Is death a suitable subject for YA audiences?

[Humphrey Archer]

I write somewhat macabre short stories, and have a vague sense that they might appear to YA readers.

If any of you have insights into YA readership (or are a YA reader!), let me know if you would like to take a look at my pieces that have been published by a medical journal.

The pieces are mostly like "Final Destination" meets "The Monkey's Paw" (W. W. Jacobs, 1902). As such, they are tragedies more than either mysteries or horror, and would appeal most to readers who enjoy the inexorable pull of a story arc that leads from fateful act to final doom. In each story, a protagonist makes a wish that comes true with fatal results for someone, often the person making the wish. Nothing supernatural, but just how things work out. (Or is it?) The underlying theme is that you had better be very careful what you wish for, because it might just come true!

The stories do contain murders and somewhat nasty deaths, but are not heavy on gore and schlock, and there are no sex scenes or course language unless the plot really and absolutely needs it (so far they haven't). There is no gratuitous violence towards women or animals in the plots, but people do usually die in satisfyingly appropriate ways. The stories typically have a medical or healthcare related angle, and many of the actors in them are employed in healthcare or are patients or caregivers. Women are never the victim.

The technical details surrounding the fatal (or near fatal) events are drawn from real cases in the US OSHA incident report database or other similar sources, and are therefore entirely realistic even if seemingly outlandish. The plots draw lightly from cultural beliefs around actions such as pointing at someone with a stick or knife, wishing in front of a mirror, or stepping on a crack.

Some are about characters who have just entered the workforce.

 

[Woollybear]

(If they are published, why are you asking about the market for them? I'm confused.)

Most YA that my kids read center on death. As often as not, the teenaged protagonist is involved in the killing. Their lit class reading in high school included plenty of death. The Outsiders, Lord of the Flies, etc.

I'm not a huge fan of all this, but death seems to be alive and well in YA.

(To clarify, I certainly support discussing death, and the lit classes choose books that give death a considered treatment. Presumably the discussions within the classroom were done well. But more often, the treatment of death in mass market books, imo, borders on entertainment. Oftentimes those characters witnessing or even incurring the death blow walk away completely unscathed, which is ridiculous.)

 

[Humphrey Archer]

(If they are published, why are you asking if they are marketable? I'm confused.)

Most YA that my kids read center on death. As often as not, the protagonist is involved in the killing. Their lit classes in high school included plenty of death. The Outsiders, Lord of the Flies, etc.

I'm not a fan of all this, but death seems to be alive and well in YA.

Thanks.
They are published, yes, but not marketed to YA or marked as YA. The pieces start their life published in a weekly column in a medical journal, so not a place YA audiences are likely to see them, and the collections are published on KDP but I'm not pushing them towards YA.

I just wanted some feedback on whether they would be suitable for YA before I do anything about marketing there.

Hope that all makes sense.

 

[neandermagnon]

Horrible Histories is aimed at 8-12 kids, i.e. younger than YA and that has an entire sections dedicated to horrible and peculiar ways people have died/been executed, etc.

The Hunger Games is young adult and that involves teenagers murdering each other for entertainment. So I think you'll be fine.

This kind of reminds me of Cautionary Tales for Children by H Belloc - aimed at the 5-8 age group and full of gory deaths and grisly endings (children being eaten by bears because they didn't listen to their nanny kind of thing). Except it seems that your version's aimed at older children and has more realistic violence in it.

I would be careful about copying ways that real people have died, especially if very unusual to the point that their family might be able to identify them. My mum used to work in health and safety and the reports into some industrial accidents are pretty terrifying - and sometimes very specific. Terrifying is fine (I was a teenager working in my mum's office* when I read a bunch of them, so well within the YA age range) but too specific might be problematic.

*they employed me as an office dogsbody during the summer holidays one time.

Also, if they all have horrible/grisly endings, that needs to be clear from the title/blurb/etc so that more sensitive readers of any age can choose not to read it. Warnings like that will attract the kind of readers who like horror etc.

Also you said no gratuitous violence against women... there's no reason to exclude women from the grisly deaths thing. What's problematic is fetishising violence against women and it sounds like you're doing nothing of the sort. Treat female characters like male ones.

I think teenage me would've loved stories like this.

 

[neandermagnon]

Some are about characters who have just entered the workforce.

This might be an issue, although if they're young and newly employed - or maybe working in a Saturday or holiday job - it might increase the appeal to teenagers.

If you're going along the lines of the character refusing to follow safety rules then dying because the thing happened that the safety equipment was supposed to protect them from, that can also apply to school science labs, workshops and school trips.

 

[dickson]

Death, both as subject matter and as a character, appears prominently in the Discworld series. I consider them suitable for YA readers.

 

[Humphrey Archer]

Horrible Histories is aimed at 8-12 kids, i.e. younger than YA and that has an entire sections dedicated to horrible and peculiar ways people have died/been executed, etc.

The Hunger Games is young adult and that involves teenagers murdering each other for entertainment. So I think you'll be fine.

This kind of reminds me of Cautionary Tales for Children by H Belloc - aimed at the 5-8 age group and full of gory deaths and grisly endings (children being eaten by bears because they didn't listen to their nanny kind of thing). Except it seems that your version's aimed at older children and has more realistic violence in it.

I would be careful about copying ways that real people have died, especially if very unusual to the point that their family might be able to identify them. My mum used to work in health and safety and the reports into some industrial accidents are pretty terrifying - and sometimes very specific. Terrifying is fine (I was a teenager working in my mum's office* when I read a bunch of them, so well within the YA age range) but too specific might be problematic.

