Am I rowing upstream if I pitch a novel (short, about 42,000 words) targeting a younger audience, a comedy, and containing a good number of four letter words spoken by my college aged main characters? I'm new at this, still, and learning, so the question may be naive, but I'm getting nervous about approaching agents who may take offense. On the receiving line, I could see possible issues, and maybe I'm already in trouble with the genre and the "novella" length. Any thoughts about agents being turned off or offended may help, though, quite frankly, scoring a hit on a query is for me already no easy task.
Novel: Humor and Foul Language
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Agent's usually won't be offended by foul language but if it's aimed at a younger audience then I think you are probably in trouble by including certain swear words - parents tend to take a dim view of swearing in children's books. An agent would be more likely to want you to choose different words than reject you outright because of that however, though it does speak to your familiarity with the age-appropriate novels. It also depends on what age group you are targeting. If it's the younger ones then I would say swearing is a no-go. If it's older YA you *might* be fine with a few but not a good number, but then your word-length is probably too low. More research is needed I think, or input from people more familiar with current YA than I am.
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One potential problem with this:
is this:
I've seen some recent upper YA featuring college freshmen, but the usual guideline is still 14-18 year olds (ie: high school age).
My big question is it ... what is it you're (eta: the OP!) classifying as a "younger" audience? 12 year olds? 18 year olds? People under 35?
is this:
I've seen some recent upper YA featuring college freshmen, but the usual guideline is still 14-18 year olds (ie: high school age).
My big question is it ... what is it you're (eta: the OP!) classifying as a "younger" audience? 12 year olds? 18 year olds? People under 35?
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How young are you intending your audience to be? Upper YA or lower YA or even MG? (Middle Grade).
There's no problem with swearing in YA, certainly not at the older end. No one will bat an eye at an f-bomb (I've 20 in my current MS and actually originally had more). I'd be more mindful of lots of sweating at the tween end. MG, you've got a problem with the swearing for sure.
But regardless of whether it's MG, tween or YA, you've potentially got a problem with the age of your characters. Even for upper YA, the age of MCs tends to stop at 18, and I'd strongly advise anyone pitching to abide by this to make their lives easier.
Also, as I understand it, there isn't much of a market for novellas. Though, if your work is MG, 42,000 probably isn't a bad length?
How much do you read MG and YA? That will help you figure out where your work fits in. Perhaps I'm misreading your original post, but it doesn't sound like you're 100% clear on who your book is for? (Or I'm just not 100% clear!)
There's no problem with swearing in YA, certainly not at the older end. No one will bat an eye at an f-bomb (I've 20 in my current MS and actually originally had more). I'd be more mindful of lots of sweating at the tween end. MG, you've got a problem with the swearing for sure.
But regardless of whether it's MG, tween or YA, you've potentially got a problem with the age of your characters. Even for upper YA, the age of MCs tends to stop at 18, and I'd strongly advise anyone pitching to abide by this to make their lives easier.
Also, as I understand it, there isn't much of a market for novellas. Though, if your work is MG, 42,000 probably isn't a bad length?
How much do you read MG and YA? That will help you figure out where your work fits in. Perhaps I'm misreading your original post, but it doesn't sound like you're 100% clear on who your book is for? (Or I'm just not 100% clear!)
Basically, if you’re aiming at a readership the same age as your characters, swearing isn’t a problem. The length, however, is. There’s also the question of whether there’s a market for short, humorous novels set in college. I feel like this may have been a thing in the 60s/70s, not so much now that college kids tend to get their comedy/satire fix online. But I’m not an agent.
These were all incredibly insightful comments. Yes, I likely do have some confusion--all on my side. I actually think my target is fairly broad, like 18 to 55. And, I know I said "college aged," but my characters are actually more like 26 years of age, graduates or in their first career years.
If I had to pick something I feel is comparable in setting, language, humor and context, it would be like the film/movie, "We're the Millers."
So it's neither young adult nor middle grade. I'd almost like to rewrite it as a screenplay, but I've been directed not to dare try that.
If it's funny and tight and original, but short (novella length), is it doomed as a genre gone by the wayside? Killed by the more exotic entertainment options of the modern world?
If I had to pick something I feel is comparable in setting, language, humor and context, it would be like the film/movie, "We're the Millers."
So it's neither young adult nor middle grade. I'd almost like to rewrite it as a screenplay, but I've been directed not to dare try that.
If it's funny and tight and original, but short (novella length), is it doomed as a genre gone by the wayside? Killed by the more exotic entertainment options of the modern world?
I completely misunderstood your target audience then! As you're targeting adults (18+) then you've no issue with the swearing - though I'd still say you're best off using swears when they seem most appropriate rather than every sentence (even friends I have who swear a lot don't swear all the time). You know your characters best, though - I've not seen We're the Millers.
My feeling is that the novella is a hard sell regardless of whether it is for YA or Adult audience but as my knowledge is strongest in YA I'll leave that for someone more knowledgeable to answer, as it would be nice if I was completely wrong! The Adult market is a lot more flexible than YA.
My feeling is that the novella is a hard sell regardless of whether it is for YA or Adult audience but as my knowledge is strongest in YA I'll leave that for someone more knowledgeable to answer, as it would be nice if I was completely wrong! The Adult market is a lot more flexible than YA.