Trying a YA novel

Southern Girl · May 14, 2010

A good friend of mine just suggested I try my hand at writing YA. She's in the business, so I wonder if she sees something in my writing that I don't. I've never written YA, and for the most part, never read YA with some exceptions here and there. A little more so lately, but I've still skipped over most of the hugely popular books in this market. There are a couple of YA books, however, that I consider favorites.

Regardless, while I'm submitting my current novel to agents, I thought I'd give it a try. Doesn't hurt to try, right? I've thought it over here and there, and I think I have a firm grasp on the MC's voice as a teenager, as well as a general idea of the story.

Are there any guidelines I should keep in mind as I decide on the details? I know general word count, and market information - I'm looking for more about limitations with young readers and such. And is it a good or bad idea to brainstorm with teenagers on things like age-appropriate conflicts, language/slang usage, etc?

Right now, as I understand it (which, I completely admit may be flawed incredibly), the main thing separating YA from adult is the age of the MC. The few YA books I've read have all had sex, violence, swearing, evil...the list goes on. This being the case - is there anything other than the age of the MC to make the book a YA? Any other vital points?

Thanks in advance -

kaitlin008 · May 14, 2010

There are a few stickied thread that might help you at the top of this subforum

Also, read a LOT of YA, not just a few. That's the best way to get an idea of what's going on in the genre right now.

Shady Lane · May 14, 2010

You're pretty much spot-on, actually--age of the MC is by far the most important thing in determining whether a book is YA. But with that age comes certain things. Teen-relevant conflict, for example, which shouldn't be a problem as long as you write a real teenager and not a 30 year old in a 16 year old's body, and usually some kind of coming-of-age theme.

triceretops · May 14, 2010

I completely wrote a YA paranormal romance by accident. I got five-star reviews for it from legit reviewers, and ranked the highest at Fictionwise for my publisher's backlist. I had NO idea I had written one, when it was pointed out to me that my female MC was 18 years old. That's how I stepped into it. One of the most important things, also, is to get the voice right and believable for young characters. I was warned not to write outside of my MC's field of knowledge, so I had to go in there and tone it down somewhat, once I knew who my audience would be.

Tri

Smish · May 14, 2010

Definitely read the stickies here. They're great and will give you pretty much all the information you'd ever need to know about YA novels.

I think you should definitely read more YA, though, simply because YA novels are so awesome!

Good luck.

Smish

Southern Girl · May 14, 2010

triceretops said:
I completely wrote a YA paranormal romance by accident. I got five-star reviews for it from legit reviewers, and ranked the highest at Fictionwise for my publisher's backlist. I had NO idea I had written one, when it was pointed out to me that my female MC was 18 years old. That's how I stepped into it. One of the most important things, also, is to get the voice right and believable for young characters. I was warned not to write outside of my MC's field of knowledge, so I had to go in there and tone it down somewhat, once I knew who my audience would be.

Tri

That's interesting. I've heard of it happening to other people, as well - I nearly made my MC 18 in my book, and then the last minute decided against it. This brings up another question - how do series handle growing MCs? If the first book begins at 17 or 18, and subsequent books are written later (in the world of the book), does the book shelve outside of YA then? Or does it all hang on the age of the MC in the first book?

Southern Girl · May 14, 2010

Smish said:
Definitely read the stickies here. They're great and will give you pretty much all the information you'd ever need to know about YA novels.

I think you should definitely read more YA, though, simply because YA novels are so awesome!

Good luck.

Smish

Hehehe - love that.

paralus · May 14, 2010

Hi Southern Girl!

Pacing is another major difference between YA and adult books. The pacing in YA books (with rare exceptions) is much faster.

triceretops · May 14, 2010

Southern Girl said:
That's interesting. I've heard of it happening to other people, as well - I nearly made my MC 18 in my book, and then the last minute decided against it. This brings up another question - how do series handle growing MCs? If the first book begins at 17 or 18, and subsequent books are written later (in the world of the book), does the book shelve outside of YA then? Or does it all hang on the age of the MC in the first book?

Interesting questions, and it applies. I was going to say this happened with the HP books, but I'm wrong. Harry Potter went from 11--17 years old, or some such, thus, he stayed with the YA framework. Is there anybody else out there that knows of a book series where the MCs grow up and land outside of the genre age limits? In that case, I don't know what your publisher would do, or how they would label the following books.

Tri

Shady Lane · May 14, 2010

the early Harry Potters are MGs--11 is definitely not a YA protag age.

Some books manage to grow up as their readers grow up, but you HAVE to be a sensation for that to work. You can't just be a normal book. You have to be a phenomenon, basically.

