Off topic but I love your shirt/blouse, I don’t know fashion but I think it looks amazing! It also matches your eye makeup (shadow? I don’t know make-up either).
OMFG! YES! I've read books, by adults, starring teenagers that felt more like a parody/straw man of a teenager than an actual teenager, and I walked away feeling insulted and talked down to. I'm thirty now and it still makes me angry to come across this in fiction. Personally, I don't know if my writing voice has changed now that I'm older, but I know I don't treat my teenaged characters that much differently than my adult characters-- probably because I've met plenty of adults who behave worse than children and plenty of teenagers who were forced into adult roles very early.
To answer that I actually ask myself "Would I give this book to a thirteen year old?" Because I know many thirteen year olds read YA. More often than not, my novels are too violent and also mature in subject matter, so I wouldn't feel comfortable. So, I'll probably try to find an agent by querying the book as adult, even thought it's fast-paced like a YA novel
That exact reasoning and the fact that my main character goes from 12 to 18ish by the end of the series (and also the 140-150k word count) is why I came to the conclusion of YA being a much more appropriate label over middle grade.
I really agree with the “immediacy” point you have - I think that’s one difference between adult and YA regardless of the age of the protagonist. When I read “adult” books that have young protagonists I notice much more of a distance between me and the character. This was a great video! I’m an old millennial too!
This was very informative and helpful. I particularly agree about the passion and immediacy of YA writing, which is why I like reading and writing it myself. My biggest pet peeve about YA regards voice, particularly when a 16-year-old first-person female protagonist experiencing her first love narrates the story as if she's 32 and was recently divorced. This kind of stylistic dissidence appears more times than I can count.
I keep trying to read adult fiction but it always feels slow and I feel detached from the characters. I keep hoping to find more ya feeling adult books but thus far little luck. Guess I'll just keep writing them heh.
Yes! Write them! I do think that we're going to see a small but sizeable shift in more adult categories as YA readers grow up, branch out, etc... YA books are VERY engaging, and why can't adult novels be the same? There are a few strong examples of adult books written like YA--Ready Player One comes to mind--so I think we'll start seeing more. And there will be room for those books on the writing side, happily!
JulianGreystoke Right there with you! I’m finding the same issues and getting so frustrated... maybe there’s a much-needed market for us aspiring “in-between” writers after all!
You should definitely read the Shades of Magic trilogy by VE Schwab. It's an adult fantasy series but it reads like YA, in the sense that it's so easy to read, get into, the writing is very engaging and it's also just a great book. I read almost exclusively YA, and I have pretty much the same problem with most adult books. I just don't find some of them to be not very engaging and often feel detached from the characters, and if I don't care about the characters, I won't care about the story.
I would suggest A Discovery of Witches, especially if you like history. (The author is a history professor, and she writes the story in really interesting ways.)
For the older millennials and young gen xers, reading ya is definitely a guilty pleasure of ours. I personally believe it's a nostalgia thing. It was our main form of entertainment before the internet boom and the change in the way TV shows are handled. I'm also an old Millennial. I'm really appreciating the fact that I said this before I got to the part of you saying it in the video, but there's no way for me to prove it!
I just want to say how much I am enjoying your videos. I'm pretty new to your channel, so I am having a great time going through your back catalogue. They are so informative and well presented, I really feel I am benefitting from your experiences and knowledge. Thank you!
I just love your videos! So helpful. One thing I'd love to see in a future video is discussing YA protagonists. I understand the characteristics of a YA book but my fear is that I can't seem to feel confident that a YA protagonist can be smart. I get so worried that they are sounding too adult but I know many teens and they are bright. Love to get your thoughts!
Would you say that the industry is leaning more heavily towards YA novels right now over other "genres"? I know as a writer that it's not exactly best to try and shove your work into a box early in the process instead of just, like, actually _writing_ the thing, but when I think ahead to a year or so down the line when I'm in the process of querying and submission, I worry that because my novel isn't YA, it's not going to fare as well. Since my book is already so close to YA as it is (the character's age is really the only issue), should I consider doing a round of revision and reworking it into a YA novel?
