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YA Fiction

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
I've seen a number of time, on these forums an elsewhere, admonitions telling an author to essentially sanitize their story if they're writing YA, as though YA can't take on mature issues, or deal with them in a frank and open manner. As a reader and writer of YA fiction, I can tell you that this is categorically false. Random reads from the YA shelves will demonstrate that YA fiction deals with any issue that might conceivably impact a teen, and the fiction often does so in very straightforward language (even what some might consider too 'vulgar' or frank).

I came across this post by Chuck Wendig today, and I thought it was a pretty nice piece in terms of dispelling some of the preconceptions people seem to have about YA fiction. As it happens, YA is where a lot of interesting stuff is going on right now, whether you're an adult or a teen. Numbers 16 and 17 from Wendig's post is particularly illuminating as a characteristic of YA fiction:

16. RISKIER STORIES
Personal opinion time: some of the bravest, strangest, coolest stories right now are being told in the young adult space. It’s stuff that doesn’t fly by tropes or adhere to rules — appropriate, perhaps, since young adults tend to flick cigarettes in the eyes of the rules and don’t play by social norms as much as adults do. (Though teens certainly have their own social codes, too.) I wish adult fiction so frequently took risks on the material at hand, but it doesn’t. And as a person (relatively) new to the young adult spectrum, I used to assume it was all Twilight: generic pap. But then you read John Green, or Libba Bray, or Maureen Johnson — or holy shit, have you read Code Name: Verity?! — and your eyes start to go all boggly. Amazing storytelling in this realm. Amazing! I’ll wait here while you go read it all. *stares*


17. MORE “ADULT” STORIES

Young adult stories are encouraged to deal with some heavy shit when needed. Suicide, racism, misogyny, teen pregnancy, depression, cancer, rape, school shootings, and so forth. Don’t feel like it needs to be all cushy and cozy and given over to some Hollywood notion of what it’s like being a teenager. Sometimes YA books get called “children’s fiction,” which makes it sound like it stars characters looking for their next cotton candy fix while trying to stop the playground bullies from stealing their truck toys. Young adults still deal with some particularly adult things.

As Wendig notes, contrary to the idea that YA has to be sanitized, toned down, conventional, or conformist, you'll find that YA is an area where writers push the boundaries, often more than in adult fiction.

Here's the entire post: 25 Things You Should Know About Young Adult Fiction « terribleminds: chuck wendig

If you haven't read YA fiction, and the only reason you haven't read it is that is has the label 'YA' on it, you're missing out on some good fiction for reasons that probably aren't reflective on reality.


 
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BWFoster78

Myth Weaver
When I started The Slender Man Massacre, I found a group of YA writers and asked a bunch of questions. I had been told that you should watch everything from content to vocabulary to "cleanness." They told me that the only real difference between YA and adult is that, and I'm paraphasing to the best of my ability here,...

YA features YA character from the POV of a YA, not the POV of an adult writing YA.

I found that answer liberating.
 

Devora

Sage
I don't write YA because I don't really read a lot of YA fiction. I've considered the notion of writing YA, but finding any YA books these days that aren't melodramatic or contrived in some way is very hard. (that and I prefered reading Adult fiction over YA.)
 

PaulineMRoss

Inkling
YA features YA character from the POV of a YA, not the POV of an adult writing YA.

I've spent ages following huge threads on Goodreads trying to get a sensible working definition of YA, without success. Honestly, I do believe this is it.

I don't read much YA (I just don't identify with teenagers that well), but quite a bit of what I have read is very, very good.
 

BWFoster78

Myth Weaver
I don't read much YA (I just don't identify with teenagers that well), but quite a bit of what I have read is very, very good.

I tend to like reading and writing about teenagers. They just feel things so much stronger than adults, makes for more tension and makes it easier to create realistic drama.
 

kayd_mon

Sage
Good post. I've taught young teenagers, and they benefit from the stories that aren't so sanitized and deal with real issues in the right way.

Of course, they sometimes miss the point - I think that the Hunger Games, for example, tries to deal with valid issues, but kids are usually just enamored with all the violence and miss any points the author tries to make. Sometimes they need a little guidance. Kids are capable of so much, but often times they are not given the guidance they need, because we mistake their intelligence for wisdom.
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
I've considered the notion of writing YA, but finding any YA books these days that aren't melodramatic or contrived in some way is very hard. (that and I prefered reading Adult fiction over YA.)

Not really.
 

saellys

Inkling
The Stone Front will be very definitely "rated R" (at least), but the novel I'm planning after that has a teenage protagonist, no explicit sex and very little so-called language, and a plot that I think would fit well in what I consider the most adventurous realm of contemporary literature. I might even try to do it through an actual publisher.

I've considered the notion of writing YA, but finding any YA books these days that aren't melodramatic or contrived in some way is very hard.

I disagree, but that's beside the point. Even if this was true, why would it stop you from writing YA?
 
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