What Constitutes YA Fiction?

thejamesramos

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I think that at it's very basic, YA can be defined by a protagonist that is a young adult, aged 12-19, from what I gather. Older than 19 seems have become new adult territory, and younger than 12 seems to be considered middle grade. Even so, the exact definition seems to be a bit foggy.
 

Hapax Legomenon

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If you write a story with teenagers as the main characters, but it is written in a non-YA manner, would it still be marketable as general fiction?
 

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It could be. Or agents might tell you to make it sound more YA. That might be less of an issue now that YA isn't *as* hot as it was a few years ago, but I know people who have been asked to make their books more YAish. And there are books about teens and younger sold for adults, especially in fantasy.
 

Hapax Legomenon

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I might be okay as it is spec fic but...

Would it be a terrible idea to refuse to make it more YA?
 
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KateSmash

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Nope. Follow your bliss and all that (and find an agent/editor whose vision of your ms/career better fits with your own).
 

snowpea

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If you write a story with teenagers as the main characters, but it is written in a non-YA manner, would it still be marketable as general fiction?
Yes.... Take Catcher in the Rye.
Take Sloppy Firsts and the rest in the series....
Take Youth in Revolt

Just never call it YA to an agent unless you intend to market it that way.
 
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Dhewco

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My current wip (well, the one I'm focusing on now...I have others) is about a Irish Celtic healer deity who's reborn into a 12 yo boy in a dystopian southern plague-ridden US. Is it MG or YA or Adult?

For clarity, the boy is a deity from birth and his power only comes forth when he comes down with the disease. He learns of his divinity while in the fevered state brought about by the plague.

Since he's a deity (Miach, btw), who recovers some of the memories of a past-life, I'm not sure how much the 'coming of age' will factor in. He won't be any older than 14 by the end of the book, though. No sex, of course.

The first section covers his attempt to rescue his friend and their efforts to avoid the government's trackers. The second, and final (larger) section covers the boys' hunt for their parents who were relocated to quarantine zones.

What do you think?

One more element that may raise eyebrows, he carries a .32 pistol that he was given by a grandpa. ETA: This is only after he recovers from the illness and discovers his parents' gone from his abandoned home. There's nobody around but the soldiers.
 
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Edita A Petrick

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The protag is under 18 - it's YA. Actually 10-12 is children's literature but you have that "adult" component going there. Regardless of the "grown up" elements in the story, you need to keep the language on the YA level when it comes to them, for it to be categorized YA. The emotions and much of the reasoning needs to be on the 12-year old's level too. I suspect you don't want to do that, so you'll be up against a very difficult task of constantly reminding the reader that your 12-year old protag is really an adult in a boy's body and to go through that for 70,000 words or so would be...exhausting, to the reader and the writer, I imagine.

You need an adult pov in there that is as leading and as important and interesting as the boy's to pull it off but then the novel might actually rise into the adult category or at the very least New Adult if your adult is a 20-something pov character. But, regardless of what pov character you use, or how many povs you introduce into your story, each and everyone must correspond in action, reaction, emotions and speech to their age - age-appropriate - to retain credibility. If not, you are practically explaining every single non-age-appropriate feeling, reaction, word and motion there is for your 12-year old character. Not sure if that's what you want. Best of luck and a Happy New Year. Edita
 

bethrodgersauthor

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How I Think of YA Fiction

As an avid reader of young adult novels, and an author of young adult fiction, the way I think about the term "young adult" is as writing that deals with teen issues, usually in the high school setting. I started reading these types of books when I was a teenager myself, and I do not see an end in sight to when I will stop. Therefore, I think that young adult novels transcend the age gap between teenagers and adults. They are indelibly marked with themes and issues that anyone - child, teenager, or adult - has to deal with at some point in life. Self-esteem, difficulty making decisions, relationship troubles with parents and friends, crushes, bullies - these are all ideas that anyone can identify with, and this is what makes young adult novels so wonderful. They capture the angst and emotion that makes up teenage life, which provides a sense of nostalgia for those older than their teen years, and a sense of curiosity for those younger. The themes are not always positive, so young adult novels also show a sense of reality. Not everything is sunshine and lollipops, and that is another great aspect of young adult novels (even though I love a happy ending, I do like the realistic aspects that make up young adult fiction).
 

jtrylch13

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Hey Beth Rodgers. I'm a YA writer in Michigan too! Welcome to AW. Hope to see you around the threads.
 

