Young Adult

YA readers tend to want to have protagonists a little older than them - a character they 'aspire' to be, age-wise. Therefore, if your protag is 17, you've got it just about right.

Garpy said:

YA readers tend to want to have protagonists a little older than them - a character they 'aspire' to be, age-wise. Therefore, if your protag is 17, you've got it just about right.

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This is generally true, but seventeen might be pushing it a little. Be prepared for an editor to make noises about reducing the protagonist's age (usually on the advice of the marketing dept). For some reason there's a worry that books will 'miss' readers if the main character is too much older than the target audience (which, as a rule of thumb, is 12 upwards for a YA) especially when you're leaving the early teens behind and writing characters who are old enough to get married. One of my characters actually does get married in the course of the book, and my editor told me that people were still suggesting she be a few years younger (yuck).

age

aspiringwriter said:

I was wondering how old is too old for a YA novel? My heroine is seventeen and i'm thinking of it being a series of some sort. Any help would greatly be appreciated.

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Anywhere from twelve to eighteen. The age of the character isn't terribly important, even many, many adults love fiction with twelve year old protagonists. The story you tell, and the way you tell it, is far mor eimportant than a character's age.

The Harry potter books are both children's and YA, and are probably read by more adults than children. Just tell a good story.

One thing I would think about is if you want it to be a series, how old will she be at the end of the series? Is she going to be a year older in each book? If the last answer is yes, I'd have her younger than 17 in the first one.

Just a thought.