young adult books with adult protagonist?

KarlaErikaCal · Jul 3, 2008

Anyone know of a few I can look at?
I'm not sure whether or not I should have an adult protagonist in a sequel I'm planning to write that takes 5 years later, when the main character is now 22.

Nateskate · Jul 3, 2008

The children of Narnia are adults at different points in the story, though it maintains it's somewhat whimsical nature. Fantasy allows for shifting back and forth- kind of like time travel.

I'd say that one way to keep in the Genre is simply to introduce a second young character when the older one grows up. Then show some of the story through that character's perspective. Perhaps also add a segment of flashback, where the main Protagonist is reliving part of his youth.

KarlaErikaCal · Jul 3, 2008

Another idea I had was to use their kids, but I'd have to think on that some more. Only because if I do this, my main characters from the book before would be around 36, and the antagonist is their age. (A character from first book turns bad). And I'd seriously doubt that any parent would let their kids, instead of them, defeat the antagonist, when they themselves can do it.

~grace~ · Jul 3, 2008

KC36 said:
And I'd seriously doubt that any parent would let their kids, instead of them, defeat the antagonist, when they themselves can do it.

No parent would let their kids do most of what kids do in YA adventures. ("what's that edmund? you're going to go chill with the white witch and eat her nasty candies? NO!" "Wendy? Michael? John? Where do you think you're going--what is that shiny flying dustball doing to you?!?!") That's why a lot of YA protags are orphaned or in orphany situations (like in lion, witch, and wardrobe or Harry Potter etc).

but you could get around it. maybe the kids find out about the danger before the parents and are trying to protect the parents. or something.

Zoombie · Jul 3, 2008

I solved the problem of the parents getting in the way by having the house explode 10 pages in.

Danger Jane · Jul 3, 2008

The Magic Circle by Donna Jo Napoli is from the POV of the witch from Hansel and Gretel.

Charlie Horse · Jul 3, 2008

I can't even see how a 22 year-old protag would fit into a YA book unless they still acted like they were 18 (which probably isn't out of the question, but it would be tricky to write credibly). If the sequel must take place so many years after the original, I would introduce a new character in the 16-18 year-old range that could maybe learn from the your original protag from book one.

Shweta · Jul 3, 2008

By The King of Attolia (Megan Whalen Turner) the main characters are all (young, but) adult.

That's the third book in the series, though.

In other news, moving to YA, where the guys who know this stuff mostly hang out.

~grace~ · Jul 3, 2008

king of attolia...

I TOTALLY READ THOSE BOOKS

*memories rush back*

lawtowriting · Jul 3, 2008

I know this makes no sense at all, but this thread somehow caused me to spend the last few minutes pondering how the new 90210 is going to split the focus between the new kids (Michael from the Wire!!!) and the aged former cast members that are returning (I hear Brenda just announced she's coming back along with Donna and Kelly). I hope they concentrate more on the kids and, bringing this post back to topic, vote the same way with respect to your question...have a teen protagonist.

~grace~ · Jul 3, 2008

lawtowriting--I KNOW!!! OMG!!! AHHHH!!!

k I'm done now.

Barb D · Jul 3, 2008

Madeleine L'Engle's characters grow up. Meg and Calvin, who are teens in A Wrinkle in Time are a young married couple expecting their first baby in A Swiftly Tilting Planet. And they are minor characters in the Poly/Polly books, in which their oldest daughter is the protagonist. And some of ML'E's adult books have cross-over characters from her YA books. Suzy and Josiah from The Young Unicorns are adults in A Severed Wasp (I think that's the one.) Again, they aren't major characters but they're in there.

Before she became too ill to work ML'E was working on a book with an adult Meg as the protagonist . She died last year, and I haven't heard anything about how much progress she had made on the book or what will become of it.

bethany · Jul 3, 2008

For the most part editors won't even buy YA books with college aged protags. If YA is what you want to write, I'd stick to the more common ages. If you just want to write fantasy with young characters, then do what you want. And obviously you should do what you want for the story anyway.

