Can one that does not read YA, write YA?

Personally, I think it helps to at least have a minimal awareness of what professional authors in your genre of choice have written -- if only to get a handle on what works (or doesn't).

http://thenovelproject.blogspot.com/
http://sillyroger.com/

Simply put: No. I don't believe that you can.

If you're not living in the moment, right now, as a teenager, than you really have no say. Regardless of what time period you were a teenager in, chances are very likely that things have changed. Having children who are teens or reading YA would really be the only way you could even begin to understand the world of teens.

Of course I'm biased, but I'll frankly say that it does bother me when adults, who always stereotype teens as "the bad age" write YA and they mess it all up. Because it has been done.

So it would be nice to see some insight, you can't just guess. My advice would be: Don't pick up a Twilight or Harry Potter. Pick up something like The Virgin Suicides, The Outsiders, Crank, or anything by Dan Levithan, even some Meg Cabot. They do a pretty good job.

I know I'd never write a story about Thomas Jefferson without delving into a biography or ten.

If I have to make my name mean something to this world, I will. If I have to seize the power, I swear I can. If that’s what it takes to build you up again, to make you perfect, I’ll unravel, I’ll tie up, I’ll destroy this world if you want me to.

I think you need to read YA to write YA as well. It's helpful to know your target audience and what they read.

I suppose it's possible not to, but it seems unwise to me.

I'm not a teenager (though I still probably fall into the YA category as a 20 something) but I've worked with a lot of teenagers (camp counselor (as the person in charge), co-worker in nursery and I"m currently in a church play with a bunch of 14-16 year olds) and I still don't think I would write the genre without reading the genre.

I read YA fantasy, though a few of the authors the previous poster mentioned I've read. It's like trying to write for a newspaper without reading a newspaper. You wouldn't know the proper style.

Of course you can. You'll just be better at it if you've read a lot of YA too.

General story-crafting skills are necessary for any audience. Good that you have them. What you'll need, jumping into writing for younger readers, are techniques for crafting your narrative so that readers with less life experience still get the messages you want them to get, while at the same time not dumbing down your writing to the level that you insult your audience. You have to find that place that's in between what an adult reader can infer from context (reading between the lines) and an amount of overt explication of feelings and motives that will make the reader think you think they're an idiot.

Reading good YA material is, as with any other genre, the best way to pickle yourself in the brine of that genre's tips, tricks, and conventions.

Crashdown (YA sci-fi / horror)
Stranded on an alien world, Ruve must deny his own humanity in order to survive. To get home, he'll need the help of someone back here on Earth. If, that is, he can convince anyone here that he's real.

I don't read much YA, but my NaNo is YA. I HAVE read it and that was all I used to read, but I have kind of grown out of it. I've mentioned in other posts that this is partly because good, truthful writing is hard to find in the YA world. I still enjoy it time to time, but it has to be good writing. The reason I ended up writing YA now is because it just kind of happened that way. The characters are young (I'm only 19) and they ended up working as a YA novel.

The Virgin Suicides? Really? Really? One of the worst examples of YA fiction ever!

Anyone can write any book they want to write. Reading other YA books isn't going to help you much but they are entertaining!

Hehehe... this got my hackles up a bit, since as a starting premise it implies that YA books should be written by teenagers. You went on to expand that a bit though, so I didn't stay hung up on it. Much.

Some of us old fogeys with kids remember the challenges of being a teenager like it was yesterday. The inability to be truly independent, the desire to be, the feeling we're misunderstood, can't live up to parents/teachers/society's mores and so think we maybe don't want to, etc etc.

I think the only prerequisite for being able to write in a genre like YA - or anything - is can you *really* put yourself in the shoes of your audience? If you can, then you can write in a way that speaks to their heart. If not, then you will come across as obscure, or at worst, preachy.

But to get on topic: Read YA, if you can IMHO. You can pick up one of the shorter YA novels and read it on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Call it research perhaps, but if you don't enjoy reading the genre as part of the audience, how are you going to identify with that audience and enjoy writing it?

I don't see how. The book tackles problematic teenagers on a deeper level, nothing you'll ever get in cheesy mainstream YA. It's just as meaningful as Joyce's Araby, without all the ridiculous nonsense of the twenty first century. No one can tell me it's not a good book, because it is. And not thinking that it can compare to any YA out there is just pathetic. I'm afraid to see what some deem as appropriate.

Sure anyone can write whatever they want.

Doesn't mean they'll be good at it.

If I have to make my name mean something to this world, I will. If I have to seize the power, I swear I can. If that’s what it takes to build you up again, to make you perfect, I’ll unravel, I’ll tie up, I’ll destroy this world if you want me to.

Oh of course not, teenagers simply do not have the prowess that all adults must possess. It's reasonable that all teenagers don't have the ability to write. Neither do adults.

It's a wonder when one has a problem they don't turn to the people who are older to them. The ones who are so good at solving their problems.

If I have to make my name mean something to this world, I will. If I have to seize the power, I swear I can. If that’s what it takes to build you up again, to make you perfect, I’ll unravel, I’ll tie up, I’ll destroy this world if you want me to.

As an adult, yes you can. Because we were all teenagers once and I'm very sure that we all read YA-themed novels at that age range. Eventually our tastes mature a bit, but for me I can never forget various YA novels I've read when I was a teen.

I read mostly mystery/detective novels now but I started reading them by reading YA mystery novels like Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys (I don't watch Veronica Mars, but my sisters do). My goal as a writer is to have a good mix of both and we see it all the time around many YA books and even on TV shows and movies targeting teenagers.

Personally I don't have to read the latest YA novels such as Twilight just for me to write YA novels in general.

My NaNoWriMo! progress blog :: ADRIATASTIC! (writing station) :: My DeviantArt

I don't really care for YA at all but apparently my nano is YA because my main character is seventeen.

I say so.

Maybe it's because I'm a teen myself so I don't know what it's like not to know what it's like to be a teen. XP

But I think that these days the teen genre is too heavily aimed at 'coming of age' and 'issues of modern teenagers' than making a book that teenagers like to read.

What happened to adventure stories with quirky romances and complex family relationships that aren't based off "My god I hate my mom! My little brother's a twit!"

I mean, one of my favorite things about Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game is the relationship between Ender and his sister. Every time I read that book the part where Valentine writes "the most noble title anyone can have is Third" I can't help but cry! I even cried at school for heaven's sake!

I guess what I'm saying is that you probably don't need to read YA to write good YA. Just write a good book! I think the worst YA ever written has been awful because the author had teenagers in mind while writing it. I've been working on polishing up my YA fantasy novel for a year now and about eight months ago I was suffering from 'make-teenagers-like-it-itis'. When I finally gave up on that mentality and instead just tried writing it to make it an awesome book, suddenly my older brother loved it, my mother loved it, and my teenage friends loved it. And it's YA status hasn't suffered because of it.

Because updating my word count was so inspiring:

NaNo 08 (continued into December because I didn't finish it yet):
53,826