Phylis Renolds Naylor's ALICE series is another good example of that. Alice started out as a very innocent 11 year old, and now she's going into college (and I've been reading them since the beginning, when I was 9, and still read them now)

triceretops · May 14, 2010

Good point, Shady. Yeah, I guess the HP books did start out as MGs and then progressed into YA territory. I'm trying to think of another YA series that progressed into boni fide adult reading, but my mind's a fog right now. If I had read a lot of YA, maybe this wouldn't be happening. Ack.

Yes, read-read-read YA material--the old and timeless, to the latest and greatest.

Tri

Shady Lane · May 14, 2010

Sisterhood of The Traveling Pants brings the girls from 17 years old to 20 (I think, might be 16-20 or 17-21 or something) but they're all usually shelved as YA.

Marzipan · May 14, 2010

Read, read, READ!

Now go to Amazon and check out these titles: Thirteen Reasons Why,The Hunger Games, Tithe, Graceling, The Forest of Hands and Teeth, Wake, CRANK, The Book Theif, Blood and Chocolate, Looking for Alaska.

Above are a wide variety of YA novels. To me, the most important thing about writing YA is to know what else is out there.

Shady Lane · May 14, 2010

*chokes on 13 Reasons Why, dies*

But I like the other suggestions

Looking for Alaska is pretty much the definitive example of modern, contemporary, well-written, popular YA. And it's very very good.

Marzipan · May 14, 2010

You know I didn't finish 13 Reasons Why but what I read was decent. Ah well.

eventidepress · May 15, 2010

The Jessica Darling series (Sloppy Firsts, etc) start with the protagonist in her late teens, and I think the 5th one ends with her in her mid-20s

eyeblink · May 15, 2010

One way round this is to do what Ursula Le Guin did in the first Earthsea Trilogy (which may count as upper MG rather than YA but there you go). Ged is a teenager in the first book, and it's written from his viewpoint. He's a major character in the second and third, but an adult, and those novels are written from the POVs of younger characters.

And while we're on Le Guin, Lavinia in the novel of that name is only a teenager for about half the book.

Dot Hutchison · May 15, 2010

egoodlett said:
The Jessica Darling series (Sloppy Firsts, etc) start with the protagonist in her late teens, and I think the 5th one ends with her in her mid-20s

But most bookstores shelve that series in standard fiction, rather than YA.

Madeleine L'Engle's first quartet does this as well, though; we meet Meg in her teens and follow her up through being married and expecting her first child. If your character is interesting enough and the story compelling, readers will follow them up, as long as they start out at a comparable age.

Sage · May 15, 2010

If the first book in the series does well enough, people will follow it into the 2nd book regardless of it you've moved the characters up to college or kept them in high school. If it doesn't, chances are the 2nd book won't get published anyway.

Sage · May 15, 2010

The things that make a book YA are age, theme, and voice. If teen readers can't identify with all three of those things, it's not YA.

Pacing is also important in YA. Usually these stories are tighter and faster paced than an adult book.

It could be some combination of these things made your friend think you should try your hand at YA

mellymel · May 15, 2010

I'm coming on this late, but my biggest suggestion to help you with this is to read as much YA books as you can. These days there doesn't seem to much of a limitation to what you can put into the story in terms of content and storyline, but...voice and strong characterization is so, so important if you wish to have success with this targeted audience. I'm sure there are threads here with recommended lists of good (and bad) YA fiction. I plan in the future to write a YA fantasy story as well as a YA Sci fi and I'm not about to fully attempt it until I have read several books in both genres to give me a good feel for it. GL in your endeavor!

Tuuli · May 15, 2010

I'm assuming your friend reads YA, and that's why she suggested you try it, right? If she doesn't read YA, then I'd question why she made the suggestion in the first place.

Like everyone else, my suggestion is read tons of YA books in all the different subgenres. There's definitely no shortage of great reads out there.

And welcome to the super cool genre.

Trying a YA novel

Southern Girl

Prayer in a tango

kaitlin008

Seeing newness all the time

Shady Lane

my name is hannah

triceretops

Smish

Reads more than she writes.

Southern Girl

Prayer in a tango

Southern Girl

Prayer in a tango

paralus

triceretops

Shady Lane

my name is hannah

triceretops

Shady Lane

my name is hannah

Marzipan

Shady Lane

my name is hannah

Marzipan

eventidepress

eyeblink

Barbara says hi

Dot Hutchison

Falling through Clockwork

Sage

Our Lady of Parentheticals

Sage

Our Lady of Parentheticals

mellymel

Tuuli

Research Addict