Paper Hearts by Beth Revis
Genre: Writing Advice, Non-fiction
Published by: Patchwork Press
Pages: 342
Format: e-book
Rating: Helpful! 

Bee and I both study Creative Writing at university, but the nature of our course means that we don’t get to look into writing genre fiction until our third year. I’m always up for listening to writing advice, especially if it comes from a published author like Beth Revis, who wrote the Across the Universe series, and The Body Electric. Getting to read this book gave some excellent specifics about what is need when writing a young adult book, and it’s definitely geared towards YA, as that’s what Beth writes herself. It was basically all I wanted to read about writing YA that was missing from my university course!

One thing I’d say about this book is that it’s comprehensive. There’s so much stuff to digest, and it’s all split up into small chapters that you can read in little chunks so not to get overwhelmed by advice! The contents page is your best friend because you can use it to jump to whatever interests you, or whatever you think would be most valuable to read. It’s something I can imagine myself re-reading and making notes from!

Beth Revis’ writing style is really easy to read, and it feels like she’s just talking to you as you flip through the pages. It’s not too formal, and I loved getting to read about her own personal experience in the publishing world, and the journey from writing in a college dorm to being a NYT bestseller.

The only downside is that it can be a little repetitive, but that doesn’t matter too much. It just helps to reiterate some of the excellent things Beth has to say about writing.

We got to be part of the blog tour for Paper Hearts: Some Writing Advice, so here’s a link to that post, as Beth answers some of our questions about the book, and shares an extremely valuable tip about writing!

If you’re looking for advice on writing YA fiction, and don’t want to bother trawling through all the internet posts that are out there, Paper Hearts offers a great compilation of great advice, debunks common writing advice that doesn’t work for everyone, and generally inspires you to write if that’s what you’re passionate about!