Have I written a YA book or not?

margaret.pearson

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Hello!
So, I've long thought my current WIP fit into the category of young adult literature. The MC is eighteen and in a gap year between high school and college. However, she drinks, smokes, and, at some points in the novel, though it isn't very detailed, she has sex. I would argue she's a fairly regular teenager with normal teenage experiences. But, some readers of the YA genre are especially young and it's been brought to my attention that it isn't appropriate to market this manuscript as YA for that reason.
I figured I'd pose the question here because I've been going back and forth for the last few days: have I written a YA book or not?
 

cornflake

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I assume you're planning to self-publish, based on the question.

Whether something is YA or not isn't determined by the level of 'bad' behaviour -- it's the character's age, the voice, the situations, etc. If your book is YA, it is. A character drinking, smoking, and having sex is nothing new or shocking in YA.
 

Auteur

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Why does YA mean teenage and not actually young adult? Just wondering. :)
 

Brightdreamer

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I would suggest reading a little more widely in YA, if you don't think there's smoking, drinking, sex, and more in the category...

YA is not MG. In MG, you'd definitely want to temper the vices (though they can make appearances or be alluded to at the deeper end; it's not a completely bubble-wrapped age category.) YA... they're teenagers. There is smoking and drinking and sex and such in their lives and/or their peers' lives. Though, as others have said, YA's not just about the character age, but the overall themes and feel. Again, read more YA, especially on the darker end, and see if you could imagine your story on the same shelf or if it would do better as general fiction.
 

shadowsminder

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I've seen complaints about YA characters acting like young (and often irresponsible) adults instead of teenaged "children" who should be under the care of adult characters, so I understand your confusion. What is your book about? All of the YA I'm thinking of at the moment has a coming-of-age theme. There's also a particular sound to most successful YA because of the way dialogue and description are written. Writing styles in Adult fiction vary more.

Are your test readers (critiquers, betas, etc.) regular YA readers? They could probably tell you after reading one chapter if your book fits in the category.
 

Ninten

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One question you might ask is who your intended reader is. While YA has exploded to the point that probably a bulk of the readership are now adults, it is still marketed toward teenagers. What would you consider to be the age range of your intended readership? Another bit of advice--look up a bunch of books that are similar in content to yours that fall within the realm of YA and read them to see what they get away with. That's actually what I'm doing right now (I'm working on a horror book and was wondering how violent/gory you can get within YA, and it was very reassuring to read 2 YA horror books in a row that don't hold back on that stuff). You might be surprised at how versatile YA is and how open it is to mature content.
 

pinkbowvintage

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Hello!
So, I've long thought my current WIP fit into the category of young adult literature. The MC is eighteen and in a gap year between high school and college. However, she drinks, smokes, and, at some points in the novel, though it isn't very detailed, she has sex. I would argue she's a fairly regular teenager with normal teenage experiences. But, some readers of the YA genre are especially young and it's been brought to my attention that it isn't appropriate to market this manuscript as YA for that reason.
I figured I'd pose the question here because I've been going back and forth for the last few days: have I written a YA book or not?

You're in the acceptable age category, in my opinion. There's several YA books out there about freshmen in college (FRAT GIRL by Kiley Roache is one example) and one even sold recently about a 20-year-old, I believe.

That being said, voice/tone/hopeful ending are key. YA speaks to questions of identity, figuring out one's place in the world, and tends to have this urgency to it that a lot of adult books may or may not have.

Violence, drugs, sex....you can honestly go as dark and gritty as you want, as long as it's not gratuitous. My YA debut is very dark and has copious drug use, swearing, sex, and some violence. That doesn't matter.

I highly recommend you begin reading YA and read A LOT of it. You'll start to understand the sub-category better and get a sense of what sells, what appeals to teens, what editors like, etc. Read some classics and new releases and bestsellers.
 

MaryLennox

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I'm pretty sure Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl is considered YA and the characters are in their first year of college, so I think the whole gap year thing is fine. Like others have said, it just depends on the tone and actual story you're telling and who you are telling it to. There are a bazillion YA books with drugs/sex/swearing/the works. There are definitely different categories within YA, as you'll notice in another recent post people discussing "clean" YA - free from the drugs and the sex and the swearing. Both types of YA books exist, it isn't one or the other. Definitely get out there and read more YA and more YA that is comparable to your manuscript. I also think it's really important that if you have beta readers, you make sure they are YA readers. A lot of people who don't read YA have many weird ideas about what YA is.