What Constitutes YA Fiction?

TCMaynard

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Ah! A relatable thread...
I've been polishing a "YA" fantasy novel I wrote a while back. I've landed around 93,000 words and it was my intent to write a YA book from the onset. As I'm reading through it (ad nauseam) I'm questioning whether it's really YA or not. I'd say it's right on that YA/adult coming-of-age line. I could probably market it as either, but that bothers me since we're told we should know exactly what our book is :p. As a side note, this was my first attempt at a YA, so that might be where the problem is!
If I decide to query, should I really have that figured out, or can I go in with the blanket 'fantasy' approach, and not specify YA or adult?
Sorry if this question derails the OP, but I figured any answers could be helpful to people lurking here.
Thanks!
 

mschenk2016

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My book is right on the edge between YA/Adult and I'm not sure where to put it. First of all, is 81K too long for YA? Some searches say 40-80K, but then books like Hunger Games and Maze Runner are between 90-110K.
My MC is 17-years-old and there's a lot of coming-of-age stuff, dealing with high school, etc., but it also gets really dark. There's a part where the MC gets tied to a fence and beaten for being gay and non-White, and the guy beating him up is going off on this big racial rant. There's a 9/11 flashback, and at least one other chapter I've been told should almost come with a disclaimer because it's so heavy and devoid of any humor. The book is also going to be controversial, it's about a Jesus clone and deals with religious themes. But overall the tone for much of it is light and humorous. Would this stuff fit in an upper YA novel?
 

Brigid Barry

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My book is right on the edge between YA/Adult and I'm not sure where to put it. First of all, is 81K too long for YA? Some searches say 40-80K, but then books like Hunger Games and Maze Runner are between 90-110K.
My MC is 17-years-old and there's a lot of coming-of-age stuff, dealing with high school, etc., but it also gets really dark. There's a part where the MC gets tied to a fence and beaten for being gay and non-White, and the guy beating him up is going off on this big racial rant. There's a 9/11 flashback, and at least one other chapter I've been told should almost come with a disclaimer because it's so heavy and devoid of any humor. The book is also going to be controversial, it's about a Jesus clone and deals with religious themes. But overall the tone for much of it is light and humorous. Would this stuff fit in an upper YA novel?
Sounds like YA to me, although why your 17 yo protag would have a 9-11 flashback confuses me to no end.
 
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Sage

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Cheering you all on!
I think it may come down to voice and theme. Length & age are fine for YA (length, especially if it’s not contemporary). Darkness is not a problem, per se, for YA, but may make it a harder sell. It also comes down to whether certain things feel gratuitous or are too graphic. I’m going to go on the assumption they’re not. So it’s down to whether the book’s themes would appeal to modern teens. If you havePOVs from non-teens that also may factor into whether it’s YA.

I wonder if your “disclaimer” chapter felt out of place to your reader. If the rest of the book is light and humorous, then you have these sudden scenes of darkness that don’t match the tone of the rest of it, it may feel really jarring to your reader, like they’ve suddenly fallen into another book. Just food for thought.
 
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Brigid Barry

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It's multi-POV. The adult antagonist has a flashback halfway through the book.
Yeah, you didn't mention an adult POV. Any particular reason it can't all be from the POV of the protagonist?
 

mschenk2016

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Yeah, you didn't mention an adult POV. Any particular reason it can't all be from the POV of the protago

Yeah, you didn't mention an adult POV. Any particular reason it can't all be from the POV of the protagonist?
The MC thinks his parents and high school teachers are conspiring against him. He's right. Over the course of the first half of the book, he blows the lid off the conspiracy and finds out he's actually a clone of Jesus. His parents aren't his real parents. His teachers and principal are pretending. Everything he's ever known is a lie. This cult has been controlling and manipulating his life experiences to mold him into the antichrist. The second half is him discovering he has superpowers and taking revenge against his oppressors.

I tried doing it all from the MC's POV, but the first 50 or so pages then is just him whining about his problems. It also would leave a lot out. What's more interesting: reading 10 pages about him being bullied or seeing it from the bully's POV, who's actually being blackmailed to do all these mean things? Just one example. So I found a middle ground, the reader is let in on the conspiracy right away, but you don't find out WHY they're doing this until the same time he does.
 
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Brigid Barry

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The MC thinks his parents and high school teachers are conspiring against him. He's right. Over the course of the first half of the book, he blows the lid off the conspiracy and finds out he's actually a clone of Jesus. His parents aren't his real parents. His teachers and principal are pretending. Everything he's ever known is a lie. This cult has been controlling and manipulating his life experiences to mold him into the antichrist. The second half is him discovering he has superpowers and taking revenge against his oppressors.

I tried doing it all from the MC's POV, but the first 50 or so pages then is just him whining about his problems. It also would leave a lot out. What's more interesting: reading 10 pages about him being bullied or seeing it from the bully's POV, who's actually being blackmailed to do all these mean things? Just one example. So I found a middle ground, the reader is let in on the conspiracy right away, but you don't find out WHY they're doing this until the same time he does
Dean Koontz did it (I'm sure others have too) and that made it adult. I had to revisit my fantasy novel where I had multiple POVs because I was being lazy. Sometimes it's necessary to the story, sometimes it's not. Only you and your beta readers know for certain.
 

mschenk2016

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I love multi-POV stories, but if you have major POVs that aren’t teens, you’re not likely to market it successfully as YA.
Maybe I'll just stick to adult then. One of my beta readers said it was adult black comedy.