young adult fiction

[Dragonlady]

I know there have been threads about this previously, but I couldn't find them. I'm wondering if my current WIP would be best sold as a young adult novel, and thought I'd better look into this before I have written much more. It's a fantasy romance, with strong themes of identity and coming of age. The protagonist is young - perhaps 18/19 by the end. I've been told my style reads a lot like young adult. I read a lot of young adult fantasy. The other ideas/ temporarily shelved works I have are not romances but have young protagonists and elements of coming of age. I guess my questions are twofold:

1. Is there anything specific I should be doing in the writing of it? I'm using a fairly close 3rd person unlimited omniscient. There may be a couple of whole-chapter perspective shifts to the other main protagonist.

2. If I do decide to label this story as young adult, would this be limiting for the future, if I decide to write adult characters, even one of these characters as an adult?

Any suggestions or reading material welcome! Thanks

 

[Overread]

Young Adult is a really broad sweeping generalised bracket. It's a little bit like when people say "come dressed in smart casual". It's almost meaningless as a general term and covers a very broad spectrum of elements with a few rough and ready hard fast rules. Another tricky aspect is that YA hasn't really got a fixed age bracket and runs the gauntlet from teenager through to, well, young adults in their 20s. So they can be quite mature writing.
I would say that it doesn't mean the characters have to be young at all, though often that is the case as that helps relate to the general target audience. But they don't have to be young in the least - they can be old gruff adventurers; wise wizards; cats - etc...

YA is a really big "catch all" block that might have very few to no universal limits save for when you start talking to a specific editor/publisher. Then you might get some clear guidelines as to what they consider YA, though these might not be universal between them all.

I would say that for a romance about the only thing you'd likely have to avoid would be things like graphic sex descriptions. Characters might fall in love and sleep with each other and swoon over the memories of the night together; you might even start describing them beginning to lay with each other just as the clothing is coming off. It's going into detail of the moment and such that you'd be leaving totally out.

Same for violence - orks might lose many arms and there might be the odd splurting of blood but you won't be going into extreme graphic detail.


It shouldn't limit you for the future, quite a few series can "mature" as the author develops them into a series. Even major series like Harry Potter get progressively a bit more mature as the series went on. With darker elements coming out in the latter books that wouldn't have fit well into the earlier ones.

The other thing that I'd expect is modern language. That doesn't mean your medieval peasants are saying "like" every other word or cool that's nifty etc... Just that you'd likely not be reaching for a thesaurus too much for alternative more flowery or "old" style descriptions. Your writing voice would be modern, approachable and fairly easy to read. So basically what most would consider "modern".


At least those are my impressions as a reader.

 

[Dragonlady]

they pretty much fit with how I write, I have no desire for graphic sex or violence and am pretty lazy when it comes to checking if my writing fits its setting.

 

[Overread]

and am pretty lazy when it comes to checking if my writing fits its setting.

Be careful with this one, more so in the interjection of very modern words into a past setting. It can be pretty jarring as reader when your ancient people casually reference things that shouldn't be or who use words which "feel" out of place. My example above of the word "like" every other word; or the use of terms like "Cool" can appear really jarring and break the immersion to the reader (unless they are very young).

You don't have to present actual old-world styles of writing/talk and you might only have to make casual use of things like names (eg Lord of the Rings many of the Hobbit names establish them as countryside folk very readily without any special words or language use). Just more so ensure that you're not sending modern stuff back in time. Of course if one of your characters jumped through a portal in a wardrobe then they can most certainly use terms from their period in time in that ancient time and it creates a nice division and difference that readers can observe.

 

[Dragonlady]

I hope I'm hitting a middle ground, I was never cool in the first place , but I'm sure I'll have plenty of work to do when editing

 

[Jo Zebedee]

YA can have anything in it - even quite graphic stuff - provided its handled well.

 

[tinkerdan]

I'm not sure I'd worry about it until it is finished--even then it depends on how you intend on publishing.
Self publishing--you can try to fit it anywhere you like.
Traditional publishers are there for this very fact--they will put it where they feel it is best suited in the market because they want to make money with it.

However a thorough look at other--traditionally published novels would help in determining where that type of work is being placed.

Also you might look at the word count--if it is epic in size that could hurt in the YA market--though when I was told this I was puzzled because the Harry Potter series seemed to have grown quite epic with each book. (I consider that YA; however since it kept showing up in the office where I work, when they first come out--it seemed to have expanded well beyond the target market.)

 

[Dave Carignan]

I agree with the comment above about not worrying till it’s finished. It’s something I keep telling myself when it comes to quick edits after I finish a chapter. I know 100% I’m writing a YA novel, but I’m regards to not worrying about too much before it’s finished helps me move along with the story itself. I believe those words themself help me with many aspects of the writing process.

 

[mistri]

I always feel like the agent/publisher will be the one that ultimately decide, all you can do is write the story as best you can. It might help to read widely in YA and adult.

I do sometimes fear that agents will see my young characters and assume YA (they're not that young but 19/20). I don't do grimdark, so if it's a cleanish fantasy will they think YA? But if I got anywhere with book one, I want to go on a much longer journey through their 20s in 2/3 which would get darker.

I've decided it's pointless worrying about it unless it actually gets picked up, which at this stage is looking pretty unlikely!

I might try and write something that very firmly/obviously ISN'T YA next time to avoid this worry!

 

[Steve Harrison]

I wrote my latest novel at the suggestion of my daughter, who complained she couldn't find many adventure stories with well adjusted, angst-free girls with living parents. It's a humorous science fiction adventure I wrote to entertain myself and was not aimed at, or written for, a particular age group, but because the protagonists are a couple of 15 year old girls, it's classed as YA and marketed as such by the publisher. Which is a shame, as older readers appreciate more of the references.

 

[Overread]

I've always rather liked Pullman's line in a QA Philip Pullman - QAs
"
Q Who do you write for children or adults?

A Myself. No-one else. If the story I write turns out to be the sort of thing that children enjoy reading, then well and good. But I don't write for children: I write books that children read. Some clever adults read them too."

Which I think honestly sums up a lot of things. Consider how many adults still enjoy things like Pixar films even though they don't have the power of nostalgia within them like one might argue for many of the comic-book movies we get. (I should note that its my personal view that animation is not for kids and never has been - its just a medium - I just picked Pixar because they are a good example for this)

 

[Pemry Janes]

I think Pullman has the right of it. Some of my readers have said my story is YA, but I honestly didn't think of it like that. Still not sure they're right even now.

 

[sknox]

It's just like grown-ups to decide what kids like.

 

[Dave Carignan]

It's just like grown-ups to decide what kids like.

Sure is silly isn’t it.

 

[Dragonlady]

Ha, when I was a teenager, I read whatever stayed still for long enough. Novels on my parents' shelves, the manual of nutrition, contents of the local library.

 

[sknox]

I distinctly remember scorning the Juvenile section (that's what it was called back then, which is still the better term).

 

[Laura R Hepworth]

I'd worry about writing it first and classifying it after. As others have mentioned, Young Adult is a really broad category. It's also been getting extended a bit with the addition of New Adult books. The main character of my current series is 23, but I'd still classify it as YA/NA despite that. If you do decide to market your book as YA, I wouldn't be overly concerned about if you're limiting your audience. I used to work at a library and more and more adults are finding they prefer to read young adult, and even older middle grade books, (particularly the fantasy/scifi genres) than they do the adult books. If someone thinks your book looks interesting, they'll read it whatever category you market it in.