How to Write Young Adult Fantasy: Part 1 — Defining the Genre

The book that renewed my love for young adult fantasy was Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke & Bone, where wishes can be bought with strange currency:

It wasn’t like in the storybooks. No witches lurked at crossroads disguised as crones, waiting to reward travelers who shared their bread. Genies didn’t burst from lamps, and talking fish didn’t bargain for their lives. In all the world, there was only one place humans could get wishes: Brimstone’s shop. And there was only one currency he accepted. It wasn’t gold, or riddles, or kindness, or any other fairy-tale nonsense, and no, it wasn’t souls, either. It was weirder than any of that.

It was teeth.

I read YA fantasy to feel that sense of wonder. It’s a genre with particular qualities that bring me joy as a reader. As March McCarron, author of The Marked series, says:

“So much of what distinguishes YA fiction has nothing to do with the age of the characters, and everything to do with pacing, focal points, and style.”