writer makes or doesn't make. If the writing requires that word, that's the word that should be used. Would anyone buy that my two 18-year-old gamer friends don't drop a few (mostly mild) swear words when they get excited? I made the conscious choice to include those words because I thought it made the characters more authentic and relatable.

Of course, if you decide to go this route, you have to be prepared to deal with the consequences. Those who are trying to get their work traditionally published might run into problems at some imprints that prefer to keep their titles swear-word free. And once you are published, some librarians, schools, and booksellers may balk at carrying your book or recommending it to teens.

Do you include swear words in your YA writing?

Body Parts: They Shouldn't Tell Your Story For You

I'm drafting for the first time in a while, so my mind is on effective writing techniques.

I read this great post by Nicole Steinhaus at YA Stands last year: Action Speaks Louder Than Body Parts. Nicole was working as a literary intern and noticed writers using an awful lot of physical reactions to indicate how a character was feeling or reacting to events in the story. Examples: someone's heart pounding, knees going weak, palms, sweating, or brows furrowing.

In the article linked above, the author makes some good points (with examples from John Green's truly excellent Looking for Alaska) about why action that shows a character's response is often much better.

This is a particular weak point in my writing, so I'm going to pay more attention to it in the future. At the very least, I'm going to make sure to avoid cliché physical reactions like hearts slamming against chests and (a personal favorite) letting out breaths the characters didn't know they'd been holding.

That's not to say that there's no place for telling the reader what physical reactions the character is experiencing--after all, it is showing rather than telling (although this post makes the point that it's just a different kind of telling, and I sort of agree). But the writing can often be more effective if the body part action is kept to a minimum.

In case you're still on the fence, I leave you with this post from former lit agent Mary Kole: Physical Clichés.

Industry Month In Review: Yay, Yay, YA!

It's time for this month's Industry Month in Review.  Good news!  The Washington Post noted that sales for children's and young adult fiction increased 12!  


Let's revel in it for a second...okay, now back to work.  


More, more, more!  We hear this all the time.  More is always better right?  Wrong.  Movable Type Management Senior Literary Manager Mary Kole reminds us in her July 9th blog The Law of Diminishing Returns that in the case of fiction, this may not always be true.  Kole uses the example of action scenes to prove her point.  A great action scene leaves the reader excited and wanting more, but five in a row and you'll have the reader screaming cut!


Last month Pixar storyboard artist Emma Coats posted her 22 rules of storytelling.  This month, we have Joss Whedon's Top 10 Writing Tips.  


As Canadians know, no YA library is complete without a copy of ANNE OF GREEN GABLES (it's practically burned into our brains). It's interesting to note that in the recently published The Complete Journals of L.M. Montgomery, the PEI Years, 1889-1900, the teenaged author of the Canadian classic wrote journal entries in the late 19th century that were filled with the same gripes and angst that we hear from teenagers today.  Some things never change. 


Finally, I leave you with this most awesomest of little people youtube videos. Written by a cool kid and brought to life by fun adults...did I mention it guest stars Joss Whedon? How can it not be awesome!