ManInBlack

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This is a long thread, so hopefully I'm not asking a question that was answered during a long and poignant discussion that I missed, but what about books that seem to be targeted at teens (teen protagonists, etc) but seem to be written to be read by a lower reading bracket than YA qualify as. For instance, Animorphs, Goosebumps, Jedi Apprentice. I have a hard time considering them to be in the same bracket as something like Harry Potter but at the same time I'm not sure where else to place them.
 

Violeta

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For instance, Animorphs, Goosebumps, Jedi Apprentice.

I don't know about the others, because I've never heard of them :tongue,
but Goosebumps... I'm pretty sure it's Middle Grade, for readers between 8 and 13/14.
Yeah. More or less. YA is more like 15 and up. Or at least that's how I see it. I dunno.
 
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jtrylch13

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I think Jedi Apprentice is MG as well. My husband is reading them to my 6-year-old. Are you thinking that they sound younger or older than Harry Potter? HP isn't the best story to use to define an age bracket because the books start out MG, then move to Upper MG and then branch into YA territory by the end. I think all the books you list are middle of the road MG with books like Magic Treehouse being lower MG and some Harry Potter being upper MG. Percy Jackson is sometimes considered to be upper MG as well, or lower YA. But this is where I feel they should have a Tween age classification.
 

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MG is an interesting age group, which ranges from 8-12. Low MG and upper MG both are often given the same age group, even though there is a huge difference in reading level and story-length (Consider Percy Jackson, which is upper MG, versus Beverly Cleary's books, which are low MG). To make things more complicated, chapter books are considered 7-9, and easy readers (Magic Treehouse, I believe) is even easier to read than those, though I'm not sure what the age level is, not having tried to write any. So it's all about reading level for those pre-teens.

Goosebumps are very much on the MG scale, but not having read them, I don't know if they're upper MG or low MG or what ages the MCs are. However, I'd be surprised if they were older than 14 (which is a general cut-off for upper MG MCs, with a few 13yo being sold as YA too), since at the time they first came out, Fear Street was huge and was the teen version with teen MCs.
 

Violeta

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Goosebumps are very much on the MG scale, but not having read them, I don't know if they're upper MG or low MG or what ages the MCs are.

Back in the 90's, most of the MCs were 12 year-olds. Now... I don't know, haven't read them
in years. :Shrug: And I'm trying to think if they felt more upper, or low MG, but I can't
really tell right now. I'd say upper, but yeah, who knows.
 
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jtrylch13

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Just came across a mention of Animorphs by accident and it is described as YA.
 

suki

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Just came across a mention of Animorphs by accident and it is described as YA.

Well...Animorphs are sort of their own beast (pun totally intended).

Most of the characters start out around 13, which is generally the cusp of YA, but more often found in books for middle grade readers. And while toward the end of the series some of the characters were as old as 16, the bulk of the early part has them more in line with upper middle grade ages. (Though, of course, the age of the character is not the only defining characteristic.)

They are often classified by sites and search engines as YA but the bulk of the books are intended for readers ages 8 or 9 through 12 years old, grades 3rd through 7th or 8th. While YA as a publishing/library classification technically starts with being intended to readers age 12 and higher (there is a 2 year over lap where MG and YA often both claim readers in the 12-14 range), as a general rule, most YA books are going to be intended 12 or 13+, not 9-12. In practice, Animorphs are generally read by middle grade readers, as opposed to YA readers.

I'd also add that there is very little in the current market like that series. I'd caution against using it as a justification for why a series or book is YA as opposed to MG. Look for something more current. Generally, to help classify your work, look for books published in the previous 5-10 years. The last book in the Animorphs series was published in 2001.

~suki
 

Chazemataz

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Just came across a mention of Animorphs by accident and it is described as YA.

I'd say they're classified as that because they were around before YA was a "thing". There was only "adult fiction" and "children's fiction", really, and "children's fiction" was usually what we'd call middle-grade today.

