MC too young at beginning?

milkymoon · Jun 27, 2011

Hey guys,

I'm just messing around with a new idea at the moment and I want it to span about a 3 year time period. Though she spends the majority of the book at the age of 16/17, my MC would be about 14 at the beginning. Would this immediately put off the YA readers I'm targeting? Would it be worth me not metioning her age initially so it's ambiguous, then after some time has passed, slip in that she's now 16?

Thanks!

Cyia · Jun 27, 2011

14 is still YA.

LadyA · Jun 27, 2011

If you've read the CHERUB series, (about 12 books in all) the main character starts off as twelve, and the books take him through to seventeen. And those books are awesome.

So I'd say go for it.

milkymoon · Jun 27, 2011

Thanks for your replies guys! I suppose I'm worried about alienating the older readers, since they tend to "read up". But you both seem pretty confident it's worth it so I'll plod on! Thanks again.

RileyRedgate · Jun 27, 2011

I'm 17, and I wouldn't be averse to reading about a 14-year-old.

It really depends on how the writing reads. If you have a YA voice, rather than an MG voice, you can get away with murder. ~~especially if it's a mystery oh ha ha ha~~

I know this is the most overused example of the century, but think Ender's Game. That's a teenage or even adult read right there, even though the age of the MC is super-tiny for quite a while.

I wouldn't be vague or ambiguous about the age. I'd rather know someone's young and grows older than being like, "Wait... wha...?" for the first however-many pages.

HistoryLvr · Jun 27, 2011

Nobody's Prize and Nobody's Princess by Esther Friesner, though the MC only tops out at 14 or 15 I think, start off with her being about 8. She's definitely a kid, someone way too young to be considered YA, for maybe two or three chapters, and then she grows up. The books are considered YA, though the younger end, but I think this still applies to your question. Just make your MC a fairly mature 14yo and I doubt very many readers will be alienated.

eyeblink · Jun 27, 2011

Helen Grant's The Disappearance of Katharina Linden is YA (and 14+ YA at that), though the protagonist is ten. She narrates the novel from later in her teen years - age seventeen, as it turns out.

milkymoon · Jun 27, 2011

Cheers guys! You're all very helpful!

thebloodfiend · Jun 27, 2011

Nah, not too young. Now, if she was twelve, that might be a problem.

I, a seventeen-year-old, enjoy reading about all age groups under forty. For whatever reason, I don't enjoy reading/watching/writing about people older than my parents.

Mandiloo322 · Jun 27, 2011

I think 12 is just fine. I've read plenty of YA books where the protagonist is 12 or 13 and it doesn't bother me. I can follow a protagonist who is 10 or older, especially if they age with the series. If they're younger than that, I start to question why the adults are okay with the kid having so many strange experiences on his/her own, because it's weird to picture a little kid wandering around town (in any time period) alone without raising suspicions.

MC too young at beginning?

milkymoon

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