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What makes a book YA?
Hi friends! What are your thoughts on the more intangible differences between Adult and Young Adult books? I have in mind elements like a more informal/modern narrative voice, often-repeated story elements/tropes, narrative pacing… and how much does this YA-flavor matter to classifying our work, particularly in SFF secondary worlds?
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1 Reply
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Dear Catherine,
I know this was posted way back, but I thought it was interesting and you might want to explore this more with me?
Well, basically a teenager does not think like an adult because a teenager:
1) has to go through experiences to learn responsibility and how his/her acts have consequences
2) has to learn to be in control of his/her body
3) has almost not lived so he or she has to experience things in order to learn not to repeat the same mistakes. Everything is basically new and a teenager does not know how to face new things. Plus, it is stressful to face new things.
4) has to find strategies to face his/her fears and anxiety and does not always choose the right way (tries alcohol, drugs, breaking things, challenging others to do stupid things that make a lot of sense to them at the time)
5) has to learn how to respond to bullies, life questions that they think they need to give an answer to because they haven’t learned yet that not everything has an answer and one can actually pick their battles.
6) In the process, learn to cope with a lot of anxiety: Do they want to become the same adult as their parents? Who are their role models and do they change all the time? What profession are they interested in and how are they going to prove they are good enough/deserving? Is it okay to ghost someone? If they lie what will happen? Do people really lie? If they push boundaries to the limits, what will happen? Are they ready for sex? What on earth is their body doing? Are they ill? Are they crazy? Why do they have so many feelings at the same time and so many crazy/shameful/insane thoughts? Who will ever understand them?A) Informal/modern narrative voice:
B) Often-repeated story elements/tropes:
C) Narrative pacing:
How being a young adult translates in a novel?
I have some ideas, but I wonder what are your takes on A, B, C?Thanks.
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