Barb D · Jul 3, 2008

In the fourth Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants book the girls are in college. And Ann Brashare's new book, The Last Summer of You and Me, has an adult protagonist. It's not a YA book, but since she's primarily a YA author I'm sure it has a lot of YA readers.

Shweta · Jul 3, 2008

Actually.

Pamela Dean's Tam Lin, set on a college campus, is being shelved as YA now. Caroline Stevermer's College of Magics, ditto. Stevermer and Wrede's Sorcery and Cecelia, and sequels, ditto, though I doubt their actual majority audience is teens, and in book three the MCs are couples with young children.

I personally don't think of those books as YA, though.

bethany · Jul 3, 2008

http://www.verlakay.com/boards/index.php?topic=26465.0

Here's a link to a convo on Verla Kay's that includes a link to Andrew Karre's blog where he talks about this. There are plenty of exceptions, and I have no stake in arguing them, but the simple truth is that older protags are much more difficult to sell.

mirrorkisses · Jul 3, 2008

bethany said:
For the most part editors won't even buy YA books with college aged protags. If YA is what you want to write, I'd stick to the more common ages. If you just want to write fantasy with young characters, then do what you want. And obviously you should do what you want for the story anyway.

I second this suggestion. My story originally had to do with college-aged characters. One agent told me that college age is a hard sell because people generally "read-up," so there's a reason that there aren't many books which mc's in their early twenties. There are a few exceptions. YA books that have those exceptions are those who have followed a narrator through their teen years.
I was told by at least four agents that I should change my characters to teenagers and present it as a YA novel. And since I generally write YA and really have honed my YA voice, this isn't a big problem for me.

Sloppy Firsts is not a YA novel, although it has a teen narrator. She began it when the mc was 15, and she's progressed it through three other novels where the mc has graduated and completed college.

mirrorkisses · Jul 3, 2008

bethany said:
http://www.verlakay.com/boards/index.php?topic=26465.0

Here's a link to a convo on Verla Kay's that includes a link to Andrew Karre's blog where he talks about this. There are plenty of exceptions, and I have no stake in arguing them, but the simple truth is that older protags are much more difficult to sell.

ugh. I'd like to read that, just for interest's sake, but I have to login. I'm too lazy to sign up.

Esopha · Jul 3, 2008

Series when the MCs start off younger and grow older are not uncommon because once the series has developed a solid readership, the characters can safely grow up and not pose selling difficulties.

You see this a lot in YA fantasy.

Shweta · Jul 3, 2008

In general, writing outside the normal range makes something a harder sell. And writing a sequel to a book that isn't sold is ... risky, unless it's reallytruly a standalone. Sure.

But the OP was asking for examples

Esopha · Jul 3, 2008

Yeah, but standalone books are a completely different beast than sequels in a series that already have a readership. If examples posted are series books, they shouldn't count in this instance.

IMO.

mirrorkisses · Jul 3, 2008

I was just explaining to the OP the few instances that this works, eg, when a novel is in a series and the mc grows.

Shweta · Jul 3, 2008

Ah. The way I see it, what counts is what's useful to the OP, and that's not really for me to decide

So I'm just labelling the books as parts of series if they are, rather than avoiding mention of them.

timewaster · Jul 3, 2008

mirrorkisses said:
I second this suggestion. My story originally had to do with college-aged characters. One agent told me that college age is a hard sell because people generally "read-up," so there's a reason that there aren't many books which mc's in their early twenties. There are a few exceptions. YA books that have those exceptions are those who have followed a narrator through their teen years.
I was told by at least four agents that I should change my characters to teenagers and present it as a YA novel. And since I generally write YA and really have honed my YA voice, this isn't a big problem for me.

It is usual, but Eleanor Updale 'Montmorency' books feature an adult protag they are definitely children's books and they been v well recieved in the UK. The characters in the Wind in the Willows are animals but adult type animals with adult type concerns as were the rabbits in 'Watership Down'
It can work to have older characters.

Danger Jane · Jul 3, 2008

I guess I'll add that The Magic Circle was published in 1993, and the publishing industry is 15 years different now.

young adult books with adult protagonist?

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