I’m a sucker for sweet fellas who write well. In May I met the 2011 Edgar Award-winning author Charlie Price, and he shot to the top of my sweet fellas list. He was a fellow presenter at the SCBWI Cottonwood Revision Intensive, and we ran a session together and I just fell in love with the guy. He enjoys crafting stories, and he enjoys sharing what he’s figured out about that endeavor with other writers. That put him at the top of another list of mine: Guest Editors for DearEditor.com. Today, I put him to work. Here’s the answer he fielded:
Dear Editor…
Is it acceptable to use passive voice during a slower-paced, more contemplative time in an MG or YA novel?
Thanks,
Patti
To see Charlie’s answer, complete with examples, hop over to his Guest Editor post. And if you want to read a really great mystery, pick up The Interrogation of Gabriel James: “Eyewitness to two 
killings, fourteen-year-old Gabriel James relates the shocking story behind the murders in a police interrogation interspersed with flashbacks. Step by step, this Montana teenager traces his discovery of a link between a troubled classmate’s disturbing home life and an outbreak of local crime. In the process, however, Gabriel becomes increasingly confused about his own culpability for the explosive events that have unfolded.”
Charlie Price received the 2011 Edgar Allen Poe Award for Best Young Adult novel for The Interrogation of Gabriel James. He is also the author of the award-winning young adult novels Dead Connection and Lizard People. For more about Charlie, visit his website.
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