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I’m a bit confused on the difference between fiction for teens, and fiction for adults. Everything I’ve looked into says the age is what really differentiates one from the other, but if that’s the case, I’m sixteen and writing an “adult novel.” I’d like for my audience to be teens (even though I don’t plan on publishing any time soon) but with adult characters I don’t think that’s really how it goes in traditional publishing at least. Is there anything, besides age, that determines whether a story is for teens or adults? Can a teen write for adults? Does any of this matter?
@phoenix
I think the themes and messages in the book would have a lot to do with whether or not you would classify it as a teens’ or adults’ novel. I’m a teenager, and there’s plenty of books that I have read/looked at that have characters that are adults, but I wouldn’t classify them as “adults” books. I think it would really depend on whether or not you are wanting to put some “adult” themes in there, as your characters are adults.
Hope that helps xD
If you don’t mind me asking, what’s the synopsis for your novel?
~ Laugh. Drink Coffee. Smile. And Write ~
<p style=”text-align: center;”> @abigail-rebekah i don’t have a synopsis ready. There are a lot of graphic things in my story but imo teens can handle that sort of thing just as well as adults.</p>
@phoenix
That’s fine 🙂
Yes, definitely – I would agree that teens can handle, to an extent, graphic things, but there would be types of graphic that would be considered older and for adults.
Hope your writing goes well xD
~ Laugh. Drink Coffee. Smile. And Write ~
@phoenix
When a story leans more towards young adult or teenage characters and themes, fewer older adults will enjoy it. Similarly, complicated and mature characters and themes may bore teenagers.
However, I would say that fiction doesn’t always have an age. There are works that can be equally enjoyed by both young and old readers. Take Lord of the Rings for example; I enjoyed it at 16 and I’ll enjoy it at 60.
I would say, the main difference would be content and severity of themes. For example, Peretti wrote a YA Fiction series about a Christian archaeological family and their adventures that deals with heavy themes and is a really great series in my opinion. He also wrote more Adult Fiction like The Oath, This Present Darkness, Piercing the Darkness, etc, which all deal with heavier themes, more adult content, etc. I would say that most of his novels(I haven’t read all of them) are okay for a non-squeamish 16+ audience. Peretti is not the standard unfortunately, however – many, many Adult Fiction novels I’ve read I would not recommend for younger audiences. This is typically only in non-Christian fiction however.
In YA Fiction, I typically expect in a good novel strong themes that may be darker, but not completely hopeless, some violent content and maybe some sexual content, but nothing explicit(Especially not in Christian fiction. I’m not entirely against the mentioning of it in YA Fiction, but I don’t want anything explicit in any novel preferably. ). Take into mind I’m not a particularly squeamish reader so I will read stories that are a bit heavy if they have good themes sometimes, but I don’t want some content there.
In Adult Fiction, I expect some heavier, darker themes at times that deal much more with death and tragedy in a realistic manner than YA Fiction at most times. Any novel can deal with these themes, but in YA it seems there’s it’s a little ‘cleaner’ and more hopeful, while Adult Fiction can get rather hopeless and heavy at times even for me as a non-squeamish person who doesn’t mind harder stuff. I prefer all my fiction to still carry some element of hope, in Adult Fiction that hope is not always continually present while in YA(except for the ultimate low occasionally) it always seems to light up the background. If that makes sense. 😉
"A hard heart is no infallible protection against a soft head."
- C. S. Lewis
Wow…that was a really good explanation xD
~ Laugh. Drink Coffee. Smile. And Write ~
@sarah-inkdragon yeah I think that’s your opinion
Thanks! It’s just what I’ve noticed as a sort of trend in YA v. Adult, especially in fantasy.
@phoenix
Yep. It’s just my opinion based off what I’ve read and seen in fiction. 😉
"A hard heart is no infallible protection against a soft head."
- C. S. Lewis
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