YA books ...for Adults?

[Grey Malkin]

I'm in a bit of a tricky situation, just wondering if anyone had any advice. I've been writing a Young Adult book for a while, but the further I take it, the further it strays into darker waters. The novel has a contemporary setting, the protagonist and antagonist are mid-teens, but the subject matter is depression and revenge. I know there are "serious" young adult books out there, Malorie Blackman's Noughts and Crosses comes immediately to mind, but at what point do you cross over and have to pitch what is essentially a Young Adult novel at the adult market? I don't want to tone it down, and I don't want to "happy" it up.

I guess I shouldn't have spent my own youth listening to The Swans.

Grey Malkin

[RubyRoo]

Personally I dont find Malorie Blackman's books at all dark and I'm 13! The things in her book could easily happen if our society was like that and although it has some important messages to think about if your book is what you consider dark in comparison to Malorie Blackman's trilogy then I dont think any teens will be put off.

[Grey Malkin]

No, I just meant "serious". There are some pretty heavy concepts in Noughts and Crosses. Terrorism, rape and politics don't make light reading, and I admit, as a proper grown-up, I was really knocked back to find the world of YA literature is not summed up by Harry Potter. In fact, I think in general, the quality of prose in young adult fiction is better than mainstream fiction, which often rambles and goes off on tangents with nothing more to say than "look how much research I've done".

[Project nachonaco]

Wow, hey, I'm not the youngest person here! :D

I face the same delimma. I'd like some advice too.

[Christine N.]

Well, now you're walking the fine line between Middle Grade and Young Adult. Both usually fall under the umbrella of "YA" but Harry Potter is more for the middle grades. At least, it started out that way. MG is usually the 8-12 year old reader, and you can have a broad range of books just within that - some read younger, some older.

YA, in the strictest sense, is the 13-17 year old age range. So, I would say you were writing for the older edge of that spectrum - 16-17 or so.

I read A LOT of Stephen King at that age - it was in my HS library - and he's certainly not all roses and sunshine. So I wouldn't worry about it. If an agent/publisher thinks you've crossed a line, that's what editing is for.

[RubyRoo]

Randomly on the topic of MB I had all the books in that trilogy at my fencing class to give back to my mate that I had borrowed them off and this girl saw I was carrying them and looked at me weirdly so i pointed this out to my mate and she says 'Oh yer thats Malorie Blackman's daughter.'

I was like WHAT! I never know anything around here! Blackman's kid goes to my school! :D

[Storyteller5]

Christine, great point about Stephen King. I read Christine and Pet Semetary in grade 9, I think. Dark fits for many teen's reading appeal. Don't change it according to what you think it will have to be marketted as. Finish writing it and then give yourself some time to see it with a fresh eye. :)

[Niesta]

I worked at a children's bookstore for a number of years, and we stocked all kinds of "adult" books for YA. Basically, the standard we went by was that controversial topics and dark tone were not off limits; graphic sex and violence were. Language was more of a fuzzy line, and we would warn people, in case that was an issue for them.

What always kind of amused me: as often as not, it was parents who were pushing their kids to read stuff because it was "advanced", and they'd heard about the book somewhere but hadn't read it. Parents would pick out the most inappropriate books for kids who were WAY too young. Sometimes they would even read them and be horrified at what they'd chosen, or the kid would get freaked. Then they'd complain to us for selling such books, and we were like, but we WARNED you!

How old a kid has to be to be able to handle various subject matter varies kid by kid.

[Stacey Sweeney]

VC Andrews book "Flowers in the Attic" has a brother and sister having sex while locked in an attic by their crazy mother. As a teen, I read every one of her books I could, and loved them. They all involved sex and many involved incest. (I'm not sure why I liked them so much, I sure never thought about my brother in that way....Gross!)

However, as a parent, there's no way in hell I'll be letting my teenage daugher read that kind of crap.

So, your book will probably be fine as YA and since teens by CD's with very explicit lyrics and themes, they will probably buy books along the same lines.

Again from a parent's point of view....
I personally have no problem with violence, rape, cussing, drinking, drugs, etc in books for my kids, as long as it's written right. VC Andrews was just sick. So is Stephen King (for teens). But there are some really great books out there that aren't clean cut. For me, if the message is good and the book has a lesson, then it's something I'll consider letting my kids read. (In case you're wondering, they're only 1 and 3 now, so I have a long time before the reality of having a teen hits me.)
Teens live in the real world with violence, cussing, drinking, drugs, abuse, etc so I wouldn't think that publishers would have any problem with books that are real. TV sure doesn't. Teen television shows include all of the above and more. (Degrassi for example.)
HTH,
Stacey

[Grey Malkin]

Cheers all, some good replies. As a teen I was heavily into James Herbert. Probably because my English teacher hated him so much.

[Christine N.]

Two words - Christopher Pike

[astonwest]

Two words - Christopher Pike

Damn, it's been a while since I've heard that name (or read those books)...

[Christine N.]

LOL, yeah, I'm showing my age now, aren't I???

[astonwest]

Actually, I just sent my WIP off to some beta readers...and the subject of this thread was what I was looking for (odd, I posted before, and didn't think much about it at the time).

Adult situations in a YA book...
Glad to hear it's not taboo...

[fallenangelwriter]

if it's targeting an audience of adults, it's not a YA book, by definition.


what it is is probably a book with a teenage main character.

not every book involving teens is YA. books written FOR teens are YA.

[Puddle Jumper]

I don't think you should have to tone it down. When I was in high school we had to read some pretty dark material as required reading in literature class.

Teens do deal with dark issues and I think especially nowadays they can handle tougher subject material.

[zeprosnepsid]

Christopher Pike was sooo popular when I was a teenager =) But a lot of teens in my time loved King and Crichton most of all.

But my advice is just write the book. See how it comes out. Then make your decision. I listed in another topic books that have young protagonists that were not written for teens. Teen characters do not have to mean YA. But adult situations don't have to mean it can't be YA. It's tricky. But if the book is taking you to unexpected places then just enjoy the ride, get some beta readers of different ages, and go from there.

Good luck!

[Grey Malkin]

Update time. I finished the novel and sent it out. I got two requests for the full script, but both agents rejected it for different reasons. One was a little uncomforable with some of the material, particularly the occult stuff (did I mention that back there?). The other agent was more positive, but wasn't convinced she could concince a publisher to buy it - again, for the occult material.

I could, of course, tone it down and resub, but I've decided to rework it as an adult novel. So, it's back to the laptop for another six months. I guess I should pop by the horror group.

:Clap:
grey