*they employed me as an office dogsbody during the summer holidays one time.

Also, if they all have horrible/grisly endings, that needs to be clear from the title/blurb/etc so that more sensitive readers of any age can choose not to read it. Warnings like that will attract the kind of readers who like horror etc.

Also you said no gratuitous violence against women... there's no reason to exclude women from the grisly deaths thing. What's problematic is fetishising violence against women and it sounds like you're doing nothing of the sort. Treat female characters like male ones.

I think teenage me would've loved stories like this.

Oh great points and examples.

The violence towards women, yeah, I hear you, but ...

The vast, and I mean VAST majority of victims in film, book, news, TV, etc. are women. I don't want to add to that cesspool. I don't shy away too far from the violence that women face, and at least a few characters are abused women, but someone else dies, not the woman.

 

[neandermagnon]

Oh great points and examples.

The violence towards women, yeah, I hear you, but ...

The vast, and I mean VAST majority of victims in film, book, news, TV, etc. are women. I don't want to add to that cesspool. I don't shy away too far from the violence that women face, and at least a few characters are abused women, but someone else dies, not the woman.

Fair enough.

 

[Humphrey Archer]

This might be an issue, although if they're young and newly employed - or maybe working in a Saturday or holiday job - it might increase the appeal to teenagers.

If you're going along the lines of the character refusing to follow safety rules then dying because the thing happened that the safety equipment was supposed to protect them from, that can also apply to school science labs, workshops and school trips.

Thanks, that's very helpful

 

[Maggie Maxwell]

Take a look at original fairy tales. As classic stories as you can get for the youngest audience possible.

Little Mermaid? Attempted murder and death
Snow White? Attempted murder and death
Red Riding Hood? You can probably guess.

Basically, even the littlest littles are exposed to stories about or involving death. By the time they reach YA, they're probably used to it.

 

[Sage]

The YA market has plenty of novels with characters being killed in all sorts of ways. I don’t think it would take a long search of what’s currently published to find characters facing death themselves, watching others die, or dealing with deaths of loved ones.

That said, I’m not sure where you market short stories (that have appeared in medical journals?) to the YA audience.

 

[ChaseJxyz]

A lot of horror movies are PG-13 because teens LOVE that kinda stuff. Also games like Fortnite, which are all about killing other people before they kill you, are super popular amongst the kids. There have been controversies about pro eSports teams signing on pro Fortnite players who are, like, EIGHT and putting them in tournaments...even though the tournaments require you to be 13+ for various reasons.

Kids These Days are totally cool/fine with death. But it's the CONTEXT of them that really matters. A story where someone's mom is tortured and killed in front of them probably won't go over very well! But the Regina George-type getting her comeuppance by a spooky slasher would.

 

[Humphrey Archer]

A lot of horror movies are PG-13 because teens LOVE that kinda stuff. Also games like Fortnite, which are all about killing other people before they kill you, are super popular amongst the kids. There have been controversies about pro eSports teams signing on pro Fortnite players who are, like, EIGHT and putting them in tournaments...even though the tournaments require you to be 13+ for various reasons.

Kids These Days are totally cool/fine with death. But it's the CONTEXT of them that really matters. A story where someone's mom is tortured and killed in front of them probably won't go over very well! But the Regina George-type getting her comeuppance by a spooky slasher would.

Thanks

Mine are more like walking into a spinning propeller blade because you were hung over, or getting munched by an industrial de-barker because you were a twit politician and wanted a photo op, or getting blown up because you were on the phone and didn't notice that you left the acetylene tap open.

The murders are like a nurse who kills a wife-beater, or a guy who stole industrial secrets getting nailed by an unhappy client/victim

 

[Unimportant]

YA has, at its most basic, YA characters. Marketing YA to YA readers is more about the age of the MC than it is the subject matter.

 

[Sage]

Yes, I suspect there’s more a problem with the age, based on the OP’s descriptions of the stories, than the content

 

[Humphrey Archer]

YA has, at its most basic, YA characters. Marketing YA to YA readers is more about the age of the MC than it is the subject matter.

Ah, good point.
Thanks

 

[Nether]

If death wasn't suitable for YA, I would have just wasted a lot of time drafting a few manuscripts

While what's suitable might vary depending on age, so many of the biggest YA books -- which often get turned into films -- prominently feature or incorporate deaths.

The stuff that you're describing feels a little sanitized, though. That might be my only concern. However, the bigger issue -- as others have noted -- is that the characters aren't aged appropriately for YA, which is the real killer. You can get away with a lot of things with YA but if your characters aren't in the YA range, you're essentially breaking the one real rule. (That said, you can rework the stories to incorporate younger characters or feature younger characters.)

 

[frimble3]

Stories about YA characters working their first jobs, and either seeing, or being told Awful Stories About Things Going Wrong To Other Newbies would be both appropriate, and I think, fascinating to young people entering the workforce.

Most of what I know about the finer points of workplace accidents I heard from my dad, who was so good at spotting potential problems that the company made him safety rep before he retired.
Not even deaths - the fingers pulled out when someone's ring got caught in a roller (with little sucking/slurping sound to indicate what it was like).
Why you don't wear loose, floppy clothing, always wear your hardhat, and when you go to buy 'safety shoes' don't go with just the 'steel-toe', get the metal plate all the way over the arch of the foot.

This could be a valuable book for young people.
Factories, fishing boats, flying, farms, logging, etc. You could make this a series. Or, at least 'with series potential'.