I get this question from nearly everyone who asks about my writing. People read books in the genre they are accustomed to, based off the recommendations of friends or their e-book store, or simply because they liked the cover art. The exception is other writers, publisher’s, agents, librarians, and book bloggers. We have to be in the know, because we are writing, selling, and stocking these stories based on what’s inside. What I did not know before delving into the writing world, is that the books I read have an entirely different labeling system to agents and publishers than they do in the bookstore. You see Fiction, Non-Fiction, Science Fiction, Mystery, Comedy, and Drama, but there are dozens more!

Many people have a favorite genre, but I’m a true bookworm. I read classics in Jr. High (L’Engle, Austen, Montgomery, Bradbury, Twain), SciFi in high school because a boyfriend suggested Ender’s Game, and then satire or fantasy in college to escape my History and Education texts. Harry Potter was my own little world from age 12-20 when the series ended. I’d read all these favorites a dozen times each, and rarely picked up new authors without a recommendation from someone else. Then, the summer I got engaged, I was struck by the simple and beautiful covers of the Twilight series. I devoured the first two overnight, and even tried adult vampire stories, but didn’t like them. Suddenly, I was a fan of Young Adult novels. A huge fan. So much so that when I started to write, all my ideas fit in this genre. That is when I learned the many distinctions and nuances in fiction.

So, how do you explain a whole book to people outside the novelist bubble when you are used to doing it with acronyms? Most people don’t even know the word for novel in the publishing world is “trade.” I’ll admit, before I started wring a speculative fiction novel, I only knew them as Dystopian. This is such a new word in our ethos that spell check tells me to change it to Utopian. Simply put, Speculative Fiction, or SpecFic, can technically be Utopian and Science Fiction, but it is most often represented on Earth, in the not to distant future, usually characterized by a re-formed but overbearing government (Think The Hunger Games, Matched, The Giver, or Divergent). For some reason, these highly popular stories have skyrocketed in the media. Maybe that could be The Hunger Games having such good movie adaptation the reached a broader audience who then clamored for more. Whatever the reason, YA SpecFic appeals to many people today.

First thing, Young Adult is not a genre. But it kind of is. But it’s really not. It is fiction (literary or non-literary) that is written, published, and marketed to adolescents. It used to be called Juvenile fiction, which is why I didn’t read it in high school. According to Publisher’s Weekly and many other polls I have seen and agreed with in the past few years, more than half of YA readers are over 18. Often, books are put in YA based on the characters’ ages, even though many of those books would really be Middle Grade or the emerging genre of New Adult. Does the book have sex described and not just implied? New Adult. Does the book have characters that haven’t realized girls are pretty yet? Middle Grade. Somewhere in between? Young Adult.

And this cuts to the core of what YA is: any story where what keeps you reading is the character growth. Technically, YA is defined as the plot being emphasized instead of theme and style, but I believe the themes are just different than novels written for and about adults. The point of your later teen years is how you learn and become a full person, encountering problems and experiences for the first time. It doesn’t matter if it is the classics works of Oliver Twist or Huckleberry Finn, fantastical drama series like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, or critically acclaimed modern pop favorites The Fault in Our Stars or The Outsiders, they are all good books. So what is YA? Books for people who like to read about the in between times in life. Occasionally set in a fairy land or Post-Apocalyptic America…

Do you love YA? Hate it? Don’t get it?