My “next” project that I’ve been working on forever has been giving me fits. One of the dilemmas is what age to make the characters, and therefore, who the target audience will.
I’m an MG kind of a guy. I’ve spent a career teaching fifth and sixth graders. I know how they operate, what shenanigans they think they can get away with, and the cocky attitudes they employ to pull it off. And I’m smart enough to realize they probably got away with a few things I wasn’t aware of. They’re as capable as teenagers of scheming wild ideas, just not as aware of when the silly notion won’t work.
Earlier this week, Julie Daines said to listen to your gut, our writer’s intuition that is our friend should we choose to listen. I think my friend is telling me to take it MG. But the first time I did that, I overshot my audience. What to do, what to do?
Then a timely article arrived this month from Writer’s Digest. In “The Key Differences Between Middle Grade Vs. Young Adult,” agent Marie Lamba of The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency helps clarify the two. She sees a lot of queries of manuscripts with “an MG/YA identity crisis.” She rejects many of these simply because the writer did not know the basics of the age group they thought they were writing for.
In a nutshell, the differences boil down to a few areas:
Age of readers
Middle-grade does not mean middle school. MG is for readers ages 8-12 and 13-18 for YA. While there is no “tween” category, middle school libraries tend to have shelves for both. There are upper and lower MG as there is in YA.
Age of protagonists
Kids “read up” so your characters should be on the higher end of the age of the readers. Thus a 10-year old hero would be ideal for a lower MG, 12 or even 13 for upper MG, and 17 or 18 for YA. Your YA character can’t yet be in college.
Manuscript length
30,000-50,000 words is the norm for MG while YA starts at 50,000 and goes up to 75,000. These are not set in stone, but a good length to shoot for. Fantasy novels can exceed that due to the world-building necessary.
Voice
YA is usually written in first person while third person is common for MG.
Content
There is a difference in what is allowable in each. While there is no profanity, graphic violence, or sexuality in works for younger readers, they are acceptable for YA, the exception being erotica. In a recent Writer’s Digest webinar, Jennifer Laughran of Andrea Brown Literary Agency says a few “Hells” and “damns” are okay for MG, but the harsher curses should be avoided. MG heroes can have romance, but it should be limited to a crush or first kiss. Generally, MG novels end on a hopeful note while that isn’t necessary of YA works. Marie Lamba says there are gatekeepers between you and your middle-grade audience - parents, teachers, librarians - who may discourage the book. That ultimately could affect a publishers’s choice to print it. This isn’t as much an issue for YA, though gratuitous sex, numerous F-bombs, and extensive violence could mean the book may sit in fewer schools.
Mind-set
This is a biggie, the one I missed when I originally wrote the book. MG focuses on friends, family, and the character’s immediate world and their relationship to it; character react to what happens to them, with minimal self-reflection. YA characters discover how they fit in the world beyond their friends and family; they reflect more on what happens and analyze the meaning of things. Jennifer Laughran says that MG kids test boundaries and have adventures “finding their place within a system” whereas YA teens do the same, while “busting out of the system” and find themselves.
There are, of course, exceptions to every rule. Once you have the writing chops of J.K. Rowling, you, too, can write a 200,000 word tale. But even Harry didn’t kiss Ginny until they were teenagers.
So I’m listening, gut, my quiet friend. I do wish you would speak louder sometimes.
(This article also posted at http://writetimeluck.blogspot.com)
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You may have noticed that I had mentioned doing a Weekend Writer’s Retreat this past weekend. We had eight authors and Agent Stephen Fraser from the Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency mentored us for the weekend. Getting your full novel critiqued is such a wonderful thing and we each had a full hour to discuss our manuscript with him. We worked very hard as a group on our manuscripts, which was very valuable to everyone. On Sunday we spent the morning picking Stephen’s brain and then he got us working on our pitches for the story. Since we all had read each other’s manuscripts we could all throw in our two cents on what worked and what needed more work.
But the big exciting news from the weekend is Stephen signed up Doug Anders and his sci-fi manuscript. It is excellent and Stephen is good at spotting talent. When I asked Stephen about his clients, he said you could actually tell which conferences and workshops he had attended around the country, when you looked at his list of clients and their locations. I point this out to you, to drive home how important it is to get yourself out there to meet editors and agents.
You know, I actually spoke to Kathy when she happened to be reading Doug’s book prior to the retreat and told me he was very good and thought he could be successful. Kathy, you should be a “talent scout!” lol Congrats to Doug and Stephen
Thanks so much, Kathy. The examples you gave on pitch is very helpful!
I’m glad all of you had such an intense and successful retreat!
Mary,
Have you signed up for the conference in June? I guess I will see you there. I am going to start setting something up for the Fall in Avalon. Maybe you can make it this year.
Kathy
Donna,
See your memory is working fine.
Kathy
Romelle,
Thanks for popping me a note. Wishing you the perfect pitch.
Kathy
lol I DO have my moments
Then again, some things are more memorable than others 