College aged protagonist in YA

Jake G · Jun 13, 2010

Hello all,

I remember reading awhile ago on these boards that it is detrimental in the eyes of agents (or maybe even YA readers) to have a college aged protagonist. The argument was that most YA readers are high school kids or younger and it is difficult for them to relate to the college character.

Is this true? If you write a YA novel with a college aged protagonist, does that make the novel not YA?

Thanks.

kaitiepaige17 · Jun 13, 2010

I don't think so. Most teenagers want to read about protagonists OLDER than themselves, not younger, so I don't think that's a bad idea. Personally, I've never had an MC in college, but most of them are seniors in high school or are about to go away to college.

And I would still constitute it as a YA, because most college-aged kids are still considered YAs. But others may feel differently about this.

ArcticFox · Jun 13, 2010

I was in a thread talking about this and I can't remember what it was. My MC is college age as well, but I am aiming for YA. Yes, it is harder. The trick is voice. It has to be on a level that the YA crowd can understand. It'll be more likely to be YA if you have a college freshman just trying to figure things out than a college senior. Why? Because the MC will be discovering things and trying to feel their way around college life and a HS student CAN relate to that. It all depends on the approach.

Ryan_Sullivan · Jun 13, 2010

Yeah, there was a thread not so long ago. Basically, college kids can afford/have less time to read, and therefore aren't the best market. There is a publisher that is experimenting with college age books, but not sure how well it's working. That said, it's always worth a try.

Xvee · Jun 13, 2010

I remember reading a post here about that too. College age is supposed to be a super hard sell cos you're caught between YA and adult, and both camps shy away from it. Check the stickies, maybe the post is still around.

kaitiepaige17 · Jun 13, 2010

Personally, I'm a sophomore in college and agree with the above; there really is no time for reading. BUT: you may not be aiming for college kids just because your MC is college aged. I loved reading books based in college when I was in high school. But I could see how this might be a problem with agents. If you really aren't sure, don't worry about it. Just don't list it as YA in your query. Your agent will figure out where it belongs.

DrummerGirl · Jun 13, 2010

Here's a debut author with Psych Major Syndrome a YA that came out last year, protag in first year of college. I have heard it's really good

Apart from that, I've read a couple of gap year YA stories, where the protag has just graduated high school but isn't going to college.

The other books I've read with college aged protags have all been shelved in the Adult Fiction section @ my library.

Sage · Jun 13, 2010

It is extremely hard to get an agent with a novel with a college-age protag. It's not really considered YA usually (although teens read up, so this confuses me), but I know some 20-something protags sometimes end up in the adult section.

One publisher has tried to start up a genre called New Adult for 20-something protags, but I'm not sure what happened with that, since I haven't heard anything about it in a while. However, most vocal agents still say that there is no place for college-aged protags.

BUT there are a few agents on agentquery who mention wanting 18- to 30-year-old protags, so there is still hope, and of course if you write a brilliant book, anything goes.

It's just a little harder.

Kathleen42 · Jun 13, 2010

There's Psych Major Syndrome (which I've only ever seen shelved in the YA section) and St. Martin's press is also trying an endeavor its calling "New Adult".

I don't think having an MC in college makes it not YA, but it does make it a harder sell.

suki · Jun 13, 2010

The old adage is that it's much, much harder to get a YA published with a college-aged protagonist. And I still think it may make it harder, but there are some YAs with college-age protagonists, and even a few debuts with college-age protagonists (I think). It's just not the sweet spot for YA, so it may make it harder.

And the key will still be the character's conflicts and struggles and voice. If the main character is facing impending graduation and getting a job, it will be harder than if the main character is a first year college student, dealing with changes/increased freedoms/etc. as still very much a teenager.

~suki

ArcticFox · Jun 13, 2010

Also as the wonderful agent Mandy Hubbard just said in chat 95% of college settings can be changed to boarding schools and you get the same effect. Be very sure you need the college aspect.

Sage · Jun 13, 2010

ArcticFox said:
Also as the wonderful agent Mandy Hubbard just said in chat 95% of college settings can be changed to boarding schools and you get the same effect. Be very sure you need the college aspect.

I've done that.

suki · Jun 13, 2010

ArcticFox said:
Also as the wonderful agent Mandy Hubbard just said in chat 95% of college settings can be changed to boarding schools and you get the same effect. Be very sure you need the college aspect.

Excellent point!

