YA Marriage
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Well...yeah!
Heck, I think my characters are going to get married either when they're 19 or they're twenty. They're crazy in love that way.
The only difference between my book and Twilight (aside from everything else) is that they don't wait for marrige till they have sex.
Heck, I think my characters are going to get married either when they're 19 or they're twenty. They're crazy in love that way.
The only difference between my book and Twilight (aside from everything else) is that they don't wait for marrige till they have sex.
17 might be under the age of consent in some countries - in the UK it's not (it's 16), though under 18s need parental permission to marry. People do get married at that sort of age, though - whether with a shotgun to their head or otherwise - though nowadays it would be considered rather young to do it.
I'm assuming your story has a contemporary setting? In past times, girls would often expect to be married at 14-15 and would be mothers possibly more than once by 19-20. I've met many women of my mother's generation (born in the 1940s) who were married by 18-19. My mother married at 21. If they weren't going on to higher education - which became possible in the UK to many more women due to the 1948 Education Act - that's what you did. If you weren't married by 25 or so you could be "on the shelf" and people might wonder what was wrong with you.
I'm assuming your story has a contemporary setting? In past times, girls would often expect to be married at 14-15 and would be mothers possibly more than once by 19-20. I've met many women of my mother's generation (born in the 1940s) who were married by 18-19. My mother married at 21. If they weren't going on to higher education - which became possible in the UK to many more women due to the 1948 Education Act - that's what you did. If you weren't married by 25 or so you could be "on the shelf" and people might wonder what was wrong with you.
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i grew up in a small town, and i know quite a few kids who got married right out of high school, so it's not terribly weird for me. for some of them, yes, it was kind of like, "Okay, your mom still makes your bed in the morning, and you want to get married?" but a lot of them it just seemed natural. *shrug* then again, it's a very backwards town. 
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It for sure shouldn't be treated lightly.
Unless it's organic to the story you are telling, I wouldn't just drop it in there--that can come off as wish-fulfillment writing...or mimicking Twilight. ^_^
I wouldn't rule it out completely, though. A lot of YA, especially historical, deals very much with at least the possibilities of marriage. Catherine Called Birdy is a great story about a young woman fighting arranged marriage--in many rather outrageous ways. A much less comic treatment of a similar subject is one of my old favorites: The Ramsay Scallop and its sequel The Bedouin's Gazelle.
The science-fiction Ender's Game sequels about the character "Bean" includes a novel on that theme of marriage, and these novels are about young people, though very much upper-YA, if really YA at all.
As for regular (contemporary non-fantasy) YA novels involving marriage, I'm not so well read to know of any besides Twilight. I'd want to do a bit more research before I tried it myself.
(Of course, the ambiguous Happily Ever After, in which we hope the relationship lasts until the characters are considered old enough to marry, is not at all uncommon.)
Unless it's organic to the story you are telling, I wouldn't just drop it in there--that can come off as wish-fulfillment writing...or mimicking Twilight. ^_^
I wouldn't rule it out completely, though. A lot of YA, especially historical, deals very much with at least the possibilities of marriage. Catherine Called Birdy is a great story about a young woman fighting arranged marriage--in many rather outrageous ways. A much less comic treatment of a similar subject is one of my old favorites: The Ramsay Scallop and its sequel The Bedouin's Gazelle.
The science-fiction Ender's Game sequels about the character "Bean" includes a novel on that theme of marriage, and these novels are about young people, though very much upper-YA, if really YA at all.
As for regular (contemporary non-fantasy) YA novels involving marriage, I'm not so well read to know of any besides Twilight. I'd want to do a bit more research before I tried it myself.
(Of course, the ambiguous Happily Ever After, in which we hope the relationship lasts until the characters are considered old enough to marry, is not at all uncommon.
)
A "problem?" No. It happens all the time. As long as it seems realistic (and realistically, people get married for the weirdest reasons), it's fine.
I think it would depend on your target audience. If they are romantics and want to see the characters get married, then you'd probably fine. If the readers don't care about a married couple, you'd have problems. Characters in teen fiction do all kinds of adult things, but they always have a teen slant to them to appeal to the reader.