Well, generally YA has been dominating the industry for the last decade or so--YA sales have kept many publishing companies in business--but now we're seeing extreme saturation of the YA market, and we haven't had a major crossover/breakout hit since Hunger Games. (Divergent and Red Queen come close, but their readership remains primarily YA) So I think right now ANY genre is fair game, with none being "easier" than the other... whereas 6 years ago, YA was definitely "easier" to sell in. Now YA is REALLY HARD to sell in b/c it is so so saturated. So I would follow your gut impulse and your heart on this one, and I wouldn't try to make the book YA if you're not really into it.
You're so knowledgeable it's actually humbling xD Here's a question for you beautiful: WHERE DID YOU LEARN THE THINGS YOU KNOW ABOUT WRITING AND THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY? I'm sure you learned many of them by writing and reading and then publishing your first book, ok. But, the difference between YA etc. These are things they don't teach you if you study journalism and I'm sure your publisher didn't have a reason to explain it to you, unless Brightly Burning is YA of course.
That feeling when the "youth literature" category in your country is one big bracket from ages 10 to 25. My book is apparently going to be NA because the protagonist is 21 and the themes aren't very teenage-like, I think...
If he looks like 16, bec vampire, then there you go. YA. But like, he's so old, probably biography would be considerable bec he'd probably got some serious advice to lend (I'm joking)
It’s kinda sad that in order for something to be considered “authentically YA” it needs to be less reflective because as a young adult growing up now with the access we have to the internet we’re opened up to a lot more perspectives by a younger age, leading a lot of us to become a lot more reflective faster. Raging hormones of course can still lead to rash decisions, but teens now are also a lot more mature than older adults would expect because we watch a lot of RU-vidrs and peeps who are older and have already learned many lessons that they pass on to us. I’m not saying this info is incorrect because it’s very evident from the books published that publishers do still abide by these rules, but...geez, my favourite books from 15 years old to now have always been the ones with teenagers who actually reflect on who they are and what they’ve done because I could relate to them the most opposed to all the “headstrong” heroines (which usually just means they act without thinking all the time). I really hope new adult can become a more traditional marketing genre soon that isn’t only/mostly about sexual discovery so the more reflective teenage protagonists who aren’t yet ready for adulthood can fit. The protagonist I’m trying to write is around my age (18-19) and even though he’s not ready to be an adult by any means (because he’s still really figuring himself out) his story also heavily focuses on dying/death, what it means to be alive, and if one life can be more valuable than another and I dunno man, where the hell is he supposed to go? There is no romance in it and it doesn’t take place in school because he graduated already, and there isn’t enough sexual content to be new adult, so aHHHH! We’re we supposed to fit?!
I have no clue what category my book could be marketed as. I'm still working on it, but I already know what age the characters are and what the focus is, but I have no clue what it's really supposed to be.
Ashley Cartagena Torrid! Basically everything I wear is from there haha. Not sure it's on the site anymore as I bought it last year, but they repeat patterns and styles a lot. And a lot of things are also available on Hot Topic, too!
Hello Alexa I'm a new Subscriber, just want to say hi, and let you know this is the best description of what YA is that I've found! I was wondering if my novel might be marketed at a YA, from your defining characteristics I would say it's not. That's okay with me, it really nice to have that better figured out now. Thank-you very much this video was so informative. Hayley ^_^
I just realized that I don't think my current, WIP isn't YA or, at least, after looking at the checklist I don't think it is, now I'm really unsure on whether my WIP fits in. 😓 My story has a more Percy Jackson type vibe than it has a YA type vibe. Yet my book hits all the notes in your sum up of YA. I'm so confused but great video none the less. Maybe you could do a video on choosing a genre(s) for your book.
I'm confused about whether my first book was a YA novel. It seemed to have both themes about finding yourself and your place in the community. But, as you said, the MG and YA line is blurring, though the characters weren't 13-15, but 18-19. It might have sounded more mature like an adult literary novel too since the people were more antiquated and ancient. That's something else to think about too. "Young adult" and "teenager" didn't exist until the 20th c. as a marketing tool. We are constantly defining new generations and what people should be into at a certain age. That's what's hard about publishing. The agents do business, not art, and they want to define something or put it in a neat label or box, but hey, what if you want to write about teenagers in Roman times? People had to grow up a lot faster in different times and generations.
