Anne McDonald: Let's open in prayer. Father, Thank you for your love and your protection. Bless Janet as she shares her expertise with us Guide our conversation. In Jesus' Name. Amen

I'd like to introduce author Janet Chester Bly, a prolific writer. She has expertise in various fields, but tonight, we will concentrate on writing for teens. Janet, welcome.

Janet Bly: Thanks, Annie. I'll just go on ahead with my presentation.

First of all, what are the main needs of teens through literature? They need role models! They need characters who make right choices or learn from their wrong choices. They need characters who seem real to them, who they can relate to in ways they think and act. They also need to hear about well known personalities as positive role models in the real world. There's no magic formula, but we must give them a story with a cast of characters they can identify with, if it's fiction we're writing.

Hook and entertain the reluctant reader in the first page, the first chapter, basic to all writing, crucial in writing for YA market. Give them a problem they recognize as real and valid and important to the protagonist. Use lots of dialogue with an authentic sound and work the scenes out visually, in terms of action rather than internal debate. Try for constant tension and a cliff-hanger ending to each chapter. Tell the story straight, tell it simply, tell it honestly, and make it as exciting as possible. The key word is HONESTY. Teens respond to it.

HOW TO BE A BETTER WRITER FOR TEENS . . . Paul said in 1 Cor. 9:22, "To the weak I became weak that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men that I might by all means save some." Today life is different for teens. Tomorrow it will be even more so, and who knows what a year may bring? Do everything you can to understand the world they live in TODAY. We all live in a changing world, but adolescents encounter this rapid change with the added frustration of undergoing rapid change themselves. At a time when they search for something permanent, something fixed, they see only instability. The truth is, the teen years can be terrifying, and not just for the parents. :)

And in this period of self-discovery, they don't easily respond to and identify with the needs of others. Jay Kesler says, "Today's teenagers are apathetic because they know just enough about the world to think they don't matter." Sad, isn't it? But they feel strongly about things. And they may say so to a writer like you who wants to write for them.