It would also depend when it comes up in the story. If it's the end that's one thing, if it's early on and the story covers teens dealing with marriage it's another. Though the struggles of teen marriage could actually be very interesting. Don't think I've seen that before. Not a happily ever after scenario though. Something gritty and realistic.
It would also depend when it comes up in the story. If it's the end that's one thing, if it's early on and the story covers teens dealing with marriage it's another. Though the struggles of teen marriage could actually be very interesting. Don't think I've seen that before. Not a happily ever after scenario though. Something gritty and realistic.
Personally, I think getting married before 25 is nuts. My best friend just ended a year-and-a-half log engagement because she realized, a eighteen, that she was, well, eighteen. She also realized how immature her fiance could be, and she'd missed it for two years. However, if the marriage thing is essential to the story, then go for it! The thing is, it's fiction, right? I'm a complete skeptic on love, but I like a good love story in fiction. I even smiled like an idiot when Nathan and Haley on One Tree Hill (juniors in high school, mind you) got married after a very, very short courtship. So, to your question, if it works in the story, it works!
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From someone who got married at twenty *g* I would avoid it unless the story really calls for it. not because getting married at that age is so unreasonable, but because most of the 12-18 year old American reader who are your target audience, will not be as interested in it. It's just not the stage of life that they are in. Is it a *problem*? No not really, but if you are going for a mainstream audience, it will be harder to pull off. JMO.
I think it depends heavily on the time period also. For a modern person under twenty, marriage almost unthinkable, very rare, and often frowned upon. If you go back a few hundred years though, not being married by twenty made you an "old maid." I think most YA readers understand the difference, too.
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I had two friends who got married at young ages. One was at 16 because she had a bad home life and used getting married as a way to get herself out of a bad home life. Of course the guy was older (31) and it did not last but I guess at the time it seemed like a good idea. The other friend, her grand father was dying and she wanted him to see her married before he died so she got married to her boyfriend who was 21 at the age of 19. Then they got an annulment after her grand father's funeral.
I don't think it's a problem if that's what they really want to do. One of my friends jut turned seventeen and is engaged! Me and my other close coughfriendcough were so jealous, but we're willing to wait a while and while I don't think it's nuts, I do think it's better to wait until twenty-two or so.
In books, you better have a good reason (Love works, but not at such a young age) and it better not be happy go lucky the whole time. I don't know if your target audience will care though. If it's good they'll read it.
In books, you better have a good reason (Love works, but not at such a young age) and it better not be happy go lucky the whole time. I don't know if your target audience will care though. If it's good they'll read it.
Well 'real' people still get married whilst being teenagers, so i can't see why it'd be a problem in fiction, so long as it makes sense for the characters to marry.
I'm surprised to see that. Teenage marriage isn't frowned upon or rare, the numbers have reduced, but they're not rare. Perhaps they're frowned upon in other countries, but in the UK, they're not frowned upon.
I'm surprised to see that. Teenage marriage isn't frowned upon or rare, the numbers have reduced, but they're not rare. Perhaps they're frowned upon in other countries, but in the UK, they're not frowned upon.
I don't think so and I hope not because my MC's boyfriend asks her to marry him at the end of my book. They're both 18 at time. I don't see anything wrong with it.
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Judging by the flack the Twilight series received for that I would tread cautiously. Here though is a good example of knowing your story. Is it organic and essential? Would these characters do that? As many have commented, in certain areas even today youthful marriages are still reasonably common. But, your agent/editor/publisher will probably not be from one of those areas, so be sure it is genuine in your story.
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In historical fiction, characters getting married young is very common. I've also seen it in fantasy, although not fantasy with a contemporary urban setting. Well, ok, with one notable exception in a certain bestselling vampire series. It could work in a contemporary context, if it made sense in the circumstances, or with those particular characters. But to be honest, the marriage thing in the Twilight series made me really squeamish. Bella just seemed far too young for it to seem right for me. Maybe if she'd come across as a bit wiser and more mature, I would have felt better about it.
*rushes off to find good husband*
Oh god, I'm 22. I feel old.
