Tuesday, February 2, 2010

So, I Think it's Time to Re-Think YA

I've always been pretty sure what I thought was YA, but now I'm starting to think my novel is not that. The more I read about what teenagers expect from a book (as I always just read them and had my own expectations), the more I see that my book won't fill that need. I feel that there's plenty of kids that will like it, but it has a dark plot and doesn't end all puppies and rainbows. As much as I don't want to, I think I'm going to have to bump it up to just Fantasy instead of YA Fantasy, especially since (if the series gets to continue) my main character ages twenty years by the end of the story. My thinking at the time (which now is so amateur and idiotic) was that, as a teenager, I greatly enjoyed books like Dune and Mists of Avalon which were about young kids who eventually became adults and had children, so why wouldn't kids enjoy my book that will do the same? Geez, Christi, maybe because those books weren't YA. *slaps self on forehead*

5 comments:

Terry Towery said...

I dunno. If the MC starts out as a teen and stays that way for much of the book, I wouldn't think it would matter to most kids if they grow up at the end. Harry Potter did.

I often wish my book was YA, since that genre is seeing the most growth, therefore the most publishing potential.

Christi Goddard said...

I'm just so torn. He's 17 for the first book, but if I get to continue the series, he is 17-18 for the second book, but in the third and fourth books he hits his twenties and thirties. That's not the end of a book, but the second half of the series, so I don't know. And the first book isn't a happy ending. It's a goodbye scene. *shrug* I hate having to think about the business aspect. Why can't we just write and pay someone else to figure this crap out? ;-)

Alleged Author said...

I think it sounds like it would be a good fantasy read then (I looked at her website and figured out which was yours). Why limit yourself to YA when you could take over the world?!?!??! :) MWAH HA HA HA!

Christi Goddard said...

This is so true. World dominance has always been the plan so that I might bring back vinyl and demand all food have chocolate in it.

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