Make Your YA Novel a Reality with David Bowles

Mondays, July 5, 12, & 22, 2024 from 6:30-8:30pm cst in person at Gemini Ink
Instructor: David Bowles
Nonmember: $150; Member: $130; Student/Educator/Mil $75

*EARN CPE’S

SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE. 

Do you aspire to become the next Jacqueline Woodson, Suzanne Collins, or Benjamin Saenz? From dystopian adventures to explorations of young romance to coming-of-age stories, the demand for fiction for young adult readers is as strong as ever. But how do you take a YA novel from concept to reality?

In this three-part course, award-winning author David Bowles will guide participants through the process of developing their ideas for a YA novel from a concept to a synopsis and first chapter. We will discuss stylistic elements when writing longform fiction for teens—prose novels, novels-in-verse, graphic novels. We will also learn how to prepare to pitch YA (young adult) projects to agents and/or editors.

This class is open to writers of all skill levels who are interested or in the throes of writing YA.

By the end of the class students will have:

• Initial chapters and synopsis for a longform work of YA fiction
• A plan for completing and revising the manuscript
• A cover letter and pitch to begin shopping for an agent / publisher

David Bowles is a Mexican American author and translator from south Texas, where he teaches at the University of Texas Río Grande Valley. He has written over three dozen award-winning titles, most notably They Call Me Güero and My Two Border Towns. His work has also been published in multiple anthologies, plus venues such as The New York Times, Strange Horizons, Apex Magazine, School Library Journal, Rattle, Translation Review, and the Journal of Children’s Literature. Additionally, David has worked on several TV/film projects, including Victor and Valentino (Cartoon Network), the Moctezuma & Cortés miniseries (Amazon/Amblin) and Monsters and Mysteries in America (Discovery). In 2017, David was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters. He now serves as its vice president. In 2019, he co-founded the hashtag and activist movement #DignidadLiteraria, which has negotiated greater Latinx representation in publishing. In 2021, he helped launch Chispa, the Latinx imprint of Scout Comics, for which he serves as co-publisher. David’s literary representation is Taylor Martindale Kean and Stefanie Von Borstel of Full Circle Literary. His Hollywood representation is Sandra Ávila of Inclusion Management. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram: @DavidOBowles

Parking at Gemini Ink
Gemini Ink offers free parking along the back wall of our downtown offices. Please access this parking lot from Augusta St and first park in any of the 12 spots along the back wall. Only when these 12 spots are full do we ask that you park elsewhere in our lot. We now rent our offices from UTSA and are collaborating with them to create a secure and accessible parking lot for our community of writers and readers.