Pregnancy

valibby

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I've browsed and searched and not found anything specific. I've examined a few different forums and finally decided to plunk my question here.

The story in my head is new adult romance. I want to include a pregnancy as a main plot point. But I've been doing a lot of searching and not come up with much. I've found YA books with a pregnancy, often as a cautionary tale. I've found women's fiction with pregnancy. I've found NA with a pregnancy that comes up at the end. What I haven't found is an NA romance with a pregnancy as one of the main points. Is this because it's a taboo, because no one is interested in reading it, or because no one has really done it? Am I missing something?

MC would be 18ish. Initially I'm thinking she's just finished high school and this is the summer before college. Love interest is 22ish. The pregnancy is accidental and they get married, because reasons. The obvious challenges of being young, pregnant, and married would be covered, but the story ends with a HEA (or HFN - might be a series).

Am I missing something obvious?
 

Roxxsmom

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Hmm, a YA to NAish novel (the marketing demographics were different back then) I remember reading when I was a YA was called Pennington's Heir by KM Peyton. It involved the relationship that had developed between two characters from earlier series the author had written. The very young couple got pregnant and decided to get married, and it dealt with their struggles, written from his pov (if I remember correctly, maybe it went back and forth). It certainly didn't glorify teen pregnancy, but it focused on their struggle to make a life for them and their kid.

I remember it being kind of sad, though, especially for the girl, because she'd been a determined horsewoman in the earlier novels and now she was a young mother, married to a troubled musician she adored but didn't really understand, and it didn't seem like she was ever going to be able to do much with her life besides wait tables, let alone to ever be into horses again. Though that might have been down to my own values and ambitions at the time I read it (I was definitely college bound and had little interest in babies or getting married when I was in my late teens).

Other than this, I can't think of other ideas.
 
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valibby

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See, when I was in my late teens, I knew I was bound for university. But I was also a horrible wallflower with no romantic prospects, so the idea of marriage and babies was appealing in a theoretical sense. It's when I started devouring romance novels (with decent sex scenes, which is why it has to be NA). Apparently it still appeals to me, even now that I'm married with three rather large and loud no-longer-babies. The lonely teenager in me still has those dreams.
 

lemonhead

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I think for the most part, pregnancy stories aren't YA or in that realm....no matter your age, becoming a mother takes you out of childhood completely. It sounds almost like straight romance. But I guess a lot would depend on the execution? I still feel like this would just be adult romance, even if it's got mild sex scenes.
 

Becca C.

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Weird, I don't think I've ever seen an NA about pregnancy. Seems like it should come up when dealing with that age group! Go for it.
 

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Lemonhead, I disagree.

YA can and I think SHOULD deal with teen pregnancy and the issues surrounding it. Because teenaged girls, like it or not, get pregnant. And adding that complication to the struggle of coming of age could make for an interesting story - as long as you don't glorify it.
 

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While a pregnancy carried to term certainly pushes a girl into the adult world in many ways, I think a pregnant teenager (whether or not it's planned and whether or not she marries the father of the child) will have different issues and experiences than a pregnant woman who is older. So I think a book where the character is pregnant could definitely still be YA.

As for NA? I don't know. I think there's still a lot of debate about what that demographic actually is. I started a thread about NA fantasy (something a handful of agents say they're looking for), and no one could come up with a really firm definition of what that might be, aside from the obvious--fantasy novels where the protagonist(s) is in the 19-25 age range (given how common characters of that age are in fantasy, it's got to be more than that).

If NA is supposed to be about issues that most modern college students and recent college grads can relate to or fantasize about, like having one's first serious love affair or landing that first job, then unexpected pregnancy might not appeal. But if it's supposed to be like YA but for people who are a bit older, then it might work.

I suspect that it might be in the writing and in how interesting and relatable you make the characters. I don't know if I would have automatically reached for a book about a pregnant college student when I was in college myself, but sometimes stories can hook you in and make a situation real and relatable in a way one doesn't expect.

I might also just be weird. As the OP stated, at least some college aged women are already thinking about marriage and children. And full disclosure--while I've always enjoyed being in a love relationship and am very monogamous by nature, I never did have kids. Never got bitten by the baby bug.
 
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I think you could have YA about pregnancy, but this definitely seems more like an NA plot. Now, that assumes you don't follow the "Hot, Steamy Romance"-only definition of NA. When I think of YA pregnancy stories, I think more of a "Juno"-style pregnancy than post-high school marriage to a 22-year-old.

I would definitely say go for it on this. I can't think of any popular NA book with this theme, probably because no one or very few people have written one.
 

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The YA I have out and the one that's out next year both have pregnant secondary characters in them. Some of whom keep the babies, some of them who do not. It's not the main focus of either book.

