Teen MC = YA?

[RedStringSoul]

I'm curious: does a teen main character automatically get lumped in to YA these days? I'm trying not to concern myself too much with writing to genre so much as writing the story I want but I do have a teenaged main cast -- MC, key support and main villain are all 17 ~ 18ish. Romance is a one of the subplots but definitely isn't a forefront issue.

[cherita]

This came up in QLH recently, and someone offered up this excellent thread: What Constitutes YA Fiction? (http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98377)

IMO, it's not just the age of the characters, but the story you're telling as well. Although, I like Shady Lane's answer from that linked thread:

1. Protagonist between the ages of 13 and 21.
2. Coming-of-age elements.

[RedStringSoul]

Great, thanks I'll look at the link.

[lbender]

Just saw the movie 'Kick-Ass'. The main characters are in high school. One of them is a little girl no older than 9 or 10. With the violence, cursing, and sex, I wouldn't let any kids anywhere near it. YA also involves what the story is.

[cherita]

Many YA books have violence, cursing and sex -- just like many teen lives do. See: Shady Lane's Edgy YA (http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71220). The absence or presence of any of those things isn't what makes YA or not. It's the story being one teens can relate to.

[mgnme]

YA is how the book is marketed. Most books with teenage protagonists/casts are YA. But there are sometimes adult books that have YA-age protagonists. You will have to decide whether your book is YA or not when submitting to agents (you will have to pick a genre for your query letter), but you don't have to decide that until after you've written it. I believe JK Rowling (and many great writers before her) once said something to the effect of, "I don't write for a specific age group."

But if you're still curious, check out the YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) "Alex Awards." They're given to "books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults, ages 12 through 18." Go through the lists of previous winners. Many of the titles have protagonists in their late teens. That will give you an idea of some "non-YA YA books." lol. (although, as I said before, at the end of the day, it's about who the publishers think it will appeal to most.)

http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/booklistsawards/alexawards/alexawards.cfm

[M. Scott]

The age of the MC is somewhat connected to the book's classification, but is not the only variable. For instance, a book with a teen MC should probably include some teen issues for realism (if that is what you're going for). However, if the story as a whole isn't meant for teens, it won't be marketed as such. For instance, Let the Right One In has teen characters and issues, but also deals with several adult issues in a rather explicit manner, so it tends to be thought of as an adult book.

[Buffysquirrel]

People keep trying to shove my W(NOT)IP into YA. It's really not YA imo. Yes, the protagonist is a teenager, because he's joining the army, and in his culture you join the army at seventeen, *but*, in his culture he's an adult. It's not a 'coming of age' story particularly. There are issues with the peer group, perhaps inevitably. There's no first love. Eh. Sometimes I just want to put a sign on it: NOT YA, OK?

[MoLoLu]

I think it depends a lot on the setting, message and content of the book and less the age of characters or MC. Ofc. in the end I guess it depends on how the book's marketed but that is probably dependant on the above.

I prefer writing younger characters but I doubt my work would ever pass as YA.

I'd reccomend not thinking about it too much and see what happens. If teens like it, why not call it YA, it's just a lable anyways and lables are tools to help categorize, not definitions. If they don't no loss there either and call it someting else, maybe historical fiction. At least, that's how I'd go about it.

[Witch_turtle]

People keep trying to shove my W(NOT)IP into YA. It's really not YA imo. Yes, the protagonist is a teenager, because he's joining the army, and in his culture you join the army at seventeen, *but*, in his culture he's an adult. It's not a 'coming of age' story particularly. There are issues with the peer group, perhaps inevitably. There's no first love. Eh. Sometimes I just want to put a sign on it: NOT YA, OK?

I know exactly how you feel. My MC is also a teenager but it's not a coming-of-age story and I don't feel it should be considered YA. I almost have a fear of it being labelled as such. I know it's wrong, but I admit I have a certain negative bias against YA/Teen Fiction. It's a stupid bias, but I guess I'm just not a fan of the current trends in that category and would rather not be lumped in with them.