Alexa you are soo right about not wanting to read your age. When I was in jr and high school, I mostly read books who main characters were in college or full adults.😂
So, how would you define series that start out at more of a middle grade level with a character who's younger but follows them into their teenage years e.g. Harry Potter series, Percy Jackson series etc.
Can you say something about classic antecedents to YA? I'm thinking of books like Huckleberry Finn, Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, (a lot of Dickens really), or Truman Capote's Other Voices Other Rooms.
How limited are swear words in YA? Are they able to be used quite sparingly or should I refrain from using any profanity at all? Love your vids and have been binging them like a Netflix series lol
How would you wrap your head around authors with young breakout debuts like Sally Rooney, Emma Cline, and Bret Easton Ellis who wrote voicey, faster paced, internal/feely novels about teens/20s but were marketed as adult novels? This is the stuff I write and now after watching your vids I’m getting hella confused lol
Ok so I have a question, I think my novel is Ya, but I'm trying to enter a writing contest and I'm torn between two genre categories. One is YA fiction and the other is Fantasy/science fiction. My book falls under YA and Fantasy so I'm really not sure what to choose. Should I try to email and ask them? Or choose YA because it's the main genre of my book?
I'm having a hard time deciding whether to write my book as an adult novel or a YA novel. The book will be a coming of age story based on my life between the ages of 10-24. Originally, I wanted to write a memoir. I chickened out because I don't want to portray the real-life characters negatively, which will be necessary to make the book worth reading. The more I learn about YA vs. Adult, the more I lean towards Adult. I started a rough outline by writing down chapter titles, just as a guideline. I need to make a decision about how to market this book soon. My heart screams, "Memoir!" but I'm scared I'll make the wrong choice. Any advice you could offer would be greatly appreciated. Your videos are beneficial!
I've gone through a lot of internal debate on whether I should query my series (actually only the first book for now) as middle grade or YA. The most important characters' ages in order of how big of a part they play in the first book are 12, 13-14, 16, 17, 40s, 40s again, 12, and last 14-16, and this is just the main cast of characters. The main character and his long lost twin are the two 12 year-olds, the eventual love interest later in the series but brand new best friend for now is the 13-14, the 16 and 17 are cousins to the main character, the two 40-somethings are the main villain and her direct counter, and the 14-16 is a love interest to the love interest who serves relatively no purpose in book 1 other than to be the secondary source of world building for one of the setting locations and to set up her character arc for the rest of the series. The average ages of the main cast make this first book of the series more of a YA than a middle grade, but because the main character and his new best friend/eventual love interest are 12 and 13-14 and because they take up most of the spotlight by themselves I feel like more appropriately labeled middle grade. On subject with the age issue, the main character grows from 12 in book 1 to 18ish by the end of book 8, which is the finale of the series. So his personal overall age makes me lean more toward YA even though he starts out as only 1 year older than Harry Potter. The other point that I debate about is the subject matter. The series as a whole explores really heavy and sensitive things like depression, ptsd, other parts of psychology, and death (which gets pretty sadistic at times). I know that these things probably shouldn't be in a kids or middle grade novel, but at the same time the manner of high fantasy and the somewhat whimsical but definitely fun magic system make it feel more age appropriate for elementary school and middle school. But because the themes' focus outweighs the concepts' focus I once again feel that YA is overall the more appropriate label. Lastly, there's the word count, which is 140,000-150,000, which is far too long for middle grade but not too far above the guidelines for YA. To anyone who took the time to read my comment, given what I'm able to tell you here without you being able to read the book for yourself, do you think I came to the right conclusion?
Hmm interesting! So would you say that a book that is written for young adults is not YA if it does not have an adolescent in it? For example if the protagonist is a child or an old person, but the target audience is young adults? Thanks!
I've been fighting so hard with myself on what market my trilogy falls under. I wish I could call it New Adult, but a lot of agents don't acknowledge it. I've always leaned more on the YA side. The protagonist begins at 18yo in Book 1 and by Book 3 is 19. It's right on the fence, but she's figuring out her place, learning who she is, and experiencing first crush/love. The biggest issue I have in deciding is mature content. Having one or two vulgar words, some light gore, and the antag is a killer. What's bothering me about this is when I was growing up, I read MG/YA books that showed rape scenes or got very descriptive in sexual content. I love reading YA as it takes up more than half my bookshelves, but I still find YA books that have more disturbing/graphic scenes than mine. Agents are beginning to become picky with trigger warnings, too. Some things, I understand, but others are getting kind of crazy. I love your videos, though and always look forward to hearing your thoughts.