~suki

Jumpy2 · Jun 13, 2010

The only college-aged book I've seen in the YA section of the book store was "Exit Here" by Jason Myers, so i guess it's possible. Just make sure it's absolutely needed. When I started my WIP the characters were college-aged but I made them younger after I realized it'd be possible to still maintain the story while doing so.

Shady Lane · Jun 13, 2010

I know there's a YA book called 21 about a character's 21st birthday that's shelved with YA.

it's a very very hard sell. YA is, in very broad strokes, about high school.

ETA: speaking only of realistic, comtep YA of course.

emma_kate · Jun 13, 2010

DrummerGirl said:
Here's a debut author with Psych Major Syndrome a YA that came out last year, protag in first year of college. I have heard it's really good

Apart from that, I've read a couple of gap year YA stories, where the protag has just graduated high school but isn't going to college.

The other books I've read with college aged protags have all been shelved in the Adult Fiction section @ my library.

Mine is taking a gap year...and personally, I would love to see more of these kinds of ages in YA. Mostly because when I was in primary school, I remember reading about people in high school and was SO excited to go to high school because of this...in high school, I would have liked to read about people making the transition from school-workplace/college, too. I agree with the idea that readers like to read about people older than them (although I don't mind protagonists as younger, either

)

Jake G · Jun 13, 2010

Thanks a lot guys. I really appreciate the information.

Sage · Jun 14, 2010

I did read that some agent or editor (I forget which) was looking for books set the summer between high school and college, though. So there is also some hope for that age

Mayfield · Jun 14, 2010

Interesting topic...one of my stories follows the MC from senior year to first term in college.

However, as someone who went away to boarding school as well as college, I have to say the experiences are very different. Different age, different issues, different cultures, different conflicts.

I guess if the only reason for a college setting is to not have parents around and to have peers living in dorms, then the college-into-boarding school thing might work, but I don't think it's always a good fit.

ArcticFox · Jun 14, 2010

Mayfield said:
I guess if the only reason for a college setting is to not have parents around and to have peers living in dorms, then the college-into-boarding school thing might work, but I don't think it's always a good fit.

As I said above you have to be sure you need it. If the focus of your book is something you can ONLY get from college than do it. However, as Mandy Hubbard said, 95% of college set books she sees can be turned into boarding schools.

Mayfield · Jun 14, 2010

ArcticFox said:
As I said above you have to be sure you need it. If the focus of your book is something you can ONLY get from college than do it. However, as Mandy Hubbard said, 95% of college set books she sees can be turned into boarding schools.

No, I get what you're saying. It just seems a shame, especially since so few people actually do go to boarding school. To switch a story to that setting seems as if you are limiting the environment to a certain socio-economic status (and probably a concurrent lack of diversity). But if the college stories she's seeing wouldn't matter on that level, then it's a moot point.

Then the problem becomes that there isn't a place for the books that are about the qualitatively distinct experience of going to college (and also, that those books aren't being written). Hope that makes sense!

Sandy Shin · Jun 14, 2010

kaitiepaige17 said:
I don't think so. Most teenagers want to read about protagonists OLDER than themselves, not younger, so I don't think that's a bad idea.

That's what I'd imagine as well. When I was in junior and senior years of high school, I was fascinated with college life and would have loved reading about it. However, I've read somewhere that whenever a publisher takes a chance on a college-aged protagonists, the responses aren't very high. Thus, they're wary of taking on more.

Jumpy2 · Jun 16, 2010

Just came from the book store and saw that Cecily Von iegesar's new book book Cum Laude is set in college, so you never know. Maybe establishd authors are allowed to take gambles like these, though.

JustLaurie · Jun 17, 2010

I can give you a little bit of a personal experience on this. I've been querying a college-aged protag book (actually, a sophomore in college, which is an even bigger no-no than a freshman). I've had eight requests, roughly a 15% request rate (but two of the requests were unqueried). So you can get requests...what an agent would say when they actually offered, I have no idea. I also had an agent tell me to query her again if I moved it to high school. I don't know what any of this means to you, but take it for what it's worth. It's an uphill battle, for sure.

ceenindee · Jun 17, 2010

I've read a couple books with college-aged protagonists (Scott Westefeld's Peeps was the first thing that came to mind), but not where they're actually in college. That could make a difference. The difference between 18 and 19 or 20 in a high fantasy doesn't have be such a life-changing thing as it is in a modern day setting.

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