I don’t know why I
assumed everyone who reads this blog writes YA and took a poll last week
forcing everyone else into the category: OTHER.
I’m excited so many people are writing good adult books! Several of my favorite books are ‘adult books.’ I’m a little jealous because I spent my
college years trying to write adult books. But all my characters ever did was
sit around talk. Yes, they got into trouble too. But then they spent too many
pages talking about said trouble. I’m not sure why my YA characters are so much
more active and interesting and less chatty – especially since I’m fairly
positive that when I was a teen I was the chattiest I’ve ever been EVER. Recently, one of my WIP’s was
critiqued by an agent for a contest and he told me that I hadn’t written a YA
book, I’d written an adult book with a teenage protagonist. On one hand – Yea!
I finally wrote an adult book that wasn’t all talk and no walk! On the other
hand – Er, what?
So now I ask you, what really makes a book adult or YA,
regardless of the age of the protagonist? Like, why was Room an adult book and Living
Dead Girl a YA?
And also, why do you write the genre you write? Did you plan
this or (like me) did you one day just realize your protagonist was speaking to
you as a sixteen year old instead of a 24 year old (or vice versa)?
I write YA and adult books (is it just me or does the phrase 'adult books' make them sound kinky?) mainly because I have a short attention span and love all kinds of genres. I can't just stick with one.
ReplyDeleteI think YA is very much the genre of the moment, but mostly it's down to marketing trends. It used to be vampires, before that chicklit etc. Obviously there are peopel who were wriitng the genre before the trend, and there'll be some who stay after it becomes unfashionable, but the publishing industry tends to encourage and profit from these sort of fads.
ReplyDeleteMy point being at the moment anything that even vaguely resembles YA gets lumped in with it, because it's seen as an advantage. And the romance side of things has been exaggerated recently so it draws in more women (who are seen as the main book buying audience - unfairly I think).
So if you write about a youngish woman who has problems of the heart=YA. That may change fairly soon though.
mood
Moody Writing
@mooderino
The Funnily Enough
I think it's the overall theme and context of the story that makes it adult or not, not necessarily the protagonist. I could never write YA. My stories are just too adult with themes that are too complex for someone of such limited experience as a young adult to understand fully. Not to mention they're are wildly inappropriate for the younger set. Too much graphic sex and violence.
ReplyDeleteI write YA, and I think its because in my mind I still consider myself an adolescent. I long for the freedom and excitement of youth. Or I am incredibly immature...idk.
ReplyDeleteI have two words for you "making love." I'll say no more.
ReplyDelete