Help defining genre. Is it YA, or something else?

Status
Not open for further replies.

Applicious

Registered
Joined
Nov 25, 2014
Messages
31
Reaction score
0
Location
North Carolina
Hi everyone. So, I have a novel that's a fairy tale rewrite of Prince and the Pauper. Stylistically and content-wise, I think the story is more YA than anything else. It's about girl who's not sure what she's doing with her life, which is sort of a rite of passage for young adults. It's also got romance, a love triangle, loneliness and friendship, things that young people identify with.

The main issue is, my character is 19-20 throughout the novel. This is too old for YA, but I'm not sure if my story is mature enough for NA. So what do I call this thing I wrote? Is it YA, NA, or something else?
 

Whimsigirl

wishin' and hopin'
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 27, 2011
Messages
405
Reaction score
20
Website
www.elizabethlimbooks.com
Sounds YA to me. I think if your novel isn't set in a contemporary world, you can be okay. IMO, NA refers more to characters being in college, and YA being in high school, but in fairy tale settings there's a little more leeway age-wise.

Still, if you want to be safe, consider lowering the age to 18?
 

Osulagh

Independent fluffy puppy.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 4, 2013
Messages
1,488
Reaction score
222
Location
My dog house.
With ElizaL. Sounds YA with an older character. Unless their age matters so much to the story, if you lower it you'll probably be right at home in YA.

Although, it's not unheard of to have adults, in adult fiction, going through the same situations. It's just more common for YAs to go through this.

And I don't suggest NA at all. Unless your story is a sexy college romance--the NA market is filled with them at the moment.
 

Applicious

Registered
Joined
Nov 25, 2014
Messages
31
Reaction score
0
Location
North Carolina
Thanks for the advice, guys. I really feel like the age of 19/20 is just perfect for the character. It's the time where you realize you're not a kid anymore, and you get your first sense of mortality. I think that's exactly where my character is. However, I guess for industry standards, I might have to drop the age. Has anyone read a YA book where the MC was older than 18?
 

Booklover199

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 1, 2015
Messages
182
Reaction score
8
Location
Toronto, Canada
It sounds like YA. Remember it's Young Adult, not Young Teens. Young adults are anyone between like 15 to 35 (in my opinion).
 

Corussa

I fight like a dairy farmer
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 7, 2012
Messages
539
Reaction score
130
Location
Lincolnshire Wolds
Just to be a really annoying pedantic pest...

I believe it is incorrect to describe YA as a genre (like, say horror, romance, fantasy, etc). I would term it a category. :)

But beyond that, I would agree that your novel has a YA feel, though the age thing does sound tricky. Sorry, I can't immediately think of any YA books I've read with an MC that age - but I'm probably not thinking hard enough!
 

Latina Bunny

Lover of Contemporary/Fantasy Romance (she/her)
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 26, 2011
Messages
3,820
Reaction score
738
Is the story in a historical-like/medieval-ish setting? If not, why so old? Are you sure you couldn't do it with younger protagonists?

Also, it could also depend on the character's/narrator's voice. Does the character sound like a teen, or like an adult or an adult reminiscing?

Adults (literally young adults in their college years) also have those themes (love, romance, love triangles, loneliness, etc), too.

It would depend on that "coming of age" aspect in the plot, I guess. And how the characters handle such issues.

There is a New Adult niche, too, though it could be put into Adult market as well, depending on how it's written.

In the end, it would depend on how the content is written, so maybe posting a bit of it here or getting a beta reader to read it would help. :)
 
Last edited:

Keobooks

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 31, 2015
Messages
138
Reaction score
18
I'd take advantage of the historical/medieval aspect bunny-gypsy mentioned. Back in olden times, it was very common to get married and start a family in your mid teens, so they can come of age much younger than in modern times. In my fantasy story , my MC is getting pressured to hurry up and get married because he's 16 and most of his friends have married already.

This post-teenage angst that seems to happen during the college years is historically VERY new. It didn't really take off until the 1970s. And remember, pre WW2, most people got married right out of high school. Few folk went to college on a large scale before the GI bill. If you're going for a historical feel, you need to remember that your characters aren't going to be 21st century modern teens and 20s kids.

Also, if it really is set in that time frame, you might reconsider the coming to accept ones mortality aspect. Up until the mid 20th century, people died in their homes instead of hospitals. The family would usually wash, dress and prepare the body before burial. People were very much in day to day touch with the reality of death. Also, younger people died much more often from disease or injuries that are easily treated and cured these days. It wouldn't be unusual for people to have lost several friends or siblings near their age.

I doubt that people were anywhere near as removed from death as teens are today. It wasn't sanitized and taken care of by professionals back then. People likely came to terms with their own mortality much much younger than they do now.
 
Last edited:

AW Admin

Administrator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 19, 2008
Messages
18,772
Reaction score
6,285
I'd take advantage of the historical/medieval aspect bunny-gypsy mentioned. Back in olden times, it was very common to get married and start a family in your mid teens, so they can come of age much younger than in modern times. In my fantasy story , my MC is getting pressured to hurry up and get married because he's 16 and most of his friends have married already.

This post-teenage angst that seems to happen during the college years is historically VERY new. It didn't really take off until the 1970s. And remember, pre WW2, most people got married right out of high school. Few folk went to college on a large scale before the GI bill. If you're going for a historical feel, you need to remember that your characters aren't going to be 21st century modern teens and 20s kids.

This is not exactly historically accurate; we have letters and other pieces of evidence that suggest adolescent angst is adolescent angst.

The onset of puberty in young women with inadequate nutrition was delayed compared to today, but that would depend on local conditions.

Peasants married later than wealthier folks because it took them longer to accumulate enough to afford to wed; wealthier folks were concerned about property /inheritance.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_European_marriage_pattern
 

Twick

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 16, 2014
Messages
3,291
Reaction score
715
Location
Canada
My mother said she could see a change come in the 1960s - it was the first time she was afraid of teenagers.
 

Unpredictabloo

Registered
Joined
Jul 5, 2016
Messages
13
Reaction score
1
I don't think a 19-20 yo MC would be a turnoff to a young adult audience. Heck, it might even be refreshing. There are so many stories about 16-18 year olds going on adventures. I remember being 16 and feeling like I was missing out on life because I was already "grown up" and hadn't experienced anything like I read about in books. 19 is very young.
 

Cyia

Rewriting My Destiny
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 15, 2008
Messages
18,615
Reaction score
4,029
Location
Brillig in the slithy toves...
Wow. Old thread.

The categorization isn't up to the writer or even the reader. It won't be categorized as YA because no agent or publisher is going to frame it as YA (coming of age). Maybe NA, which can handle college age characters, and maybe straight-up adult. The categories are for shelving and sales purposes; they're shorthand to give readers an indication of what to expect.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.