I am looking forward to watching this video as I'm not sure entirely if my series is YA or not. My MC starts at age 9, bur by end of the first book she is 15. And during the series she ages up in each book.
This has definitely helped clear some things up, but I am curious and need a little more clarification on at least one book series: the Flavia de Luce series. It's murder mystery, it's set in a later time period, and the main character (the sleuth of the series) is about 12 or 13. Her sisters are in their teens. I see this series similar to cozy novels, but since Flavia is about 12 then it would be middle school, right? Are there middle school cozy novels? Middle school murder mystery thrillers? It doesn't read like it's for kids, unlike Chasing Vermeer which is also about 12 year old sleuths (but no dead bodies normally). Sorry for the rambling. I've just been trying to figure it out for awhile because one of my ideas is about 13-14 year olds that find a body and try to solve the mystery. PS: love your top!!!
I like reading all ages. From Frances, to Nate the Great, to the Casson Family books, to Harper Hall of Pern... you get the picture. lol And yes, I also enjoy older teenage books and adult books, but the list would get too ridiculous.
I'm in a weird place where a good deal of my original writing falls into many tropes of YA fiction, but I also prefer writing about people maybe in their adult teens and early 20s, since I am there myself. I know I'm writing for teenagers and not adults, but I like writing adult characters between the ages of 18 and 25 right now (the demographic I consider to be "young adult" since teenagers are not technically adults yet). And when I did my webseries about a bunch of 18-20 year olds back in 2016, a majority of my readership was older teenagers--- still a teenage audience. So my work is pseudo-YA in my eyes, and not adult fiction. But the age of my protagonists tends to be in the actual young adult range and not the teenage range. Not to mention I have a bizarre inclination toward asexual protagonists and if there IS a romantic subplot, the side characters end up with it. XD So how on earth would THAT be marketed? HOWEVER--- one thing that got me back into writing recently was doing fanfiction again. And I can tell that within the fandom for which I'm currently writing, a good deal of the people who are there are young teenagers, and I am having a blast writing the show's teenage characters, for stories that I'm aware are being read by teenagers. Like... the most fun I've had with writing in a while. And the people who've commented seem to be really into the stories I'm writing. I remember what it was like to be a teenager and in one respect (Asperger's), I still understand what it's like to have big emotions that I can't quite control. I still don't feel like I belong. I'm very promotive of individualism. I like hanging out with teens that share my passions and I know my work draws them in because I've met a lot of teens online who like my stuff. So I'm afraid my works may naturally cater to that demographic and I'm seriously considering YA as my main demographic going forward. I think my strengths as a writer are naturally inclined toward it. I do a lot of getting into the characters' thoughts and feelings about things, I will admit that I have a pension for dramatic language and spacing, I like having characters mature and become more individual, and I love telling big stories about young protagonists. I don't know if I will be able to maintain this ability as I get older, since I am still rather young (21) and my high school years are still fresh in my mind. So I may well do more teen protagonists as I get more ideas. XD Because I've found a love for it. And really, why not write something I've started to love again?
Hey Alexa, I was intrigued when you said "There is sex in YA guys." Would you do a video on how best to write sex and intimate scenes within YA? What are the rules and guidelines we should follow? You are THE BEST!
Oh gosh, I will have to noodle on that one! I haven't yet written a sex scene in my own YA work... but I'm sure I can do a little research and make a video on it :)
I've been struggling with my current WIP with what to count it as. It's the first in a series but is set a few years before the rest and I've been trying to figure out if it counts as YA or not. It covers some very dark themes, but the protagonist is 12, so it's a bit of a limbo book. I'm gonna have to fix this. Thanks for the video - very informative!
Great video, and I love your shirt btw! I have a WIP that is told in third person pov from the perspective of a character who is basically in her 30s, but the other two main characters are teens. Do you think that would be marketed as YA, or should I change the perspective to one of the teens?
