One of the things I love about writing YA is that writing in genre is encouraged and supported. In the six books I’ve written, three have been post-apocalyptic, one horror (okay, comedy/horror) and two fell into the historical fantasy genre.

Playing with genre is fun and a great way to wake up the brain, so I thought I’d share with you a fun 5 minute-warm up you can use the next time you sit down to write – or any time you need to fire up your brain creatively.

Here’s the exercise:
1. Make a...