YA or Adult

Corinthianblue · Dec 13, 2009

I was reviewing my story in my head and after a few days of getting worked over, I came to a dilemma. It's an urban fantasy set in modern day. The antagonist is a sociopath with abilities to manipulate life in every way. The protagonist comes of age at 17 and becomes a soldier to fight the antagonist, using energy to create his swords, armor, and blasts. Now...

-Is my story truly YA because my main character is 17?
-Violence is also a focus of this story too. There's mention, not explicit description, of torture and violence against a lot of people. Blood really isn't a factor because only the main character is shown bleeding after several gunshots.
-Sex is only alluded to, but never shown. Would I need to change the age of my antagonist (who is 19) because he is sleeping with a 17 yr old? Like I said, I don't show them actually having sex.
-Is it bad to not include his friends through most of this book? The girl the antagonist is sleeping with is one of the hero's best friends. Also, he has two other friends, a teenage girl and guy who are twins. Midway, the hero shows interest in dating to the girl, but doesn't make it official because he still has taken down the bad guy.

I'm sorry is this bouncing around, but kinda on a lot of caffeine. I read the "MG, YA, or Adult post" and I can't quite see where my story fits.

I also know my reputation is going to precede me so I'll promise to keep my emotion private this time. Hope it won't change anyone's minds on helping me out.

Momento Mori · Dec 13, 2009

Have you finished the manuscript? If not, then there's no point in worrying over classification until it's done and dusted because you might find as you go through it that the themes change, or character ages change or whatever.

If your manuscript is finished, then it sounds to me that you're skirting YA/adult, depending on how graphic the violence is.

Personally, I think you could probably get away with querying YA and adult fantasy agents for that type of story and see what they make of it.

MM

Marzipan · Dec 13, 2009

Honestly, I would take a look at the Sticky's here in YA, they should give you all the information that you are looking for. Maybe go visit the SYW after you have polished up your first chapter.

Corinthianblue · Dec 13, 2009

Thanks. The manuscript's done, but I am going to do another draft to clean it up. Too many errors I missed, that sort of thing.

A majority of the violence sword play. The antagonist uses people as his slaves and, because of his magic, it corrupts their bodies. When the hero's magic clashes with it, it ignites the slave into flames. The only real gory scene I'm worried about is where a couple of these guys gets the better of the hero and shoots him several times, leaving him pretty bloody.

Corinthianblue · Dec 13, 2009

The Kidd said:
Honestly, I would take a look at the Sticky's here in YA, they should give you all the information that you are looking for. Maybe go visit the SYW after you have polished up your first chapter.

Yeah, I really botched that one up. Fixing it.

Elysium · Dec 13, 2009

First off your story sounds awesome.

And this sounds like YA to me. I mean your MC is a young adult and I don't think there's anything wrong with her sleeping with a 19 year old. If the story is not too gratuitous then you should be okay. But remember that it doesn't have to be too censored, you know?

Hope this was of some help : )

Kilawher · Dec 13, 2009

I agree with Elysium. From what you've written here, it doesn't sound like anything is too super-intense or gratuitous, and sex/violence can be in YA books. Plus your protagonist is well-within the YA age range.

Corinthianblue · Dec 13, 2009

What about language? I don't use too much cussing. Basically, pg13. I don't see a real need to go over the top with it since I think it takes away from the story. I just have some. Can't you tell this is my first YA

kaitlin008 · Dec 13, 2009

Nothing about that says to me that it isn't YA.
Do you read much YA? There's plenty of language, violence, and sex.

Marzipan · Dec 13, 2009

Maybe you should read more YA

Corinthianblue · Dec 13, 2009

Yeah. I walked past the YA section today, but couldn't find anything interesting. Then again, I didn't have time to actually stop and read. Stupid errands. Okay, I just wanted to make sure I'm not crazy or whatever. Well, crazier.

YAwriter72 · Dec 13, 2009

It is *really* hard to write in a genre you don't read, at least in the beginning. First thing you should do is go out and get 3 or 4 YA books to read. You could probably get some good rec's from the people in Young Adult based on what you're writing to see similar works.

bethany · Dec 13, 2009

YAwriter72 said:
It is *really* hard to write in a genre you don't read, at least in the beginning. First thing you should do is go out and get 3 or 4 YA books to read. You could probably get some good rec's from the people in Young Adult based on what you're writing to see similar works.

