Would an agent/publisher forgive this regarding word count?

My YA protagonist gets married at the age of 18, supports himself for the most part throughout the book, and is pretty independent with no real parent/guardian. (And apparently YA novels don’t take place over a long span of time like this one?) People have pointed out to me that that’s kind of unconventional for a YA novel, and I’m kind of agreeing with them. So I’m starting to think that it may be better to market it as adult fiction rather than YA. Once again, that’s just my view. I really need to get other’s opinions after they read it.

 

Don't forget the genre, as well! Beta readers are very helpful there, too, when you aren't sure where your book sits.

 

"try to submit a novel with a teenage protag as adult fiction and see what feedback you get" isn't a fact, though. And people have successfully pitched and sold adult novels with teen protagonists before, so the point you're trying to make doesn't even come across.

All* YA novels have teenage protagonists, but not all novels with teenage protagonists are YA. There are other factors at work. End of story.

*Not even, but close enough.

 

That wasn't the fact I was referring to, which I thought was pretty obvious by it being in a separate paragraph and all.

You've also missed the separate point I made. I agree there are exceptions to the rule - there always are. But I think they're exceptions and Steerpike and you don't think they are. There's not really any way to prove it without doing as I suggested, so now we've all put our views forward, others reading the thread can make their own mind up. There's no need to be hostile.

 

I never said I don't think they're exceptions. Why does that matter, though, when the question is whether or not it's possible GlitterRain's book is adult? Maybe she's one of the exceptions. The answer to the question is still "yes, it's possible."

 

Okay, fair enough. I amend my earlier post:

 

I'll just add that it's common for first novels to be longer than the story merits just because the writer hasn't yet learned to write tightly (and doesn't realize it).

Beta readers most often won't do a thorough line edit to cut out the possible word fat because the novel is supposed to be more finished at that stage (and because it's just so00 time consuming). So, if you haven't already, you might put a few chapters through the workshop, one at a time, and see what comes back. You might get some surprising tips for tightening up the book throughout and end up with a far lower word count.

Also, you do likely have an audience issue. Yes, there are exceptions (aren't there always?), but a younger teen (and kids tend to read "up" a couple of years) and an eighteen-year-old with a grown-up life have very different concerns. So the audience for the first half of the book will be in a totally different stage of life than the audience for the second half. That quite possibly leaves your book with no real identifiable audience. Another way to cut the word count would be to pick one, the kid part of the story or the grown-up part of the story, and cut the other part out. Or do both, in separate books. You could also change it around so the younger version of the character becomes his/her younger sibling.

 

This. You'd be surprised how many words you can lose by tightening up the writing, especially dialogue. I've often chopped paragraphs of dialogue or scene transitions out because they're totally unnecessary.

 

Does that render the book pointless?

 

I--admittedly a complete amateur--wouldn't say pointless, but it seems to me that it could make it hard to market.

 

This may not be the case. The “stage of life” pretty much stays the same for the entire book, in my opinion. Really, the only difference between the beginning and the end of the book is that the MC is married and going to college at the end. It’s not a big change or anything for him, except for the marriage part. (The marriage happens in the last quarter of the book)

 

Didn't you say you were still in high school? I think if you became largely self-supporting, in college and married as you said your character becomes, you would definitely find that a different stage of life.

 

So, you can change it to better fit what's generally considered more marketable (lower word count, and YA or adult category but not both) or you can leave it the way it is and take your chances. Good luck!

ETA: You might want to check out some YA fiction to see the general scope of the published novels.