Young Adult vs Adult

Celia Cyanide · Jul 21, 2006

What do you think is the difference between a book for teenagers and a book about teenagers for adults?

I am writing a story, 1st person POV about a teenage girl. I don't want it to be a YA book. Any advice?

emeraldcite · Jul 21, 2006

What do you think is the difference between a book for teenagers and a book about teenagers for adults?

Content, mostly.

I am writing a story, 1st person POV about a teenage girl. I don't want it to be a YA book.

That's going to be tough. Depends on your story, the complexity of it, and whether you can make it resonate with adult readers.

henriette · Jul 21, 2006

hmm...

personally, if i were to read a book about a teenaged girl, i would want her to be imbued with adult characteristics. she should be intelligent, strangely mature, emotionally aged, wise beyond her years. kind of like jo in little women. or lizzie bennet in pride and prejudice. or george in the nancy drew series.

maybe she can see things in the world around her that the adults can't see, or is struggling with a moral dilemma?

Akuma · Jul 21, 2006

I'm having the same problem.

My approach is to place them in adult situations teens regularly don't encounter. Also, not shying away from the "darkness" of life and their encounters with it.

Writer2011 · Jul 21, 2006

I'm sort of in the same situation myself...i'm working on a YA novel about teenaged kid (17) that has a fling with an older woman and also likes this girl (his age)...I'm not sure if I want to make it a YA or an Adult novel....

Jamesaritchie · Jul 21, 2006

Celia Cyanide said:
What do you think is the difference between a book for teenagers and a book about teenagers for adults?

I am writing a story, 1st person POV about a teenage girl. I don't want it to be a YA book. Any advice?

Why don't you want it to be a YA book? I think the best idea is to write the story in the best way possible and let the categorizing fall where it may. It's more important to write a good book than an adult book.

katiemac · Jul 21, 2006

I'm two chapters into Secret Life of Bees and liking it better than expected. The character is fourteen, but the only people I've seen reading it have been adults.

Food for thought.

Zolah · Jul 21, 2006

Celia Cyanide said:
What do you think is the difference between a book for teenagers and a book about teenagers for adults?

I am writing a story, 1st person POV about a teenage girl. I don't want it to be a YA book. Any advice?

Quite a lot of YA books are almost indistinguishable from adult books, even when it comes to length. Adults read YA books and young adults read books from the mainstream section. Drug use, violence and many other 'adult' things are covered in great detail in many YA books, and there's a fine tradition of plunging young protagonists into adult situations in YA fiction too, so that's no way to judge. The only thing that you DON'T often find in YA books (and I say 'often' because there are exceptions - Melvin Burgess for one) is explicit sex.

The only way I suppose you can tell if you're writing a book for young adults is to ask yourself: 'Am I writing a book for teenagers? Is that my aim and my intent?' If the answer is no then you're not writing a YA book. Whether or not agents, editors and, indeed, young adults themselves will agree, is another matter. You can't control your readers. I'm sure Neil Gaiman was surprised when his latest book 'Anansi Boys' (with all adult characters, sex, murder and religious irreverance) was selected as a Best Book for Teenagers recently. But there you are. Just do the best job you can.

maestrowork · Jul 21, 2006

Content, language, tone, subject matters, etc.

You can write an adult fiction about children, or a children's story about adults. Plenty of adult fiction's about YA as well.

Celia Cyanide · Jul 21, 2006

Jamesaritchie said:
Why don't you want it to be a YA book? I think the best idea is to write the story in the best way possible and let the categorizing fall where it may. It's more important to write a good book than an adult book.

The main reason is that I don't know very much about YA fiction, and I don't know if I could write it well. I suppose if it appeals to teens, that wouldn't be a problem. My main worry would be that someone would read it and think it was supposed to be a YA novel that missed the mark, or had inappropriate content.

Jamesaritchie · Jul 21, 2006

YA

Celia Cyanide said:
The main reason is that I don't know very much about YA fiction, and I don't know if I could write it well. I suppose if it appeals to teens, that wouldn't be a problem. My main worry would be that someone would read it and think it was supposed to be a YA novel that missed the mark, or had inappropriate content.

My point is to write it first, worry about the category second. Just write it the best way you possibly can, and when it's finished you should know whether it's YA or adult. I don't think right now is the time to worry about it.

Dru · Jul 21, 2006

Write your story and then once you've finished, then figure out where it may be best received. I'm having a similar struggle with one of my WIP, and I've decided to pitch it to both YA (not children's) imprints and adult markets. Or find an agent that works in both markets. I wouldn't worry until you've finished the final draft on trying to define what market a novel should fall under.

[dang, James beat me to the punch

]

ted_curtis · Jul 22, 2006

Remember, Young Adult, Adult, Middle-Grade, etc are marketing categories. Some books can fit in more than one area -- Huckleberry Finn and Harry Potter come to mind (if I remember correctly, in England, the most recent HP had two covers, one for adults and one for kids).

I agree with everyone here -- write the book and then let your agent/publisher decide where it fits.

popmuze · Jul 23, 2006

Let me chip in here as someone who has published three YA novels. I didn't necessarily write them as YA (although I had a publishing contract from a YA publisher after three chapters), I just wrote about teenage characters (18-20 years old) and wrote in my normal style.
This may have been a mistake. One reviewer said of my third book, the only audience for this book may be "literate, sophisticated and cynical 16-20 year olds." I actually liked that review, but I'm not sure there are enough readers in that demographic to support a novel, let alone a career.
To write a YA novel you have to simplify your sentences and your language. Subject matter is pretty wide open. But reading level is something you have to think about. If you're writing about a teenage girl in her tone of voice, with her language, you're probably writing something that could be YA or adult, depending on the complexity of the characterizations and the story.

scarletpeaches · Jul 23, 2006

I think a lot of it is in the marketing.

I'm currently reading Forever Amber, and she starts off as a sixteen year old but it's generally thought of as a book for grown-ups. (I first read it in my teens, mind you. This is third time around. Love it).

C.bronco · Jul 23, 2006

Dru said:
Write your story and then once you've finished, then figure out where it may be best received.

I agree. Write the book you want to write.

Zolah · Jul 23, 2006

popmuze said:
To write a YA novel you have to simplify your sentences and your language. <snip>

I never have. Never, ever. And I've never been asked to change anything for that reason either. My belief is that if young adults are already invading the adult section of the library (and those that read in their teens will be doing so, often from as young as ten years old) and reading Le Guin, Austen, Dickens, Vance and O'Brien, they won't have any trouble with anything I can come up with.

Soccer Mom · Jul 23, 2006

I agree with the above posters (James, Dru et al) who say write the story the way you want to tell it. There is literature out there written from the POV of a child or teenager that was written for adults. There are stories that with adult MCs that were written for children. There are stories that appeal to adults, children and teens. I read lots of 'adult' fiction as a teenager. I especially loved 'adult' fiction with younger characters.

Write your story. When you get to editing time, polish it and give it to some beta readers with the question of YA or Adult fiction. Then make your decision about how to pitch it in your query.

susannah · Jul 23, 2006

Hey -- haven't been posting here in a while (just lurking

) but this topic definitely resonated with me and what I've been working on lately.

I think that the success of books like Prep and (as earlier mentioned) Secret Life of Bees, show that books about younger people can resonate with adults. One thing I've tried to infuse my writing with (wherein the protagonist starts at 18 and ages to 23) is actually articulating the emotions of younger adulthood that, when you ARE a younger adult, seem overwhelming and almost beyond description.

Good luck!!

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