I know, I know – I haven’t been a teenager for rather a long time. But when it comes to writing advice, there’s a lot to be said about this kind of straightforward, no-nonsense advice. I might have double the years, but I got a lot from this.

Interspersed with lots of samples of her own writing, used to illustrate the topics, Jennifer Jenkins takes us on a trip from the idea stage to publishing, via characterisation, tension, world building, and more.

None of the advice is exactly ‘new’ or startling, but it’s very well presented. I particularly liked the chapter on dialogue – not just the nuts and bolts (e.g. where punctuation goes) but so many useful examples on mixing speech and action. I’ve been reading writing advice for a long time now, but this might be the best ‘show don’t tell’ guide I’ve stumbled across!

Kudos to the author for presenting the writing journey with as much humour and encouragement as well as useful tips. The target audience doesn’t mean it’s dumbed down, just missing a lot of superfluous waffle – I think a lot of adult wannabe writers will get just as much from this as kids!

The basics of writing are laid out in story format in this book. I believe it's target audience is 9th/10th grade and would be beneficial to that age group. I am one of those writers who like to go into the table of contents and constantly reference things I want and I can't do that with this book. The table of contents states the chapter with topic and each chapter is followed y a specific writing prompt. There is no breakdown beyond this and I think that may have been useful.

As an aspiring writer (who happens to be a teen) I was instantly intrigued by this book.
I have never read a book solely on the craft of writing, but I have a list of some I want to try (I think my next one will be 'On Writing' by Stephen King!)
This book was definitely a beginner's guide, which while it is exactly how it is marketed- meant it didn't quite live up to the level of information I was seeking

This book definitely makes itself accessible to young readers, as it falls towards the younger end of the young adult bracket. I was just expecting a little more nuance and maturity. I found myself rolling my eyes constantly at the beginning. I'm not sure if the author was trying to make herself relatable to teens or what, but it felt like she was belittling her readers. The constant references to 'back in my day' and 'life without technology- you wouldn't understand' just got on my nerves. However, if that puts you off reading the book, don't worry too much because it dies down as it progresses and gets into the real substance of the book.

'Teen Writer's Guide' was structured so that it would include an excerpt of a piece of writing Jennifer Jenkins did as an example at the beginning of each chapter. It would then go on to explain one aspect of the writing process, and then give some actionable tips. After the first few chapters, I decided to skip the parts of her story included because frankly, I didn't care. They weren't badly written but it just really wasn't my thing or relevant to me. The explanations were useful to a degree. Again, it would be better suited for a younger audience in my opinion as they were quite basic concepts (such as first person vs third person or what tense to use). My favourite parts of the book were the writing prompts. I found them useful and just helped to encourage me to write more! I would recommend this book just to skim through and complete the activities as some motivation.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this to younger teens who don't know much about writing, but want to learn more about the craft!

Thank you to Owl Hollow Press for this ARC

Release Date: 24 March 2020

Teen Writer's Guide: Your Road Map to Writing was a thought-provoking, insightful, cheerful book for writers. As a teen aspiring author myself, I found it beneficial, meaning it's hitting the mark with audience! The facts, ideas, and prompts Jenkins discusses in this book were broad and inclusive of your thoughts and progression, meaning this guide is a suitable set-off point for any writer. I will definitely recommend Your Road Map to Writing to any youth interested in pursuing writing!

My only dislike of this guide is how it is structured and flows. This is no Chicago Manual of Style; rather, it is a story that you have to read like a real book. There is no looking things up with this one! Jenkins includes extensive explanations, anecdotes, and side-stories within the guide, which is inspirational in itself, but distracts from the reason why readers are there: to learn how to write. This small fault of the guide did not lower my rating of it, but I hope that you as a future reader now know what you are getting into. This book is certainly a keeper if you're prepared to read a story about how to write!

Very cool! My 13 year old daughter loved it very much. It kept her busy for a very long time. Actually I enjoyed it as well

A fascinating read with a lot of really good ideas. I've read several of this kind of book, and I enjoyed the way each chapter in this one started with a piece of the author's own writing that highlighted the specific thing she was talking about. The language was clear and concise, not too difficult to follow.

I'll definitely be using some of these ideas and tips next time I write something. A fantastic read.

4 stars

Easy to read and even seasoned writers could benefit from. I really like the book since it covers the basic formulas for writing a book and it reminds me of what I could missed after years.

When I saw this book listed on Netgalley, I was immediately drawn to it because I imagined it would be an easy-to-understand guide for writing a book. It is that, and it’s much more. I love the writing excerpts taken from Jennifer Jenkins personal life. I was particularly fascinated by her experiences growing up with a father in the military. Of course, these excerpts served to demonstrate the various aspects of writing: story ideas, characterization, world-building, plotting framework, tension, dialogue, description, editing, and getting published.

I hadn’t realized this book was designed to be used by high school writing teachers and I think it would make a great addition to any writing curriculum. One of the things I loved was her emphasis on being creative and not getting hung up on the accolades of others. Publishing is great, but it should never be your only goal because it is one you cannot control. Of course, if you’re willing to be author, editor, designer, marketer, and accountant then you can always self-publish. In the end, the book was not only clear and informative, but it was also encouraging and inspirational.

