Friday, September 04, 2009

Writing YA
















Dave Johnson said...

I *really* want to know more about this distinction (forgive me if this gets long...).

I've been told by an agent that my YA story had more of a "middle grade voice." The MS is 80,000 words but deals with some dark themes ala Joseph Delaney's Last Apprentice series - some off-screen violence, a few fatalities, etc. It also fits the bill for YA because of the nature of the external/internal conflicts you mentioned.

The problem is, I'm not sure where it fits in. At the same time, I've read many, many books with dark or complex themes in the MG section, some of them in the 80,000+ word neighborhood (Fly By Night, Darkwood, the latter Rowling books, etc.). Are they just being shelved incorrectly by the libraries, or do they end up in the MG section because of the "voice" regardless of the themes and length?

On the same topic, I keep finding books in the YA section that clearly belong in the MG section because the conflict is more what you describe for MG, yet the "voice" is more mature than most MG novels.

For instance, I always find Theodosia in the MG or "juvenile" section of the libraries, but the conflicts are much broader than typical MG fare and seem more YA to me. But the voice is clearly intended for a MG audience.

What I'm getting at is that people on the "inside" of the industry, particularly agents, have a very clear cut definition of this distinction, but it's very confusing to me because there seems to be little consistency in the library or at the bookstore. Is this purely a marketing thing?

(It got long. Sorry...)

Robin L said...

Long is fine, Dave, and you bring up an excellent point. In fact, I almost put a disclaimer in there about fantasy...

In fact, my answer is going to be so long, I think I'll turn it into a blog post. But the gist of it is, fantasy is a little different in how the age groups break down. There exists an entire category of what I would call older middle grade, that IS more complex and multi-layered than contemporary middle grade, and I think that's where your exceptions are falling. Stay tuned for more details!

Dave Johnson said...

Ah! I should have mentioned that I'm speaking exclusively about fantasy here. The same blurred line exists for this genre between YA and adult too - I honestly can't tell the difference some times between the two when it comes to fantasy.

Looking forward to hearing your further thoughts on this.

Story Weaver said...

Hurrah, I look forward to the post as well.