lately for several varied reasons I’ve been doing some reading on the rules of the Publishing World, and two things have one to my attention.
thing #1: in YA publishing, 17 seems to be the rough cutoff age for protagonists; anything older is considered too old for YA.
thing #2: thing #1 is bullshit.
why’s it bullshit? glad you asked.
first off, the logic seems to be that young readers aren’t interested in people too much older than them, which is fair in some cases. 11 year olds don’t care about 20 year old problems, probably. but high school YA readers? extrapolating from my own experience, most hardcore readers in high school are anxiety-riddled nerds who would kill for some kind of clue about how college was supposed to work. I didnt know shit, because as far as the YA section at my library was concerned, the young adult experience was complete by the time I graduated high school and afterward I’d just plummet off a cliff or something
also, like, I understand that it’s not every individual writer’s job to account for every individual experience. I get that. if someone wants to write about the teenage experience, by all means go for it. I also write about teenagers. there’s a lot of appeal.
but. it also kind of hecks you up if you’re a quiet book loving nerdchild who hasn’t done anything in her life and it seems like all the fictional teens have sorted out their life and found their purpose and true love before they even leave high school. I’m not blaming YA for the generation of depressed 20 something’s feeling like failures, not at all, but it contributes to the culture.
and it’s such a baffling omission? I think a lot of people like to write about the teens™ because that’s a huge period of self discovery and growth and learning shit and new experiences but do you know??? what happens immediately after high school ends? EVEN MORE OF THAT, except probably with less parental supervision and cooler opportunities and a greater opportunity to get into trouble and make choices with consequences. that’s Interesting.
God, I would have loved to read about people starting college when I graduated high school. Still would, really
college is such a good setting, regardless of what genre you’re after! want to write some contemporary self discovery? college is where it’s at, dude. supernatural stuff? students with no parents to answer to and a looser class schedule are MUCH better investigators than high schoolers. fantasy? GIMME WIZARD COLLEGE.
#also like making the leap from YA to regulat fiction ia such a weird disconnect#like everyone was 15 and trying to navigate society#and now everyone is 30 and getting murdered or some weird shit#like at 23 i dont wanna read about 15 year olds#but like i dont want eveyone to get murdered either#like why cant a mystery be whos taking food in the office fridge instead of why jared from accounting is going on a murder spree – @canijustbellarke
hey not to creep in the tags but YES, this is the weirdest part
as popular fiction* marketing demographics currently stand, aging seems to work like this:
teens: revolutions, adventures, prodigies, the Chosen One, self-discovery, true love, finding the meaning of life and death, unlocking the secrets of the universe
20-somethings: sex??? probably???
post-college: melancholy reflections on relationships with lovers/parents/friends, family secrets, often murder, frequently an affair.
like what. what’s going on here. how are publishers overlooking the fact that the time between being a teenager and feeling like a real adult is also full of heart-breaking eye-opening thrilling terrifying self discovery?
* because, yes, I’m sure there are some great lesser known titles bucking these norms. I’d love to hear about them, I really would. but I’ve also been on tumblr long enough to know that Some People love to read a point about a troubling norm and then offer up a single example of a thing that does not fit that norm and act like that is proof that the entire observation is invalid.
This is a big reason why I still read so much YA even though I kinda get tired of reading such young characters (I mean, they’re great, but I want more). I’d love more YA-esque plots in “regular fiction” so much.
sweet god, this point right here. I’m not reading YA because I’m desperately trying to cling to my teenage years. I’m reading YA because it’s where the most fun, inventive, sometimes downright joyfully weird stories are happening.
Plume de Lynx 