Writing & Publishing It's not YA... but can I make that clear?

Fair warning, this has the potential to be a very multi-faceted question. It's bound up in so many age-old debates: At what stage should one research publication? How important is genre? Should one write with the market in mind anyway? Are literary fiction writers a bunch of affectatious snobs?

My work in progress is - I hope - a literary science fiction book. That's what I'm trying to write. The protagonist, and honestly most of the supporting cast, happens to a be a teenager. The concern is that "teen protagonist" plus "science fiction" will automatically equal "YA story" in the minds of readers or even (Lord willing) industry professionals. Especially since there's nothing especially dark or explicit in the novel (hello fellow Christian writers).

I'm not really interested in writing the book to teenagers. They can enjoy it if they want, but there is a difference between wanting to write to youth and wanting to write about youth. (If anyone has read the book All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy, that novel's 16-year-old main character was a huge influence on this story.) In fact, even the science fiction part is kinda secondary to the themes and relationships I want to write about (another influence: Station Eleven. I like how it's technically, literally, post-apocalyptic, yet that's not really the point of the novel).

I guess I'm mostly just curious if this kind of genre bending interests anyone here? Or is this contrast of premise and content asking too much? If you like literary novels, would the words "teen" and "planet" put you off from the start? If you like teen sci fi, would you give this a shot, or would you feel cheated by the slower plot and prose?

I enjoy sci fi, and it certainly sounds interesting, but I think I’d need more details to give you a fair idea if I’d like it.

That's not really a "gender-bender" novel, @Jessie P - you worry too much. Go ahead and write it. But as to the slower plot and prose, I'd speed it up a bit and cut down the flowery language. You've got to remember that today's reader is pulled too many ways to be interested in that (social media, the Internet, movies, TV, the Web, Tik Tok, etc.)

And I wish you outstanding success with your efforts! The world needs more good writers.

I suppose you're right, though it depends on how you're looking at genre. If you're looking at it purely as a description of content, then it's true nothing here is bent. But if you're looking at it as a marketing tool, then it does matter whether the tone and pacing matches what's popular in the genre.

That's why I mentioned Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. Her publishers classed the book as "Actors Fiction" and "Time Travel Fiction" - even though there's not time travel at all, just flashbacks! And there's no mention of "post-apocalyptic" which is the books most literal genre if you're just looking at plot.



However, I will have to contradict you a little on the assessment of "todays reader." Not that there aren't a lot of readers like that, but frankly I don't care about them. The thought of writing for a Tik Tok length attention span actually makes my throat constrict a little - gets me very nervous about the future of humanity. I also just don't enjoy writing that way at all, it's no fun for me. I'd lose interest.

I know there exist other readers who will occasionally tolerate a slower plot and more complex prose (if for no other reason than I love those novels and I'm not that special). It might be a smaller audience, but not as much smaller as people think, I hope. And more importantly, it's an audience I'm willing to work for.

We'll have to agree to disagree on that, @Jessie P . I think your short calling your potential audience. But, hey, whatever works for you!

Zee said:

I enjoy sci fi, and it certainly sounds interesting, but I think I’d need more details to give you a fair idea if I’d like it.

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Ah, twist my arm lol.

The book is set on a remote agricultural research planet. My main character is a rebellious 16-year-old, an alcohol bootlegger and prodigal grandson of the settlement's chaplain. There's a mysterious natural disaster that disproportionately kills adults, leaving the adolescents and children as the backbone of the planet. Dane (main character) becomes obsessed with a genius 14-year-old girl who he believes could find a way to contact outside civilization and get them rescue. But it's difficult to convince others that's even what they want to do; to make his case, he'll have to make amends with a society that he's always blamed for his various wounds and shortcomings.

The first Sci-Fi book I ever read was DAYBREAK 2250 AD (aka STAR MAN'S SON) by Andre Norton. It featured a teen with a telepathic link to a bobcat wandering a dystopic earth that featured dangers like mutated rats and ranging bands of outlaws on his way to sanctuary. It's not YA but featured a younger character. It can be done, and done well. I think the marketing is less important than the quality of the writing, the hook, which genre conventions you employ, things like that.



(Note, my first Sci-Fi novel was written by a woman, and I never noticed nor cared. It was really great writing, and it hooked me for life. That's what great writing does.)

Jessie P said:

Ah, twist my arm lol.

The book is set on a remote agricultural research planet. My main character is a rebellious 16-year-old, an alcohol bootlegger and prodigal grandson of the settlement's chaplain. There's a mysterious natural disaster that disproportionately kills adults, leaving the adolescents and children as the backbone of the planet. Dane (main character) becomes obsessed with a genius 14-year-old girl who he believes could find a way to contact outside civilization and get them rescue. But it's difficult to convince others that's even what they want to do; to make his case, he'll have to make amends with a society that he's always blamed for his various wounds and shortcomings.

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Sounds interesting to me!

I once long ago embarked on making a "batman and his enemies all went to high school" story where the Penguin was captain of the swim team, Bane was an All-star linebacker. Ivy was the mean girl of the school. Joker was the school class clown, Harleyquinn was captain of debate team always getting him in trouble. Riddler was a nerd, Ras was a foreign exchange student but they were all friends with Bruce. None of them knew he was a rich kid. Then one night, Joker intends to rob the richest guy in town. Things go south and both of Bruce's parents end up dead. The gang does not make their connection to Bruce until the news reports reveal he's the guy going to inherit everything. Joker's missing. Bruce is instantly removed from school.

(I was not a Christian at the time) I was writing a cast of school kids but not telling a YA story.

My suggestion - title and focus on the city. This turns the hook into some bigger statement about society at large.

My first thoughts - Cobra Kai - was loosely based on a YA story now unfolding twenty years later. The major cast are all grown-ups but they still live in the twenty years ago mindset and it is destroying their students.

I think a teen protagonist is (or at least was) a very common trope in speculative fiction regardless of the demographic it's aimed at. It's where the "farmboy is the chosen one who saves the world" plotline really entrenched itself. Now, I'm not saying that's your plot in the slightest, but I am saying that teen protagonists are common enough that it won't immediately slot your story into YA. My two cents.