My protagonist is 18, but I have 7 different povs (multiple storylines, not all related to the protagonist) with characters that are from 17 to 26 years old XD What the hell am I writing? XD Does this still count as YA or it's adult? Because I still have three characters (who have their own povs) who are under twenty years old and act like teenagers... I have no idea what to do XD
@@e_n_hand It doesn't matter that an adult book can have characters of any age. The adult section has completely different standards. And usually more logical, straightforward standards. A lot of YA standards are weird or non-sensical. It's very hard to successfully pitch a YA book with characters outside the 13-18 age bracket. Regardless of what tone the book has. It's not hard at all to sell a book in the adult section regardless of the age of the protagonist, if the themes are suitable for adults. Alexa Donne explained it herself well.
@@Draber2b I'm not sure if you misinterpreted my comment or perhaps I was not clear enough (in which case I apologies) but I believe we agree. My point was that adult books are in that category due to content (or themes). I was not attempting to make any comment on why YA is YA. Simply stating that if applicable the people writing books with a wide range of character ages could easily be adult if the subject matter in their books is mature (which does not necessarily mean violent or explicit).
@@e_n_hand I was thinking the top commenter wants to write YA. In which case making the characters younger would be beneficial (YA publishers are stubborn and hesitant to take risks). But there is nothing indicating they want to write specifically YA. So I back up. My bad xD
How would you classify Jack Gantos's Norvelt series and Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching (sub)series? YA for adults? Exceptions, because Gantos and Pratchett are giants?
Hi there! This is a good video for me: it makes me think whether I'm writing YA or Middle Grade.😅😅 I'm writing a fantasy series, and I have more than one main character. They are of different ages. And I wanna ask, does this consider as Middle Grade? Or is it YA?
It really depends on the characters and style of narrative. What books would you comp it to in terms of style and tone? That will give you some answers! (but generally I'll say Middle Grades don't have POVs with older characters, as MG readers don't want to read adult or older POVs).
Well technically I'm writing YA... but in my Trilogy, there's a 5 year time jump between book 1 and 2. However (it's fantasy, it works) my MC doesn't age in those years really. But then there's another PoV character, who is an angel, so she has been a teen for a few hundred years now... Like everything else and the theme and such are totally YA, but the age of my characters is kind of the point (book 1 is 100% YA, tho)
There is a lot of market crossover there! Generally, I find there are rings of overlap between YA, NA and adult romance marketing categories, so it's smart to market widely to those groups when you've got an NA.
So my protagonist just went through a big change and she has to cancel all her plans for school and life and move back in with her parents. She is then thrown into a fantasy scheme, but it still follows through with her emotions and how she deals with everything. (Ie. I like fantasy but the book isn’t about fantasy). I probably won’t specify age but they do go through a certain amount of schooling though I’ll probably hunt at ‘older’. Does that mean it counts as YA?
Super interesting video. Didn't even think of the fact YA is more a marketing tool than a genre, all though it makes perfect sense in hindsight. As a YA reader and writer, I feel like I should have known this already. I remember someone once told me a novel I was working on couldn't be YA bcs my protag was 19. I was very bitter, but I can also totally understand the comment in hindsight.
Ahhh i am conflicted now . My character goes to a different part of the world where time moves differently. He leaves and thinks only a couple years passed but when he returns he finds out that in reality nearly a decade passed thus putting him closer to his mid twenties by the end of the book. Soooo...technically still YA or nay?
do you think its possible for younger people write older characters ? especially with main characters (im 14 and i want to write about 20/21 year olds - i know im too young to acutally write something that would be good but i dont know if character age exactly would be a problem)
I personally think it depends heavily on what the character goes through. I would avoid describing their job-life (unless it's something you know about), avoid putting them into situations far from what is experienced in my age and I would be careful when writing deeply emotional moments. ________ Writers have managed to pul of a lot of stuff that shouldn't be possible: some writers managed to write characters with incredible IQ levels (and great inventions) - themselves being around average. It's like writing about interstellar space if you don't know quantum physics (best to avoid relativistic phenomenons and excessive tech-bubbles). You may pul it of. There is no golden rule but try it. At least it's an experience. Avoid tricky moments. 👍
I'm writing something now that I assumed was YA because other than classics, it's the only other genre (notgenre, marketing category) I read. Not sure now haha. But I'll figure it out later I guess. It would be a small miracle for me to finish something I write, so we'll see. Until then I suppose it doesn't matter :)
Thank you for educating folks on this! Goldfinch is 1 of my fave books of all time & def not YA. Harry Potter books are shelved in middle grade, bc that's where JK Rowling started out in the 1st book. Later books in the series dealt with more mature subject matter approaching YA, but all the titles are still shelved together in MG. Personally, I consider the defining characteristic of YA to be "emo" or "teen voice." It's a category I've never written and isn't my favorite to read (although, I still love your vids!) . 1 thing that's making the YA distinction fuzzier is explicit sex & drug/ alcohol use
Okay, sooo... even though my 1st novel in my werewolf series is set in high school & my MC is 17, it's most likely not YA because it's not 1st person, it's not written in that typical YA tone? Ugh. This is sooo hard.
