Podcasts › Fiction Writing Made Easy with Savannah Gilbo
#247. 5 Secrets to Writing YA Fiction (That Actually Feels Like YA)
What's in this episode
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