Step One: What age group are you writing for?
The standard industry age categorisations are:
- Middle Grade: approximately 8-12 years of age.
- Young Adult: approximately 13-18 years of age
- Adult: Over 18
Young Adult (YA) is not a genre: it is an age range, as is Middle Grade. Books for children and teenagers cross a range of genres, as do books for adults.
Middle Grade
Middle Grade targeted at readers approximately 8-12 years of age. They are solid readers, able to cope with chapter books with few or no illustrations, and some in-depth in plot and characterisation. The lead characters should be a year or two older than the target audience: if your hero is sixteen, it is likely that the book is Young Adult, not Middle Grade.
Middle Grade fiction for girls will often feature teenagers in their middle school or early high school years, and will focus on relationship issues (e.g. bullying, mean girls) or growing up issues (e.g. physical changes). Fiction for boys is more likely to be adventure-based, and will probably feature two or three protagonists. It may well have a main female character so it will appeal to girls as well (at this age, it seems that girls will read anything, but boys won’t read ‘girl books’).
Prominent Christian authors writing for this age group include Nancy Rue (Lily and Sophie books), Jerry B Jenkins (Left Behind: The Kids and Red Rock Mysteries). Newer authors include Evan Angler (dystopian fiction) and Jerel Law (speculative fiction). Both Angler and Law have a male protagonist and a female secondary lead, to appeal to both genders.
Young Adult
Young Adult novels are written for teenagers, although many adults purchase and read YA fiction (one study found that 55% of YA fiction is purchased by adults). The themes in young adult literature are often very anti-Christian, with a lot of paranormal elements, including vampires, werewolves, mermaids and witchcraft. Dystopian novels are also popular. Those YA novels that are set in the ‘real’ world are likely to promote lust over love and sex over abstinence, glamorise abusive relationships, or endorse politically-correct alternative lifestyles.
Plots are typically consistent with the age and experience of the main character, who is usually in their mid-to-late teens, and may deal with issues such as peer pressure, divorce, illness, alcohol or drug use, gangs, violence, sex, pregnancy, incest and rape. Needless to say, there is a lot of debate around the suitability of these topics to the age group, but supporters argue that reading about these social issues help readers deal with real-life challenges.
Melody Carlson is probably the best-known Christian author for girls in this age group. Most Amish novels and Christian historicals also feature girls in their late teens, and are suitable teenage reading even though they are nominally targeted at adults (I think this is one of the reasons I don’t like Amish fiction: I find it rather juvenile).
I’d like to be able to suggest some solid YA authors for boys, but had trouble finding any. Is this why Omega authors such as L D Taylor and Lynne Stringer are targeting this age group?
Adult
The standard genre classifications for adult fiction are:
- Literary
- Mystery, Thriller and Suspense
- Religious & Inspirational
- Romance
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
There are numerous sub-classifications within all of these (and note that ‘Religious and Inspirational’ is not restricted to the Christian religion). We will go into more detail in future posts.
New Adult
New Adult is an emerging genre, featuring protagonists in their early to mid-twenties facing ‘new adult’ problems such as college, relationship issues, starting work or sharing a flat or apartment. New Adult novels are invariably contemporary: the concept doesn’t work as well in a historical context, because people were typically working and/or by this age, so there was no idea of a time between finishing school and taking on the full responsibilities of adulthood.
Are you clear what age group your novel is targeting?
Next week we will discuss the next step in defining your genre: market segment.
