YA vs. Adult

[Falls Apart]

What makes a book young adult or adult? Is it word count? Writing style? Content appropriateness? Ages of the characters? Or a combination of all three? If your book has too many/too little words for the age group, some agents may write it off. Writing style could pass the query stage, but one look at the partial and any agent will see that you don't know what genre you're writing for. Few YA publishers will buy a manuscript if it's a hard R. And, while people may not write off a book automatically because of the age of the main character, it's fairly rare to see a child protagonist in an adult novel, and even rarer for an adult to play the leading role in a book geared towards teenagers. But then, there are doorstopper YAs and adult novellas, dry books for teenagers and terse, fast-paced books for adults, "edgy" YAs and adult books that could be read by children without fear of mental scarring, and plenty of exceptions to the age rule. But, in general, where do you draw the line? It's easy to say it all comes down to who you could see enjoying the book, but there are agents, publishing companies, and moral guardians to take into account, too, and ignoring them will make things a lot more difficult.
Also - am I the only one who finds it ironic that schools will teach sixth graders the Illiad but freak out if they read a book/watch a movie in their off time that features sexual slavery/graphic violence/etcetcetc? Kind of off topic, but just saying...

[maybegenius]

There's one semi-hard "rule" for YA literature, and that's that it must be relateable for pre-teens/teenagers. If the content doesn't speak to the intended audience on some level, then it won't work as YA.

There are many other factors that go into the majority of YA novels, but the category has grown so fast over the past few years that it's difficult to pinpoint the exact rules. However, I did write a blog post dealing with my interpretation of how to determine whether or not a book "counts" as YA. There are ALWAYS exceptions, but generally speaking, I feel it's an accurate checklist of the differences between YA and adult or middle grade fiction.

[Falls Apart]

Really interesting blog post! Definitely answered most of my questions. And, seeing as I'm more than a year away from not being an adult, I don't think I can help writing things that appeal to at least some teenagers ;)

[Sommer Leigh]

I personally believe that the only "rule" of YA is that there is some measure of transition in the story, a coming of age theme, that explores the essence of being a teenager. I know this is very vague, but it's supposed to be because all books are so very different from each other that plopping them all into any other set of rules will create enough outliers to render the rule invalid.

And while there are exceptions for the age of the main character, the main character is *almost* always a teen. I've seen some pre-teen protags and some early 20s protags in YA, but I think 99% of all YA main characters will fall in the 13-18 age range, and the vast majority of those will fall in the 15-17 range and that has nothing to do with the age of the readers or the darkness of the content. It's because most coming of age transitions in a young person's life happens during these important ages. It is more rare that it happen much earlier or later.

Broad examples of these transitions include all the "firsts" in a person's life: first time considering the future, first time losing a parent to divorce or death, first loves, first heartbreaks, first time understanding, accepting, or rejecting ones core identity, first time understanding real friendship and the first time that friendship is tested, first time realizing that the world is bigger than a single high school, a single community, or a single city, the first time one realizes the world is not safe and that one is not invincible, the first time one is forced to take care of themselves in a situation where a parent or sibling cannot do it for them, the first time one starts making decisions that affect the future and those around them, the first time one decides to give up, the first time one decides to press on despite obstacles, the first time one stands up to their authority figures - etc, etc, etc.

One thing that I believe very strongly in noting, however, is that content doesn't drive YA vs Adult. There are no topics forbidden to YA. Swear words, sex, violence, trauma, tragedy, religion - these are not topics that will disqualify a book from being YA and should not be used as a deciding factor on what the appropriate audience is. Yes, some people will find the harder topics too difficult, too dark, too adult and some people will have moral conflict in supporting your story. This is true for all stories, though. A writer should write the story they aim and need to tell and not worry about who it might offend or who might disagree with its core conflicts. For example: The DUFF by Kody Keplinger would never have been a successful narrative had Kody taken the sex out of the story because some one might be offended by it. Do I think every YA should have graphic sex and violence and a rave of swear words peppered throughout its pages? Of course not, but I also believe in the integrity of the story. If you, as a writer, are embarrassed, offended, or worried about the content of the story you are considering writing, then maybe it's not the story for you.



The best thing, I believe, any YA writer can do for themselves and their book is to read lots and lots of YA. Read classic YA, modern YA, fantasy and sci-fi YA, and hard YA, and YA with exceptions to rules, and dark YA. Read a little bit of everything.

[Falls Apart]

Cool point on the firsts. I never thought of it that way But I think that, while there aren't limits in YA per se, content will affect how the novel is viewed. For instance, Jodi Piccoult is an amazing author of adult books. I'm not that into realistic fiction, but I've enjoyed what I've read by her. Her books are well-known and read by a variety of audiences. Most have R-rated language and on-page sex. They are not, however, controversial. But if a YA book had that content, it would still be YA, but it would be considered "edgy," "risque," maybe even "trashy." If I called Jodi Piccoult books trashy, I'd be laughed at. That's not to say I plan on taking essential parts out of my writing to avoid upsetting people. I'm just wondering how to market to agents. When and if that time comes.

[bcomet]

Such interesting points.

I especially agree with Sommer about "firsts." And here is where it gets tricky for me: firsts can be typically anywhere from YA to new adult, so there can also be this natural continuing transition of age from high school into early, even mid-twenties (college age with or without college).

Stephanie Meyers keeps her protagonist "eighteen" when she reaches her "adulthood," which is a stretch wherein she is trying to keep the protag both in YA and adult enough to transition beyond.

In my own "new adult" novel, eighteen is not wise enough for the transition and understanding the main character has to ultimately have. I wouldn't believe it.

She starts at sixteen going on seventeen, spends much time in seventeen and eighteen, so there is an older YA initially, but then in the final chapters, she needs to have grown through and beyond that YA place, and is twenty-four, before the final arc can be achieved.

But that is that story's arc. It may not fit nicely into YA or Adult categories, but it really is "new adult" and to change the age to fit the category would be an injustice to this particular story.

And, yet, ALL of the transitions are through "firsts" including first adult maturities.

[Ishta]

Great point about "Firsts," Sommer.

I think another important thing to think about is plot. YA books tend much more towards the plot-oriented, and much less toward the more wandering stuff that can get by in the adult market. A lot of crossover books are also very plot-oriented, and very plot-focused. Even "literary" YA sticks to a clear plot, while not all books for the adult market do. (This is not to say that books for the adult market don't have any plot, just that there's a lot more room to wander off-topic and go off on tangents and explore character's histories and things than there is in YA and other kidlit.)

[Nathan Bransford]

Here's my take: http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2007/02 ... ke-ya.html

[Ishta]

Here's my take: http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2007/02 ... ke-ya.html

YES! When I talked about YA being more "plot-oriented" this is what I meant, but Nathan said it much, much better.