So I am writing a book where the character is 18 and a freshman in college. Would that be still okay for a YA book? I feel like the story and the tone is definitely YA. I could make her 17 and a senior of course, but I kind of like the dorms/independence/lack of parents... Maybe if it is at a boarding school of some sort I could have the fun dorm scenes...
This is a nebulous space in YA right now--there are a few college-set books being marketed/shelved as YA, so it's not a deal breaker. In those cases, it's not so much the protag's age (18 would be fine) but how it's written/themes explored. If it feels like you're writing YA, but she just happens to be 18 and a college freshman, I think you are likely fine keeping it as-is and querying it as YA. Two great recent/publishing now examples to check out are Nice Try Jane Sinner and American Panda.
Well, now I don't know if I should age down my characters. I prefer writing about characters in their twenties but I do have romance in the core of the story and I focus on feelings. But I try not to make my books shallow as many YAs are (boys, parents, rebellion).
Can something actually be pitched as YA crossover? Like if you’re querying can you tell the agent you think your book is YA crossover in the vein of Throne of Glass and Shades of Magic?
I think you can say buzz phrases like "crossover appeal" or "crossover potential," or demonstrate it through your comps--comp books like ACOTAR (TOG is actually proper YA; SJM's other series is crossover), SoM, Fangirl, etc.
I've been coming to the conclusion for a while now that my WIP is going to end up as a middle grade novel, going off the themes and characterisation. Does anyone have any recommendations of good middle grade novels that could help me make my voice appropriate?
Can someone suggest a few good YA novels written by less popular authors ( other than Rainbow Rowell, John Green, Colleen Hoover, Jenna Evans, Jenn Bennett, Kaisie West)?
great video! very helpful for many of us, I wish i had watched it earlier. i just wanted to point out something really random. When I was 12 and one or two years older I wanted to read about books with characters in my age. And i couldnt find! So i read about sixteen year olds going on great adventures and I thought it was so unfair. It wasn very relatable either. So please if you do want to write a book with a13 year old character do it because i dont think that i was the only kid out there that wanted so badly to find a book with characters in their age
Maria Liv Omg thank you! Because of this vid, I started rethinking everything about my novel, since both of my protagonists are thirteen, but I still categorise the book as YA 😂💕
My book is just a big I don't know. My youngest protagonist is 19, my older, 24. And there is a lot of huge feelings and emotions; and the characters are vivid... Send help! 😂💔
I think I used to read a lot of YA as a teen and enjoyed it but I don't think it's what I want to write, if I pursue writing. Honestly I can't say any genre or style in particular stands out to me, though I wish something would
I literally have no idea what I'm writing. I know it's not middle-grade or any juvenile fiction category because my characters are usually either fourteen or seventeen. I guess my fourteen-year-old MC works are easy, but the others? My stories are usually either inspirational or some strange sci-fi super-hero-y magic-but-not-magic thing that I don't know what to call. If they're inspirational they have some sort of Christian theme, like a kid getting in with the wrong crowd or someone struggling with doubt, but I don't think it's "preachy." (I guess it depends on what you classify as preachy.) If it's the weird superhero thing, it varies, but I pretty much never qualify for the YA 🐱egory. So apparently I write in some strange sub😺egory of adult fiction (and I'm in my early teens?!)?? SOMEBODY TRY TO MAKE SENSE OF THIS PLEASE BECAUSE I'M LOST. HALP.
I was thinking of writing stories where the POV characters are between 18-24 I was thinking of calling that a OLD(ER) young adult novel. Does that sound strange.
