question on character age for adult novel

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writestuff24

Okay, this is my first post, but I have spent quite a bit of time reading and getting info and encouragement from the other posts, and until now I haven't had any questions that haven't already been asked. (if I did somehow miss this question being answered sorry for duplicating) So, I'm at the end of what I would consider an adult literary fiction novel. But, half the book is about the teenage years of the main character, and my inner editor (I hate that guy) is making me worry that with a lead character (and all his little side kick characters in that half who are also high-schoolers) will it be considered YA simply for that reason? Are there other books out there that deal with teenage characters but are not teenage books? I'm beginning to worry that it would be over the heads of most YA but possibly unrelatable for adults. Help me out here.
 

maestrowork

Just because you have teenage protagonists do not mean it's a YA novel. It depends on themes, language, plot, etc. For example, if it's a story about a teenage boy raping and killing young girls and setting federal buildings on fire, it's not a YA.
 

Writing Again

Yep, maestro is right, it depends.

Some questions to ask. Are your characters the ideal teenagers: sweet, innocent, naive, virgins? If so it is probably young adult. Or have they done the things real teenagers do: Gotten drunk at least once, had sex or near sex, have a friend that is pregnant, tried pot or have a friend who smokes it on the way to school, have a homosexual friend and they wonder what it would be like? Do they deal with "acceptable problems" or do they deal with real problems in the real world?

Does not matter that it is a fantasy.

One of the kids in my family put it this way.

You can tell whether a movie is for kids or not by how dangerous the bathroom is. In kids movies they are safe places to go. In adult movies the kids smoke in there. In real life the first year high school students get their faces flushed for their initiation ceremony.
 

katdad

The age of the protagonists do not really matter as much as the "connect" you have with the adult readership.

Even if the themes are adult, having teenage characters may generate a slight disconnect for mature readers UNLESS you can bring them into the story properly.

A 'coming of age' theme may not resonate with them, in other words, unless it's dealt with in a mature manner.

So yes, it's definitely okay to have young characters, but you've got to engage the adult readers, too.
 

Writing Again

I want to know what quality Rowlings infused into the Harry Potter series that have 40 and 50 year olds, as well as 5 and 10 year olds, eagerly awaiting the next release of book or movie.
 

maestrowork

RE: Harry Potter.

It's the universal themes. The fantasy elements. The good vs. evil. The coming of age (trust me, adults do get nostaglic reading coming of age stories), friendship, adventures, responsibilities... when you touch on truly universal themes, adults will like it too (just look at all the Pixar films or Spider Man movies...)
 

Jamesaritchie

I want to know what quality Rowlings infused into the Harry Potter series that have 40 and 50 year olds, as well as 5 and 10 year olds, eagerly awaiting the next release of book or movie.

I'm a fifty-one year old waiting for the next book. It's just good story, good characters, good language, and a story any age can read with pleasure.
 

Eowyn Eomer

I want to know what quality Rowlings infused into the Harry Potter series that have 40 and 50 year olds, as well as 5 and 10 year olds, eagerly awaiting the next release of book or movie.
Magic, obviously! Haven't you read the books? They're all about magic! She's put a spell on us! :eek

I think the question that should be asked is - how is it that her books have done so well? Probably the same reason why LOTR films did so well. People look for a way to escape reality and be drawn into a wonderful fantasy that they can believe to be real for the time they are involved in it (either reading the books or watching the movies).

Ingredients:
Adventure
Mystery
Excitement
Heartfelt moments
Tragic Hero (meaning hero has suffered in life)
Magic
Friendship (strong supporting characters who are likable)
Really bad villans (with no redeeming qualities)
Characters opposed to hero who make you wonder if they'll turn around
Magical places
Humor
Drama

Now, how much of each ingredient you should used, I'd say you'd have to play around with and figure out. ;)
 

cluelessspicycinnamon

It's still adult fiction, probably.

Elizabeth Berg's True to Form (i think that's tht title) is about a girl who is around 12 years old, but it's still adult fiction. It depends on the themes and stuff.
 

Writing Again

When thinking about it I believe I could write a story about a five year old, have the child neither see, hear, nor experience either sex or violence directly, and it still be an adult novel.
 

Kate Nepveu

Writing Again:
Are your characters the ideal teenagers: sweet, innocent, naive, virgins? If so it is probably young adult. Or have they done the things real teenagers do: Gotten drunk at least once, had sex or near sex, have a friend that is pregnant, tried pot or have a friend who smokes it on the way to school, have a homosexual friend and they wonder what it would be like? Do they deal with "acceptable problems" or do they deal with real problems in the real world?

Have you *read* YAs recently?

One of the less controversial, and more popular, YA fantasy series I've read has the female teenage protagonist sleep with three different guys, not be punished for it, *and* not marry the prince.

And the YA "problem novel" is a well-established subgenre.

The line between YA and adult is very fluid; a lot of books originally published as adult fiction are being repackaged as YA these days, especially in SF. (Frankly I wonder if it isn't more a marketing category these days than anything else.) And many books shelved in "fiction" have younger protagonists for all of the book or for the beginning.

writestuff24: As you've finished, have some adults read it and see what they say. What do we know without having read it?
 

Writing Again

Have you *read* YAs recently?

Yes and no. I keep track of what the kids in my family read. Most is adult material. The last rage was R.L. Stine and currently they are all reading The House on Mango Street, Harry Potter and anything connected with Spongebob Square Pants or Nemo.

The line is thin as everyone leaves books laying around and kids wind up reading what the adults are reading and the adults wind up reading what the kids are reading.
 

preyer

my WIP's teenage protagonist could easily be misinterpreted as a whore. as she progresses through life, her overall conduct finally brings her to a reckoning, which is also completely not YA. at least in the beginning, though she's a young character, there's nothing in there a YA would probably even want to read. and it's not for the themes so much as it's the presentation, i think. my last book has the entire cast older and there's no real reason why my 11 year old nephew couldn't read it though it's chock full of cartoony violence and a few blurry sex scenes.

i don't get harry potter's success. i think it's the combination of things that have been done (there's really hardly an original concept i've seen), done in a palatable, universal way.

i know one thing: a good conversation starter is, 'anyone who reads harry potter is going to hell according to the bible.' rarely that ever fails to instigate. :)
 

Writing Again

The kids in my family tell me the general rule of the thumb is "one up." In other words once mommy stops reading to them and you start reading for themselves, children read the literature designed for the next older level.

This is not always true, and sometimes the kids do "read down" if they really like the character, author, or series, but it holds as a standard.

If everybody who reads Harry Potter is going to Hell then I better get to reading so I'll have something to talk with people about once I get down there.
 
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