Well beyond that I was simply wondering, what are the DEFINITIONS of Young adult and just regular adult. I used to think I didn't have the skill, but my novel plan just doesn't fit this "scheme" that is Young adult. I dunno just wanted your help to re-assess myself and mi writing. Sorry for awkward wording basically: What makes a novel adult rather then YA beyond length. Now could in theory a 8 year old child write an adult novel? Assuming of course they had a normal vocabulary.
You're asking about the Young Adult (YA) genre, yes? If so, the age range is generally ages 12 to 18.
I don't know what you mean by "writing." YA is going to involve an adolescent protagonist. The vocabulary he uses, the choices he makes, will generally be typical of an adolescent as opposed to an adult. -------- Just saw your edit... I don't think an 8-year-old could write a Young Adult novel that would be good enough to be published. But they could definitely write a novel, even at that age, if they had the motivation to do so. Also, a Young Adult novel does not mean that a Young Adult person wrote it as opposed to an Adult. "Young Adult novel" means that the novel has a character who is a teenager.
Keep in mind these are categories publishers have created to identify target markets and thereby evaluate sales potential. For that reason, the definition will vary somewhat among publishers. Generally speaking, YA is aimed at approximately a high school audience. In some YA markets, bad ratings by educators and parent groups can be a killer, so you may have to take the likes and dislikes of those groups into account as well.
YA main characters will be mostly 'teens' while adult market main characters will generally be 'adults'... there is usually also some difference in writing style... and the storylines/plots will involve subjects/issues important to their respective market ages... plus, there are two types of YA... those for the 'tweens' and younger half of the wider YA market and those for the upper half... so the age range can be anywhere from 11-12 up to 21 or so... the best way to learn what's what is to check out the age markets on amazon and browse the bestselling books in each...
I agree with Mammamaia. If you want to get a sense of what YA is, the best way to do it is to read some books in this category.
No, I think there are some other important differences in terms of style, length and pacing as well. The YA fiction that I've read is, in general, shorter than a lot of the adult stuff that I read, faster-paced, and less verbose/wordy in terms of style. The Hunger Games trilogy is a good example of a YA series for older teens...I don't read many books for young teens, so I'm not sure what to recommend as an example for the 12-14 age group.
One idea might be the Maximum Ride series, I quite like, I read when I was 11. All 6 books, loved it. Want to read the 7th one.
patterson's 'max ride' books are an exception and cross [or wipe out] the age line... i've read and enjoyed them all, and i'm over 70!...