I should also say that the majority of YA novels written before about 2002 or so would generally be rejected almost at first glance by any agent or editor. They're usually very light on character development & plot and heavy on stereotypical teen things like "when will I get to prom?" or "I heard James is in love with Cassie instead of me and now my life is ruined, here's 100 pages about it".

Of course, there are exceptions- Perks of Being a Wallflower, ect.- but this is generally the rule.
 
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jtrylch13

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I'd say they're classified as that because they were around before YA was a "thing". There was only "adult fiction" and "children's fiction", really, and "children's fiction" was usually what we'd call middle-grade today.

I should also say that the majority of YA novels written before about 2002 or so would generally be rejected almost at first glance by any agent or editor. They're usually very light on character development & plot and heavy on stereotypical teen things like "when will I get to prom?" or "I heard James is in love with Cassie instead of me and now my life is ruined, here's 100 pages about it".

Of course, there are exceptions- Perks of Being a Wallflower, ect.- but this is generally the rule.

Agree with all of this.
 

SoCalWriter

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I'd say they're classified as that because they were around before YA was a "thing". There was only "adult fiction" and "children's fiction", really, and "children's fiction" was usually what we'd call middle-grade today.

I should also say that the majority of YA novels written before about 2002 or so would generally be rejected almost at first glance by any agent or editor. They're usually very light on character development & plot and heavy on stereotypical teen things like "when will I get to prom?" or "I heard James is in love with Cassie instead of me and now my life is ruined, here's 100 pages about it".

Of course, there are exceptions- Perks of Being a Wallflower, ect.- but this is generally the rule.

I would just like to add some exceptions to that rule: Anything written by Francesca Lia Block. She's been writing YA stuff that can knock your socks off since waaaaaay before it was cool.
 

ManInBlack

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I had never (knowingly) heard of Middle Grade as a level, but what you've all said makes a lot of sense. Some reference materials still refer to anything with chapters that is not for adults as YA, but MG as a classification helps me to distinguish it.
 

cynreeda

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I'm working on a series of fantasy novels. The series has demons who manipulate people and rape women, goblins that skin people (including themselves), slavery, war violence and other such stuff. I'm known for having a darker writing style. That being said, there is no cussing or sex and the main protagonist in the first novel is 17. She does kind of go through a coming of age type of story, since at the beginning she's concerned with not having suitors and by the end, she's more concerned with protecting those she loves. Each of the following books are told from a different protagonist's pov. The protagonists's ages range from 17 to 57. Should this still be considered a YA? I don't want one book to be labeled as YA if the others don't match.
 

jtrylch13

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What you've described doesn't sound YA to me. If you are writing a series from different POV's, then it won't (?) appeal to a teen audience (maybe?) so I would say it is an adult series. I haven't read GoT, but I would guess this is a similar concept where there are many characters of many ages, but it would be an adult series. Don't take my word for it, but this is my opinion. And yes, GoT appeals to teen readers, but it is not YA to my understanding.
 

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The protagonists' age range alone will keep this from being YA. Although I know you're saying that the first book (which is all we're meant to focus on selling at first) is only from a 17yo's POV, if you intend for future books to be by a 57yo, you're going to want to market this as adult from the beginning. However, because of the age of the first MC, you *may* get readers and even agent or publishers suggesting it's YA.

As for the other stuff, it's going to depend on how you handle it. It sounds like the rape doesn't happen on screen (since you said no sex), and there are several YAs where rape is part of the world building (particularly dystopian or fantasy with tyrant rulers as the big bads). Sex and cussing and violence and the like are allowed in YA (see Shady's Edge YA thread), but in some cases it matters how deal with it.
 

cynreeda

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It sounds like the rape doesn't happen on screen (since you said no sex), and there are several YAs where rape is part of the world building (particularly dystopian or fantasy with tyrant rulers as the big bads). Sex and cussing and violence and the like are allowed in YA (see Shady's Edge YA thread), but in some cases it matters how deal with it.

Yeah, the rape actually has more to do with the history of certain species.

Thank you though, I kinda had a feeling YA wasn't the right fit. This is actually a rewrite of a novel I'd finished over 6 years ago. It was originally labeled as a YA, but working on the rewrite, it just doesn't feel right.