Should I convert my maturation novel to YA?

satyesu

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Would one about a college senior get read?
 

satyesu

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I know. The story could also work with a high school senior if I tweaked it. I'm wondering if that would be a good choice.
 

Layla Nahar

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Honor the story that comes to you. Don't write it to suit your ends, but let the story be what it is. Show up, keep adding words till it's finished, do your revising etc thinking about what's best for the story itself, as it 'wants' to be. Then when it's all polished and you're ready to send it to agents, you can start thinking about what genre it is.
 

KBooks

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Great stories will be enjoyed in all genres. I think you should write your story wherever it truly fits. If what you have is a YA story intended for 13-18 year olds, write it there... but if it's truly meant to be the story and experiences of a college senior, and you're just changing the age on paper to a 17-year-old to fit it into a different category, that probably isn't the best strategy.

And keep in mind that you can have a child or teen protagonist in general fiction, so if your book spans ages 18-22, it could be New Adult, or general fiction.
 

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Without knowing anything else about it, it’s impossible for us to say whether you should change the age of your protagonist. However, high school is a different world from college & 22yos have different problems from 18yos. Since you seem to be focusing on the coming-of-age of your MC, it’s unlikely that that would come down to “tweaking.” If it really is a book about the character maturing from one part of life to another—& since you’ve called it a “maturation novel” in every thread about it, even after being told that’s not a thing, my guess would be it’s really important—it doesn’t seem like changing the age would be best unless specific feedback you’ve gotten upon a beta reading the book is that your ages seem off for the coming-of-age you’ve chosen. Not something we can give based off a simple question of “should I?”.

ETA: What do you believe is the advantage to changing it? What prompted this thread?
 
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Brightdreamer

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As others have mentioned, HS senior and college senior are two very different life phases. A high school senior is more likely to be living at home or with other "grown-ups." To some degree, they are not in control of their lives yet. They won't have debt burdens, they won't have jobs, they'll still likely get meals and shelter without having to think or work overmuch for either... they're at the tail end of childhood, and though they may physically be mature, mentally they've not made the break. College seniors will be more likely to live on their own or in a dorm/with roomies: no parents/adults to pick up after them or remind them to get to this class or do that assignment, or to have dinner waiting after a long day. They're likely to be accumulating debt and really, really thinking about how to get a job to pay that down, if they don't already have a job to help with costs. They're having relationships without needing to bring boy/girlfriends home for parental approval or wait until Mom and Dad are out to hook up. They're doing laundry and buying TP or suffering the consequences of going without. Emotionally, they may still need some maturing (heck, in some ways, humans always need more growth and maturation), but they're basically living as adults. Aging up or down from high school to college is not as easy as shifting from, say, high school sophomore to high school senior.

If I may add, and JMHO...

From your various threads, you seem to be looking for something - a formula that will make your story work, or permission to write your story, or something else to clear whatever obstacle stands between you and the story you're trying to tell. Ultimately, at some point, you're going to have to write your story.

Comparison reads help, but they won't write your story.

Knowing your age and target audience helps, but it won't write your story.

Outlining can often help, but it alone won't write your story.

Have you considered seeking a writing mentor? Someone who can work with you, help you figure out the questions you need to ask and the answers you need to find. All these threads and questions, and we're trying to help, but you may need someone a bit closer, or something a bit more personal, because it sometimes feels circular, like you're looking for answers that we're not offering, or asking questions we're not quite getting.

Again, I mean no offense...