Anyway, the point is we don't have much of a say anyway. It's going to be the publishers/marketing people who decide how to market it. But I like what MoLoLu said:

it's just a lable anyways and lables are tools to help categorize, not definitions.

So true.

[Smish]

Er... depends on how you market it, maybe?

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is marketed as YA in Australia but decidedly adult fiction overseas in Europe & maybe America? (not sure about the US) so no idea why the one book would be marketed to different age groups like this but I guess globally there are different standards for what's acceptable as YA & adult - as long as he's getting the sales from it, I don't think Mr Zusak minds too much what it's marketed as.

It's a great book by the way, if anyone hasn't read it, please do :)

It's YA in the US - probably because Markus Zusak was already a well-known YA writer.

A teenage protag does not automatically make a book YA. Voice and pacing are the two biggest factors in a YA novel, in my opinion.

[fov]

Narrative distance is a consideration. Is the main character recounting events as they happen, from a teenager's perspective? Or is he/she looking back from an adult's perspective? If it's a teen telling an immediate story without adult perspective, it tends to fall into YA.

I didn't think my book was YA when I was writing it. It was only after I started looking for agents (and had multiple agents tell me it was YA) that I accepted it. At this point I don't really care how it's categorized, I just want to see it sold! :D

[Ria13]

I'm curious: does a teen main character automatically get lumped in to YA these days?
not any more than a book with a black MC would end up in urban fiction.

[OpheliaRevived]

I agree with Smish. The only reason I *know* the stuff I write is for the ya audience is that I write older teen protgs/antags, and I always have the plot rooted in "every day" teen stuff like school, peer group, etc.

The pace factor is overlooked sometimes, but the pace makes the "flavor" of the book sooooo different.

[Ria13]

A teenage protag does not automatically make a book YA. Voice and pacing are the two biggest factors in a YA novel, in my opinion.
my WIP (which I plan to sell as a YA) has a pretty fast pace because I like that storytelling style and feel that it fits the WIP. I have consciously attempted to YA-ize the actual writing and plan on doing so more when I revise it. as I an example, I have cut exposition down a bare minimum (even more so than I would normally) and simplify some of the sentences.

one thing, though. I recently started reading I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. now I notice that it has a pretty sedate pace and no attempt to have a "YA voice" (I believe it came out before YA existed as a category; it came out in 1948) and yet it got classified at this library as a YA.

[Adelaide]

Well if I remember Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses had a sixteen-year-old protagonist. And now I'm reading his book The Crossing, also with a sixteen-year-old boy as the main character. These are most definitely NOT Young Adult. So. The answer is not automatically, I guess.

[timewaster]

my WIP (which I plan to sell as a YA) has a pretty fast pace because I like that storytelling style and feel that it fits the WIP. I have consciously attempted to YA-ize the actual writing and plan on doing so more when I revise it. as I an example, I have cut exposition down a bare minimum (even more so than I would normally) and simplify some of the sentences.

one thing, though. I recently started reading I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. now I notice that it has a pretty sedate pace and no attempt to have a "YA voice" (I believe it came out before YA existed as a category; it came out in 1948) and yet it got classified at this library as a YA.

You don't have to simplify sentences (though reducing exposition is good). YA can be adult looking back on past as in Mary Hoffman's recent 'David' which has a young man as a protag. It doesn't have to be 'coming of age. ' It doesn't even have to have a teenage protag, Eleanor Updale's 'Montmorency' series has a grown man as the main character. YA is very much about marketing. I have no idea why Mal Peet for example or Lean Hearn's books are classed as YA books.

[TAR11]

I think the morals we teach can be universal regardless of age. I think it's a mistake to classify Huckleberry Finn as a children's book simply because the protagonist is a child. It can teach even adults a great message which certainly doesn't limit it to a certain genre. I think at their best, all books attempt to transcend genres, but more often than not as humans we try to classify.

[KMcIntyreMT]

If you're writing in a young adult voice then it'd probably be considered YA. What kind of story is it? Does it have a genre? Coming of age tales with young narrators are definitely YA, but there are shades of gray.

[Liosse de Velishaf]

There's a whole board for this topic. You'll get much better answers there.