Ever find yourself wondering into the Young-adult section in your local bookstore?
Young-adult is just another one of those popular shelves in Barnes and Nobles or any other local bookstore. The young adult age range is from twelve to eighteen, from preteen to teenager. Though, you should never feel ashamed if you are past your teen years.
Young-adult books are constantly being read and reread, and it seems as though young-adult just continues to bloom and blossom in popularity and numbers. Books such as The Giver, Harry Potter, and Will Grayson, Will Grayson are a few examples of popular young-adult books.
Young-adult books flourish in ranks. No doubt.
The genre is usually tied with a sub-genre. YA fantasy, YA science-fiction, YA (insert sub-genre here). Either way, it is a genre.
The young adult genre will most likely appeal to teens, but it’s fine to be too old to be considered a “young adult” and still read the genre. But YA books are mostly made for teenagers. The book(s) will usually have a teen protagonist. Almost always. And it will usually have problems that teens can relate with (except for being slaughtered in the Hunger Games.)
Boyfriends/girlfriends, drugs, drama, parties, and school. Isn’t that what teenagers usually do? (Not implying that teens do drugs.) Anyway, there needs to be something in young-adult books that connect the reader with the main protagonist. Something that they can say, “Hey, I can relate to that.”
It’s all about the connection between the reader and the narrator, the main character. It is all about being able to understand the feelings and emotions and problems that the protagonist goes through.
The thing about writing young-adult books, is being able to make the protagonists seem like teenagers. Teenagers usually don’t sound completely wise and perfect. They shouldn’t, in fact. When writing a young-adult book, keep in mind that you should be able to execute a believable narrator.
Young-adult a genre among dozens of other genres. And there is always a new book in the young-adult section of your local bookstore to discover.
Advicewonders 