What makes it YA?

Sounds perfectly YA to me.

Maybe your MC didn't honestly act like a teenager.

That's all I can come up with.

hum... sounds YA to me, too.

Hmmm. Sounds YA to me, Sandi. I'm not sure.

Sandi LeFaucheur said:

I received this comment from an agent:



So, that got me thinking: what makes a book YA? Any thoughts? I would have thought the age of the MC (mine is 16), dealing with problems pertinent to people of that age (falling in love with a 'pop star'--even though my book takes place in the 14th century, he's a pop star of the age), problems arising from the relationship (he turns out to be a real piece of work who's involved with drug trafficking and murder), and how she resolves the problem (tells him to sling his hook, to use an English expression). It's about 53,000 words, so probably too short to be adult fiction. So why isn't Bodiam YA?

Click to expand...

I can't think why, either. My novel was marketed as YA and is also set in the 14th century. There's murder, war, plague, even a burning at the stake and my MC is a young widow. It may be your language and treatment that don't feel right for YA. Other than that, I'm stumped.
Linnea

According to Wiki:

"...The vast majority of YA stories portray an adolescent as the protagonist, rather than an adult or a child. The subject matter and story lines are typically consistent with the age and experience of the main character, but beyond that YA stories span the entire spectrum of fiction genres. The settings of YA stories are limited only by the imagination and skill of the author. Themes in YA stories often focus on the challenges of youth, so much so that the entire age category is sometimes referred to as problem novels or coming of age novels. Writing styles of YA stories range widely, from the richness of literary style to the clarity and speed of the unobtrusive..."

The only reason I can think of for this agent to not consider Bodiam as YA is the historical factor. Gwen is a teenager from the 14th century, and as such does seem more adult than a modern teenager. I was browsing the YA section at the library the other day, and flipped through a couple of historical YA novels. Like Gwen, the teenage protagonists were looking at early marriage and childbirth, which seems correct for the time period. The only other thing I can think of is the above mentioned "coming of age" aspect, which is rather a modern concept. By the end of Bodiam, Gwen is older, wiser, and stronger - so I think that would count.

So it's probably just one agent's opinion. Was he/she responding to the query, partial or full?

Sandi LeFaucheur said:

Partial. First 50 pages. At the end of which Sir Edward has been shot with a poisoned arrow and Gwendolyn has taken charge and galloped back to the castle for help.

I'd like to think the agent was just plain wrong, but when someone offers criticism--even when I don't agree with it--I like to take it on board. There's a jolly good chance they could be right. (Like the publisher who said the male characters were stereotypical. Didn't like that at all, but when I posted a chapter in SYW and lo and behold a few other people made a similar comment, I knew she'd been right.)

Click to expand...

Maybe post an excerpt from this in SYW and see what the consensus is? It's good to listen to advice, but also take everything with a grain of salt. There are lots of agent-fish in the agent-sea, right?

Would it be possible to e-mail the agent and ask? Or is that considered bad form?

White Pine! Congrats...that's a nice one to win.

I always considered, for my own sanity, that YA meant it would appeal to teen readers. Simply that and nothing more. To me, from what you said, it sounds like it would appeal to the teen reader. I think there is such a fine edge, though. My YA that I am about to submit...I had several people tell me to market it as literary fiction...and then others confirm that it is indeed YA. It's kind of baffling, so I just try to judge by whether or not a teen would enjoy the read. It would be nice if you could ask the agent, but probably not a good idea. Maybe ask someone here for insights...based on them reading a chapter or something?

The question is, what would you change if this is true? Just marketing, right? So maybe it's a blessing. Try it as a YA and if that doesn't work, raise their ages slightly and try it as an adult.

It's also the complexities of the plot for YA. YA novels don't have quite as much going on on muliple levels, and the stories tend to be a bit simpler. Mulitple POVs also push it into the adult market (though you can do YA with mulitple POVs). Voice is also a major factor. YA has a very distinctive voice (per book, not a general thing) and if your POV doesn't have that compelling voice it can make it feel more adult.

Sandi LeFaucheur said:

(Medieval books are few and far between; have you noticed?)

Click to expand...

Yeah, not many. Timeline came out just before I completed my novel and although I was itching to read it I had to leave the book alone until I was all finished with rewrites. It was murder!
Linnea

Sandi LeFaucheur said:

Linnea, I got The First Vial from the library, and I'm enjoying it immensely. (I'm on page 81) The first few lines drew me right in. Very well written indeed. Yet, if I were asked what made it YA as opposed to Adult, I wouldn't be able to say. Did you write it as YA? Did the publisher decide it was YA? The Orangeville library has it in the Adult section, but the Brampton library has it in the YA section.

Click to expand...

So glad you're enjoying the book. No, I didn't write it as YA. The publisher marketed the book as YA. I've seen it in both adult and YA sections of book stores and libraries so I suspect it's one of those stories that can cross age barriers.
Linnea

Just because one agent doesn't think it's YA doesn't mean it isn't YA. I had one agent tell me she didn't my book was YA and yet it ended up selling to Delacorte -- the YA imprint of Random House (though if it hadn't sold YA, we were going to submit it as an adult).