A competent beginners guide for a young writer. I wouldn't hesitate to buy this for the youngsters in my life.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

As with a lot of book lovers, I have always wanted to write one myself. At the grand age of 36 there have been two failed attempts because I realised I wouldn’t want to read the books that I had attempted. Sad times. I know that I need guidance and signposts telling me what to do next. Having good ideas but no way of getting them on the page does not a book make…nor does confusing sentence construction.

However, I decided to give Teen Writer’s Guide a go and smething just clicked. This was the book that I had needed when I was trying to write. It is a well structured book which breaks down the process into easily manageable chunks. It makes you question everything you thought you knew and then helps you make it much better. I finished reading it feeling like Teen Writer’s Guide is the book that will make a difference.

Teen Writers Guide – Your Road Map to Writing by Jennifer Jenkins is available now.

For more information regarding Jennifer Jenkins (@authorjenkins) please visit www.authorjenniferjenkins.com.

This is an excellent resource for teen writers, but it is also full of great tools for writers of any age. Jenkins provides great advice on topics like writing dialog, world building, generating suspense, editing, getting published, and more. Each chapter uses her own writing to illustrate her points and provides bullet lists of the most important points and questions or exercises to work on those skills. I honestly didn't enjoy the passages from her own writing as much as the practical advice part of the book, but I appreciated how they illustrated her advice. Jenkins even provides a chart of how the questions and exercises in each chapter align to common core standards for teachers at the end.

This is a really thorough, fantastic book to help kids make the most of their creative talents. I'm likely to use some of this advice myself in my fiction projects. My husband is currently editing a screenplay under a deadline and is facing a lot of these issues, and I think many of her ideas can help him and his team with that, too. While much of it is basic, it's a great resource with very helpful suggestions.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

What a fantastic resource for aspiring writers! I know this book was meant for teens, but it could be helpful to anyone who may be struggling with different aspects of writing! I also love the humour that Jenkins throws in - she’s the kind of person you want to have coffee with and swap stories!
The layout of the book was very easy to follow, made sense, and really follows a path that allows the author to be very organized and get information about their setting, characters, etc they may not have come across otherwise! If I were writing a story I would most definitely follow the recipe Jenkins has set up here! I also love that she has a few exercises that can be completed, as it’s really important to practice! Each chapter has a review of the main points at the end, and when she mentions POV or setting, for example, in passing she references the chapter in which she goes into detail about it!
Very very well done! Would definitely recommend!!!

Well done and insightful. I would gladly share this book with young authors. Very accessible and helpful.

I love ‚Teen Writer’s Guide: Your Road Map to Writing’ book for its step by step guidlines supported by multiple example. I have a bit of a collection of books connected with YA writing and this is the best one so far. I’m sure I’m going to go back to it many times in the future.

This is a wonderful book for teens who are wanting to get their start in writing. I definitely will be looking at using this for my high school English students. There are so many great examples, guide questions, and personal stories that make the writing process simple. It takes you from the beginning of the writing process all the way to the end. I think this is one of the best guides on writing for teens I have found in a while. Definitely recommend!

Great book with some very good practical tips on writing. It is fairly basic but I feel that for anyone wanting to start out this would be perfect.

Would say it's perfect for the audience it's intended for.

LOVED this book! And this adult learned so much from it. Jenkins style was so personable and never felt condescending. I am going to use this book for both my adult and teen writing groups. They will both be able to learn a lot from this.

The book isn't well formatted and most of the things that happened were predictable. Jennifer Jenkins’ Teen Writer’s Guide is the roadmap I wish I’d had when I was an aspiring teen writer.

This was a very interesting and informative guide to creative writing that I feel everyone could benefit from. Many of the concepts were intuitive, but still good to review. One aspect of the guide that I particularly enjoyed was how each chapter would begin with a short story from the author’s past. She would refer back to that story throughout the chapter and reveal the mechanics behind its sentence structure and verb tense. Jennifer Jenkin’s innumerable amount of references to Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and The Chronicles of Narnia were also enjoyable to read, especially because they are among my favorite books. The guide itself was very well written, although I would expect nothing less from a book whose sole purpose is to explain good writing. I would recommend it to aspiring authors and those wishing to improve their everyday writing skills, This isn’t the first guide I’ve read about creative writing, but it is certainly one of the best.

I received a free copy of this creative writing guide from Netgalley, opinions are my own.

Teen Writer's Guide: Your Road Map to Writing
by Jennifer Jenkins


Owl Hollow Press

Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Titles
Reference , Teens & YA

Pub Date 24 Mar 2020


I am reviewing Teen Writer’s Guide: Your Road Map to Writing through Owl Hollow Press:

Can you use your imagination to turn a single picture into a plot line, if you can this book is just the ticket for you.


Before you begin with your short story, novel or other piece of writing ask yourself if this is a genre you would read? Is your story idea one you could find yourself reading, that will help you in the telling of the story. It is important too decide who is going to narrate your story, will it be the main character or someone or something all together different.
You will need to decide too whether your story will be told in the First, Second or Third Person POV, noting that most stories are told in the first or third person point of view.


You will need to decide too the main conflict of the story you are telling. And ask yourself too what is at stake if your hero or heroine does not succeed in his quest. Ask yourself too what your characters main goal is what does he or she want to achieve above all else? Make sure your characters fit the story you are telling as well, not all characters will fit in all stories.



This book would be a great addition to the library of the young adult in your life who has showed an interest in writing, or a great addition to the High School English or Creative Writing Class.

I give Teen Wrier’s Guide: Your Road Map to Writing five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!