Review Group discussion

I could use some age based genre help, and would appreciate your wisdom.

Normally, a twelve year old main character would be read by middle-graders. Pre-adults like to read "up". Since the MC is a girl, and (sorry, guys) girls tend to mature faster, an eight or nine year old girl could read my first book. I purposefully write between second and third grade level so that the books are easy reads for native English speakers and not too hard for those who learned English later. English is a difficult language to learn; we make rules just to break them. The language is clean; "she cursed" is used instead of the actual words. There is an "intimate moment" that happens off-screen.

However...

The MC finds out she is from multiple cultures, and two of the three recognize adulthood at age fourteen. In the second book she goes through a traumatic event and develops PTSD. She struggles with that the rest of the series. In a corollary series, where the above MC is a secondary character, there are issues of bullying, sacrifice, teen pregnancy, abortion, and suicide. In a later book a love interest commits suicide instead of facing the shame of being a criminal.

Most of my readers have been adult ladies. My writing "claim to fame" is that I've made a few of them sniffle, or cry outright. The MC has no special powers but she throws herself into the challenge. One reader said she liked that; the MC isn't preordained as unique, she's just a normal person doing the best she can. Her mistakes are documented, alongside her victories.

So, Middle Grade? YA, or NA? Something else?

Your character is in the age range for MG and bullying is a common MG topic.

Young adult is usually ages 13-17 and often contains coming of age themes. Some of your topics (teen pregnancy, intimate scenes, abortion) are ones I might associate more with YA vs MG.

Reading your blurb, it has a distinct MG voice and you said you wrote it at a MG level. So I would probably keep it in MG.

New adult is typically characters ages 18-25. It deals with the "firsts" of adulthood.

I would say "teen", and as long as you describe your book well enough, the reader or buyer should be able to determine whether it is appropriate or not. For example, Harry Potter is kids fiction, but read by adults all over the world, too. Mostly of course, by the notoriety, but also because of the descriptions. Hope this helps!

Megan wrote: "For example, Harry Potter is kids fiction..."

Yeah, I started reading HP to see what my daughter was enjoying so much. By book two or three, I was into it on my own. :)

Kat wrote: "New adult is typically characters ages 18-25. It deals with the "firsts" of adulthood."

That's what makes me wonder most. By the end of the series, though the MC is only 17, she has had a few firsts:

First:
- kiss
- time punching a guy that kissed her
- time killing an attacker
- time living with "mental health diagnoses"
- suicide of a friend
- career
- time moving out on her own
- negotiation with an over-whelming pirate force
- death of someone she tried to protect
- time as family head, when all others are captured, injured, or elsewhere

She lives a rough life, but I promise you there's a happy ending.

To me, those all sound like MG/YA themes. If she ages up to 17 during the course of the series, then YA would certainly work!

New Adult is a romance-heavy genre that often doesn't go shy on the sex and cursing. Here's the top 100 bestsellers on Amazon so you can get an idea of whether or not your book fits in.

https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-K...

Kat wrote: "To me, those all sound like MG/YA themes. So it's likely one of those two is going to be the best fit. If she ages up to 17 during the course of the series, then YA would certainly work!"

Thanks for that list; though really it looks like romance has just ruined the concept of being an adult.

I think you'd do best pitching at the higher age group, YA, even though this particular book might be written for a younger audience.

With the same characters by the same author, you will hopefully get read through and you probably don't want the younger readers to reader the more adult material.

Anastasia wrote: "Age of the character doesn't determine audience so much as content. If this were a movie, it'd probably be rated PG-13, so I'd say it's a YA novel."

Thanks! I try to deal with difficult content in a sensitive way; bad things happen to normal people. It's how we respond that defines who we are.

Emma wrote: "With the same characters by the same author, you will hopefully get read through and you probably don't want the younger readers to reader the more adult material."

Good point. In Agent, Al learns about her dad. I have his story drafted up, and it's probably not for ten year olds...

Thank you. Based on the collective wisdom, can you make Agent, #70 in the "One for One" reviews, "YA Sci-Fi"?