How To Write Young Adult, According to Amy Spalding

By day, Amy Spalding works for an indie film marketing company. Her evenings, however, are spent writing.

Spalding has known that she wanted to be a writer from a young age, but she wasn’t always sure what she wanted to write. “When I was growing up, I thought if I was going to write books, they should be very serious books, like The Grapes of Wrath. I’ve never even read The Grapes of Wrath.” 

She later realized that she needed to write the kind of books she wanted to read, which are, in her own words, “feminist, body-diverse, queer-friendly, full representation, full of a world where kids can feel good about themselves.”

Since her realization, Spalding has published six young adult novels that reflect the books she would have liked to read growing up. But, it didn’t come without its challenges. It took almost three years to get her first book published. “I spent six months just learning the process of getting an agent.”

Positive representation is important to Spalding. “LGBTQ kids are all over, whether or not they know it, whether or not their educators or parents know it, and I just want to reflect reality.” She hopes that her books will reach people in small towns who don’t see themselves anywhere else.

One lesson Spalding has learned in the course of her career is the importance of patience. “What does it matter if it’s good and sharp if it’s only a third of a book?” If a draft isn’t working, there is always time to figure it out. “It’s better for it to happen later in the right way than now in the not-right way. There’s so much more time than you think, and it’s okay to take a breath.” The YA genre appeals to Spalding because “it’s a time with a lot of firsts.” The works of Meg Cabot, among others, particularly inspired Spalding. “The idea that someone could take these really big societal ideas and make this gauzy piece of candy out of them, I was so in.”

Ultimately, Spalding says that there is no wrong way to write a book. “Everyone has their own method, and every method is fine if it gets the job done. And read a ton.” She encourages people to write what they are passionate about and what they want to put into the world. “That’s what I want people to do, is embrace what they love and feel comfortable telling their own story.”

Spalding is currently in the process of writing her seventh novel.