I think the characters can be any age to fall into the YA category because teenagers nowadays understand 19 to 28-years-old. I'm 16 and love reading YA books with characters who are 18 or 20 something. I dislike reading YA books with 14 to 10 year old characters as protagonists for me it feels like those books should fall in the middle grade category. YA novels for me is fine if it has characters who are 15 to 28-years-old.
Ugh same. I hate when the characters are like 13 and they're doing weird mature stuff that 13 year olds shouldn't be doing! I can only stand YA books if the character is 17+ but 16 is also fine.
okay so what about a novel that has all of the elements you listed but a character who is 22. this is the book i'm wanting to write, i don't want to compromise on the age because there is NO FUCKING BOOKS ABOUT 22 YEAR OLDS and as a 22 year old i feel personally obligated to be the change i wanna see in books. but like. could i publish this. is "new adult" a legit thing? i want it to be a thing because i need books about people my fucking age but apparently "new adult" is controversial. i feel like my book has the themes of a literary adult novel but the vibe and immediacy of a young adult novel, with the age range of new adult, am i totally screwed??
Oh god, I think one of the potential downfalls of a lot of YA novels written by people much older than young adults are they try to be edgy and relevant but then end up making everything so cliche and troupe-y.
Hi I am writing a book and all of my characters are pretty much in seventh grade. I believe one of them is in eighth grade now this book has some language in terms of derogatory terms towards gay people as in this story is going to be about bullying possibly gay bashing and bullying towards the handicapped The main protagonist of cerebral palsy ,One is typical but gay one is autistic ,one has Down syndrome One has an intellectual disability and the other one is what would you call typical would that be considered middle grade or ya?
I have characters that start off very young, as children, and by the end they are teens. The narrator sounds like an adult and there are dark themes but there are little to no romantic arcs. There are many adult characters but the leads are mostly kids. I’m not sure what my “genre” or marketing category it is besides fantasy. But it seems a little too young to be adult but too adult to be YOUNG. My novel doesn’t seem to fit into a category! 😳
Appreciate the video, I was worried that my work in progress would come off as YA, because I want to write adult fiction and hopefully turn this into a series and explore deeper and darker aspects later on that wouldn't be suitable for a YA audience, as the character ventures farther into his journey. Edit: changed my comment so I didnt come off as an asshole.
@@oboebuddy15 true, I didnt have to, but I guess I wanted to. I guess I was putting too much emphasis on my personal feelings about ya and not enough on the main point, that I'm glad I didnt accidentally write a story that publishers would assume is something it wasnt intended to be.
I agree that you have to be careful not to age your character up too much so they start sounding 30 when they're 17, but I think it's just as important not to be condescending and talk down to your audience by relying on stereotypes of what a "typical teen" would do, think, or feel. Then you really lose your audience's attention because you break trust with them, thus losing credibility. Several times this turned me off a novel as a teenager and it still bothers me now in my 20's
hmm i'd say some books with chars that are 21 or even a bit older are still considered YA sometimes. guess it could be adult fiction but i've deffo seen more and more books with chars that are 18+ marketed as YA recently.
Currently the industry is testing the upper limits of YA, but I've never seen a character older than 19. What books have protagonists older than 21? I've seen a small handful of books where protagonists were in their first year of college, but the jury is still out on what the category will support, ie: what will sell.
I was just checking out Legend, by Marie Lu, and the reviews say the couple start at 15 years-old and finish the series at twenty years-old. I'm still shocked, but I like aspects of it.
Actually romance is more the rule and not having romance is the exception. Romance is a hallmark of YA for sure. But love triangles have fallen out of fashion, for sure.
O, sorry I got that backwards. What would make a non-romance YA novel be acceptable to be published? Would it be ok to write a strong friendship that helps the protagonists feel like they finally belong?
My characters are all in the older teenage years but the themes of my story are a lil too culty and intense for let's say a 15 year old and younger so I dont really think it counts as YA
Great video. one minor correction, which has no relevance to your overall video, "you know it when you see it..." is in reference to obscenity (a category of speech that is not protected in the US).
Young adults should be above 18, in my opinion. 18 below are actually the teenagers and even 19. If the mid teens is considered young adult, then they should be jailed with the other older adults if they committed a crime but it doesn't happen because they go to juvenile prison.
