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 |  This is a continuation of my blogging here at WdC |
| Writing Young Adult Fiction Okay, I am in the process of going through my second Young Adult book with a brand new publisher, and, following a video conference with their editor to show me where I need to rewrite a couple of sections, I thought I’d share everything I’ve learnt from her, from my Creative Writing degree, and from my last YA book, as I know YA is a strong market. First, “back in the day” Young Adult used to be considered a separate genre. More than that, it was often derided, put down as a marketing ploy. In my opinion it is neither a separate genre nor mere marketing – it is, in the end, a rating. It is like a movie rating system, indicating the best age a work is suited for, but the work is not restricted to that age group. In fact, many adults enjoy what is considered young adult fiction. As to genre, Young Adult can be horror (R.L. Stine), fantasy (J.K. Rowling), historical (Morris Gleitzmann), comedy (Dav Pilkey) or any other you can think of. Quick general definitions: In Australia, YA covers 12 to 18 year olds. 10 to 14 year olds are called Middle Grade, and some publishers use a 16 to 21 year old group classification, New Adult. In the USA, the publishers I have dealt with have told me Middle Grade is 10 to 16, Young Adult 14 to 24 and there is no “formal” New Adult classification. In the UK, MG is 10 to 14, YA is 12 to 18, NA is 18 to 21, though it is a rarity. Note the overlap in ages – because kids do not develop at the same rate. With the length of a YA novel, nowadays it is pretty much the same length as adult novel, though ten thousand or so words less is not rare and is perfectly acceptable. Forty, thirty years ago, it would have been fifty to eighty percent of an adult novel’s length at most, but that is no longer the case. In fact, that is closer to MG length (which is generally 25k to 50k words nowadays). I say nowadays… Enid Blyton released some very long books way back when and no-one batted an eyelid. So maybe it’s returning to the past. As an aside, to be honest, I think New Adult was just a marketing gimmick that was popular for a little while and has since started to fall out of fashion. It will be interesting to see where it goes. I also stand to be proved wrong. In the UK and Australia, Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone is considered Middle Grade; in the USA it is classified both MG and YA. The next two books are considered both MG and YA in Australia and the UK, and the last four are YA. How’s that for confusing? The Percy Jackson series is even more confusing! Plus, The Hobbit was written for youngsters. And I point this out to emphasise again – these labels are often ratings. Except… no. We’ll get there. So, before I became a teacher I used to think Young Adult involved simplistic story-telling and basic ideas with under-developed characters. Basically, it was what we were presented with when I was 11 or so (at 12 I was in high school, and the school I went to believed adult books were the only way to go…). It was only when I started to teach and so read a lot of YA works that I realised the story-telling is as complex as that in adult novels and the characters just as fully realised. Now we hit content. This is the "except" and "there" I said we'd get to. According to my aforementioned sources, content-wise what sets YA apart from adult works are:  The age of the protagonists is the same age as, or a couple of years older than, that of the readers. The main characters will rarely be older than 21 (the publisher of my first YA books says 18). The issues the characters deal with are more to do with "coming of age" or "self-awareness" or a myriad of other things that adults have already been through. These do not have to be the central focus, but the characters should be going through these, even in the background. There is a stronger concept of relationships as friendships and love as platonic instead of everything leading to or based around the idea of a sexual (physical) relationship. School is a part of the character’s lives. If they are not students, they have recently been students, and the friendships they have were most likely formed at school. Parents are a part of the character’s lives as well. Even if not directly involved in the story, that sense of home and family (even if broken) will exist in at least some characters.Vocabulary of YA is interesting. Don’t use words that YA readers would not use. That does not mean writing “down”! YA will know what arterial spray is, they will understand that internal discussions are a thing, they realise that constructive criticism is something teachers try to do. What I mean is… well, let’s use an example. I used the word “peer”. My beta reader said the kids don’t think of one another as peers. I asked in the video conference; my beta is correct – it is a teacher word. Use terms that the readers themselves would use. And they have a wide vocab. As for technology – keep up with it. Mention new things. However, do not overload the narrative with all the modern conveniences; in 5 years’ time it will seem quaint, “of its time” and possibly even dated. But having computers, mobile phones (“cell phones” to USians), smart household devices in the background is all fine. Of course, if writing scifi set in the future, you do you. This is for contemporaneous works. As for social media, yes, indicate kids are using it! But it was recommended to me not to say which socials they are using. This is nothing to do with copyright ("20240508 What Does Copyright Cover?"  ), but to do with dating your work. Following the meeting, I had a look at a book recommended by the publisher. It seems to work… except for all the (fictional) LiveJournal blog quotes throughout. My daughter doesn’t even know what LJ was! (She’s 16…) Just something to be aware of. The meeting did say that Facebook seems here to stay; that might be fine to use.Finally, when it comes to writing YA I cannot stress enough how important it is to have a person of that age as your beta reader and, if you can, a teacher or librarian involved with that age group as well. My daughter and son are mine (my son will be a teacher of that age group in a few years as well, so… yay?) and the librarians here have been good. And read some! Not just one book, and not just one author – read heaps. You need to see what is out there, how they approach the content considerations mentioned above, and what sort of characters are out there. Of course, I did teach the age group and read a lot of their stuff, so I have some knowledge there as well. Anyway, while it is fresh in my mind, I thought I would share. |
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