QFT

Corinthianblue · Dec 13, 2009

Yeah, I suppose I am writing a YA with an adult aspect since I just finished the Dark Towers series by Stephen King. No way in hell is that near what this story is. Hmm. Okay. Any suggestions? I mostly like dark stuff, fantasy or scifi is good. Maybe Gothic theme would be a good one too.

Marzipan · Dec 13, 2009

Humm, just throwing some titles in:

Neverwhere-Niel Gaimen (Not YA, but I always find it with YA. He also wrote Coraline)

The Hunger Games-Suzanne Collins (Nice twisted post-apocalyptic)

BREAK- Hannah Moskowitz (A new novel by our very own Shady Lane)

Gone-Micheal Grant (A lot like Stephen King's new Under the Dome)

Looking For Alaska-John Green (John Green gives his characters an epic voice)

The Perks of Being a Wallflower-Stephen Chbosky (A very good read)

The Summoning- Kelly Armstrong (One of the only paranormals out there that I actually liked)

Just a few, there are just so many good titles, but you need to make sure you read outside your comfort zone and sample some of everything.

Corinthianblue · Dec 13, 2009

Hehe I was rereading Neverwhere today

I'll look these up and see what I like.

Corinthianblue · Dec 14, 2009

When I start querying this story again, I was told that I should only query for YA or Adult (one or the other, not both). Is this recommended? I kinda wondering how an agent would react to someone saying this book is marketable to teens AND adults.

rmgil04 · Dec 14, 2009

Momento Mori said:
If your manuscript is finished, then it sounds to me that you're skirting YA/adult, depending on how graphic the violence is.

MM

I'm working on a new project that could walk this line also. It starts with the protagonist's girlfriend and her father attacked on a jogging trail. The attacker punches her straight in the face leaving her unconscious and then stabs the father. Then I have him turn his attention back to the girl and mutter, "Very pretty..." as he reaches for the drawstrings of her jogging pants.

There would be more references back to the rape and even a witness account, but I am just summarizing the events without graphic details. More focus on the horror of the witness.

It's basically an urban fantasy murder mystery that I hope will be marketable as YA.

Opinions?

Corinthianblue · Dec 14, 2009

Who is the main character in this? The girl or the witness?

Momento Mori · Dec 14, 2009

rmgil04:
It's basically an urban fantasy murder mystery that I hope will be marketable as YA.

Opinions?

Again, until you've finished it and know precisely what your themes are, I wouldn't worry about the classification.

There's plenty of edgy YA fiction out there and rape is most certainly a subject that can and has been tackled. However, it all depends on a number of factors - nature of the language (is there a lot of swearing?), maturity of the themes (if you're dealing with themes more likely to be of interest to adults than teens), age of the characters etc.

It all needs to be considered in the round.

As was said to Corinthianblue, read some of the edgy YA fiction recommendations - there's a sticky thread at the top of this Forum because that gives you a good idea for what can and has been done.

MM

Marzipan · Dec 14, 2009

I kinda wondering how an agent would react to someone saying this book is marketable to teens AND adults.

They would say 'Hahaha' and call you a silly nanny.

cscarlet · Dec 14, 2009

I kinda wondering how an agent would react to someone saying this book is marketable to teens AND adults.

No, I wouldn't tell any agents that you are marketing it as both. If you have an agent who offers both, pick one, and then if they feel it will fit somewhere else they will place it there. But it leaves you open to query it to both agents who represent YA or Adult. Does that make sense?

I understand your dilemma. Recently, I had issues figuring out where my story fit (YA or Adult). A big key for me was "voice." I have an adult antagonist (adult adult, not 19), so I was worried about this. But I think the voice of my book as a whole is YA. (Though, I've recently had someone tell me it sounded almost MG at the beginning of my first chapter. Whoops. Darn over-correcting... Fixed that).

Anyway, I think the point is to try and stay focused. If you end up teetering on that line, then use it to your advantage and see which way agents prefer it. If you get more hits from adult agents, then market it more as adult. If you get more hits from YA agents, or if you have agents who support both and respond more to it as YA, then stick with YA.

Good luck

YA or Adult

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In re-write limbo!

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