Two POVs at different ages

AmaryllisKent

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Hi,

I'm currently working on a YA fantasy romance novel where the main character is seventeen and the male lead is in the early twenties (the reason for the age differences is explained in the novel). For the initial drafts of the novel, I had used one POV for the main character. But after four drafts, I decided to add the POV for the male lead. My only concern though is that due to him being older, would the novel still work as YA? Or should I target the novel as NA?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! :)
 

Roxxsmom

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I don't know. There may be issues in YA with a consummated romance between someone under 18 and someone more than a year or two older as well. It may depend on context, though.

I've read a novel cross listed as YA fantasy romance where there was a protagonist who was 19 initially and her male love interest was in his 30s (which kind of bugged me--I sure didn't know anyone in their thirties in grad school or once I was out working who was dating nineteen year olds), but it was all from her pov. Technically, it wouldn't be YA with a protag who was 19 at the start of the series anyway (and she aged into her twenties in the subsequent books), but it was also shelved with adult fantasy and published by a fantasy romance imprint (subsidiary of harlequin books), so it was probably cross listed as YA more as a marketing decision. In fact, boundaries can be fuzzy sometimes.
 
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ChaseJxyz

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I hope the age difference is because one of them is a human and the other is, like, an elf where aging is different, otherwise the story might be a tough sell. And to my knowledge the difference between YA and NA is that NA is more likely to have things like explicit sex, so if that's the case then it would be more NA or just regular adult. But it also has to do with themes, too. Is the 17 year old MC doing things/dealing with themes that are more likely to appeal to teens? Or to people who are "real adults" and out in the world doing those sorts of adult things?
 

AmaryllisKent

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I don't know. There may be issues in YA with a consummated romance between someone under 18 and someone more than a year or two older as well. It may depend on context, though.

I've read a novel cross listed as YA fantasy romance where there was a protagonist who was 19 initially and her male love interest was in his 30s (which kind of bugged me--I sure didn't know anyone in their thirties in grad school or once I was out working who was dating nineteen year olds), but it was all from her pov. Technically, it wouldn't be YA with a protag who was 19 at the start of the series anyway (and she aged into her twenties in the subsequent books), but it was also shelved with adult fantasy and published by a fantasy romance imprint (subsidiary of harlequin books), so it was probably cross listed as YA more as a marketing decision. In fact, boundaries can be fuzzy sometimes.

Thanks for the feedback!

The romance isn't consummated in the novel. The most they do is kiss.

Without going too much in depth, the premise is that the two characters enter an engagement arranged by their parents. The two characters oppose the engagement, so most of the novel deals with them slowly growing closer emotionally rather than physically.
 
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AmaryllisKent

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Thanks for the feedback.

There's no explicit sex, and the main character mostly struggles with self-acceptance and first love, as does the other character.

As for the age difference, it's because the main character was reborn after an accident with the other character as children. Years later, their parents decide to arrange for them to be engaged, but they both oppose the engagement. So the bulk of the novel goes through the two characters growing closer emotionally rather than physically.

I hope the age difference is because one of them is a human and the other is, like, an elf where aging is different, otherwise the story might be a tough sell. And to my knowledge the difference between YA and NA is that NA is more likely to have things like explicit sex, so if that's the case then it would be more NA or just regular adult. But it also has to do with themes, too. Is the 17 year old MC doing things/dealing with themes that are more likely to appeal to teens? Or to people who are "real adults" and out in the world doing those sorts of adult things?
 

bmr1591

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The novel could still work as a YA, as you've described it in a later post. It's going to be all about execution in how you jump between the two POVs.
 

Debbie V

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Arranged marriages between older males and younger females have a lot of history. If that is a thing in that culture, this should be fine. You'll need to explain the older character's lack of overall experience, but that can be cultural too. Make sure the world is well drawn and consistent.
 

Roxxsmom

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I hope the age difference is because one of them is a human and the other is, like, an elf where aging is different, otherwise the story might be a tough sell. And to my knowledge the difference between YA and NA is that NA is more likely to have things like explicit sex, so if that's the case then it would be more NA or just regular adult. But it also has to do with themes, too. Is the 17 year old MC doing things/dealing with themes that are more likely to appeal to teens? Or to people who are "real adults" and out in the world doing those sorts of adult things?

I don't think NA fantasy is really a marketing category, though.

Arranged marriages between older males and younger females have a lot of history. If that is a thing in that culture, this should be fine. You'll need to explain the older character's lack of overall experience, but that can be cultural too. Make sure the world is well drawn and consistent.


Yes, that would be an example of a context where it might make sense. Though for YA, the focus of the story and narrative viewpoint would generally need to be on the teen, not on the person who is much older.
 
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E.F.B.

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I don't think NA fantasy is really a marketing category, though.
This. From everything I've heard while researching publishing, if the big book sellers don't acknowledge/make a section for it, it's not a thing.
 

AmaryllisKent

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Thanks, everyone, for the feedback. Greatly appreciated.

The teen's POV is the POV that drives the narrative and story, whereas the older character's POV adds more to the subplot of the novel. Originally I did not have the older character's POV, but my alpha reader said that they wanted to know more about that character, so I added their POV. I've had beta readers also comment that that character was interesting. But if it comes down to it, I could always remove their POV

About the arranged marriage aspect, it's explained in the novel why these two characters are paired together. The age difference is consistently brought up, and it's one of many external struggles for the teen.
 

MaryLennox

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Am I the only one who thinks 17 and early twenties isn't that big of a deal? There are a lot of teenage girls dating 200 year olds in YA? And the 200 year old doesn't always look like their teen equivalent, but like someone in their early twenties. And Tamora Pierce paired up a fifteen year old and a thirty-year-old? But that was a few decades ago. I also think this thing is tolerated more in fantasy, especially if it is an arranged marriage. You could always just bump up her age to 18 to make people less squeamish?

But then if they were 18 and twenty-something, it wouldn't really fit into YA.

Isn't NA mostly for contemporary romance? I thought it wasn't a widely received thing, but more of a romance niche.