I think you might not find it in NA just because the category is still evolving? I don't particularly think it'd be a no-no or anything. And it's definitely something YA and NA aged characters might go through. It sounds interesting!
 

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One of the best YA books I ever read (and whose title I can't remember it was around 25 years ago) was a about young man just finishing school and going on to college. His not very serious girlfriend gets pregnant, has the baby and puts the baby up for adoption. He fights for the custody of the baby he calls Mason and it's about how the father copes as he finishes school and goes to college. I was totally absorbed and really would love to know what it was called so I can reread it.
 

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Nope, your girlhood dies during pregnancy. YOU die during pregnancy. You become a different person and never ever again that girl you were. Just the way it is. NOW, that's not saying you can't have a YA book about that-- you definitely can and should, teens get pregnant same as everyone else. And I LOVE YA books where we start out with a girl and the end is a woman born and tested. It's back to the same thing it always is when dealing with this cross-section of life and market-- it's going to depend on your execution where this ends up (which is how it is with most books). And taking it from the approach of a NA romance, for me and what I've read and what I'm envisioning when I hear that pitch, I think "well, that's really just a clean romance novel then...Harlequin has a lot of that plot point and this would just be more single title idea." Your battle then is showing how it's different. How it fits a space that should be in this market.
 

jtrylch13

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I had my first unplanned child at 19, so I can say, at least in my case, your "girlhood" doesn't die during pregnancy, if you are in fact still in the girlhood phase. I was. It did however die during the first years of my child's life. And the first years of a troubled and ultimately doomed marriage. Every pregnancy is different for every woman. I took my responsibilities seriously, even though it still took time for me to finish growing up. A friend of mine who had a daughter at the same time still spent all her time partying and drinking and leaving the baby with her mom. She took even longer to grow up. Another friend, same situation, was more like me, though she lost her way a few times as well. Not that you can't party and drink as a mother. Just an example because it was about how they viewed their responsibilities to their child. And we all got to the same place eventually, just that being pregnant and giving birth doesn't necessarily mean you are no longer a child. Hell, I know plenty of full grown adults with children I would still classify as children. Anyway, my point is, every experience is different so every story has a place and a purpose.

I think this story sounds more NA to me, though I haven't read a lot of NA myself. I think it would be possible to write a YA with a pregnancy, ala Juno or The secret Life of an American Teenager. The Teen Mom show is sickeningly popular, so there is a market for it, though I would hope anyone writing about it would take a responsible avenue as opposed to glorification. But I also think it is a subject worth writing about, so I guess my point is to go for it. I don't think it is taboo, but does need to be done right for a publisher to go down that road.
 

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It doesn't say so in the description, but if I remember correctly "Sweet Home" (Tillie Cole) has a pregnancy coming up in Act 2.
And Rush knocks up Blair in "Fallen Too Far" (Abbi Glines) which turns into the plot of the sequel "Never Too Far" :)
 

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Julie Bertagna's The Opposite of Chocolate has a fourteen-year-old pregnant protagonist. The novel is mostly about whether or not she will terminate the pregnancy, and several adults try to persuade her not to.
 

jtrylch13

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The Woodlands by Lauren Nicolle Taylor has two pregnancies that are a major part of the plot and goes through to the birth of both children. I haven't read the sequels, so I don't know what else happens. It's a dystopia set in post-apocalyptic Russia. It's actually kind of neat, because both girls are impregnated through invitro and against their choice, but both handle it differently. One loves the child despite it not being her choice, but the other calls it a leech. Pretty interesting story I thought. It's YA.
 

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I think a pregnancy story could work as YA or NA, depending on what spin you take on it. Teen pregnancy is still something that a lot of girls deal with (though it's on a downward trend), and you could make it work for YA without turning it into an issue book or making it too moralistic. As many people said, a bit like Juno.

That said, your plot feels more NA to me. I'm a college-aged student and I'd totally read it! I'd love to see more contemporary NAs that are about things other than hot steamy college romances. I think the reason there's not a whole lot of pregnancy-themed NA lately is just because not a lot has been written. NA is a pretty new genre, and I don't think it's really broken out of the "college story" mold yet, even though it's clear many agents want it to.

So go for it! It sounds like an interesting read. : )
 

valibby

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Poking my head back in. I'm sorry I abandoned this thread shortly after starting it, and there are some insightful responses for sure. July took a turn for the worse shortly after and sapped any sort of enjoyment from my life. August is looking up.

It would definitely be NA. I'm not sure I'd be capable of writing something without turning it steamy. I was an English major who avoided literature as best I could and devoured romance novels (historicals) and wrote most of my essays about sex in some way.
 

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I just read about a YA book dealing with pregnancy called "Trouble". Apparently reviews are great. Maybe check it out. This definitely isn't an overused subject, but it's timeless, so I think it's worth a shot!