*rushes off to find good husband*
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My mom was 19 when she got married, and my parents have been married for 51 years. I was 21, and have been married for 26 years. It does happen, although frankly I think I was stupid. (Shhh...don't tell my husband I said that!)
Granted, I didn't read your comments as carefully as I might. *hangs head* But I have some rewriting calling me.
That said, I'd like to say that "young people" are much more immature than in previous generations. Most don't seem to be taking responsibility for normal everyday activities. One news show's anecdote still haunts me. The show was about the problems of living in the suburbs when single parents had to commute an hour to support their lifestyles. One high school junior went hungry waiting for her mother to come home to cook dinner.
My reaction: Why the h*ll didn't the kid cook dinner and have it waiting when her mother arrived home?
Of course, I'm showing my old age and connections to a different time. My grandmother (married) had her first kid at 16 (after over a year). I worked to save money for some of my kids' college expenses, but they had dinner ready to be put on the table by the time they were 12.
(If you think that's bad. I did the family wash with a ringer machine for a couple months when I was 12 and my mother was sick as well as did the cooking a year later after my mother went to work so they could save money to help me with college.)
That said, I'd like to say that "young people" are much more immature than in previous generations. Most don't seem to be taking responsibility for normal everyday activities. One news show's anecdote still haunts me. The show was about the problems of living in the suburbs when single parents had to commute an hour to support their lifestyles. One high school junior went hungry waiting for her mother to come home to cook dinner.
My reaction: Why the h*ll didn't the kid cook dinner and have it waiting when her mother arrived home?
Of course, I'm showing my old age and connections to a different time. My grandmother (married) had her first kid at 16 (after over a year). I worked to save money for some of my kids' college expenses, but they had dinner ready to be put on the table by the time they were 12.
(If you think that's bad. I did the family wash with a ringer machine for a couple months when I was 12 and my mother was sick as well as did the cooking a year later after my mother went to work so they could save money to help me with college.)
I'd say it depends on the kids.
Some are mature enough to make it work. Some are naive enough to think it'll be perfect. I don't think there's anything wrong with marrying off the latter in a novel, as long as you're realistic (and not preachy...) about it.
I do take some issue with the generalization of "young people" being more immature today than previous generations. For one, I'd say there are trade-offs in what's expected of them. They don't always have less responsibility, so much as different responsibilities. However, considering how many of my peers I *do* find hopelessly immature and the disdain with which I look upon the next generation, myself, I won't say there's no merit to your statement.
Some are mature enough to make it work. Some are naive enough to think it'll be perfect. I don't think there's anything wrong with marrying off the latter in a novel, as long as you're realistic (and not preachy...) about it.
I do take some issue with the generalization of "young people" being more immature today than previous generations. For one, I'd say there are trade-offs in what's expected of them. They don't always have less responsibility, so much as different responsibilities. However, considering how many of my peers I *do* find hopelessly immature and the disdain with which I look upon the next generation, myself, I won't say there's no merit to your statement.
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As Aprilynne said, the question isn't whether or not teenagers getting married is realistic (it is) or even whether it's a good idea (sometimes -- depends on the people involved). It's whether or not you make it believable to your audience, who by and large do not expect to marry extremely young. They are also probably less naive than previous generations in terms of believing that "getting married" automatically means "happily ever after."
Is it not only believable but necessary for your story? Then go for it. Anything less, and readers are more likely to roll their eyes than to smile when they read it.
Is it not only believable but necessary for your story? Then go for it. Anything less, and readers are more likely to roll their eyes than to smile when they read it.
I'm not so sure about that.
The percentage may have gone down, but there are still plenty of kids that imagine marrying their first "love" and thinking it'll all be sunshine and roses for always.
There probably are more cynics, though.
I suspect there's a polarization effect.
The sheltered are more naive than ever, and the cynics are more cynical than ever.
My African MC is forced into an arranged marriage at the age of 14 (her husband is 30). Will this be problematic in a YA novel?
Problematic how? I imagine it could be quite problematic for your MC. Just write it realistically, and you should be fine, IMO. An arranged marriage is quite a different situation.
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