Thursday 16 December 2010

Busy, busy, busy

Busy, busy, busy. And now the manuscript of my novel is almost completed. Time soon to celebrate finishing it. But I think I might have a problem. It's a novel for adults with a teenage protagonist. Googling just brings up YA for novels with teenage protagonists. Is it that adults tend to want adult main characters, and only teenagers want teenagers? Can't a novel with (dare I use the phrase?) 'coming-of-age' themes be of interest to adults and not be aimed at the Young Adult market?

I suppose it's a bit late for me to be wondering about this now. Why didn't I think about 'The Market' before I started writing it? Well, I did. I felt I was writing for adults but through the eyes of a teenager. Was I naive?

4 comments:

Jo said...

I have a teenage character in my novel... one of several main characters. My teenage character does have a significant role, and there are a lot of scenes from the teenage character's viewpoint where she's interacting with friends, concerns about school etc. I'm hoping I have a balance with the older characters and my teenage character serves a purpose. Adults do read teenage fiction and books like Mark Haddon's 'Curious Dog In the Nighttime' appeals across the whole age range. I think we just have to write what feels right for us. Writing with an eye on the market would make life a little tedious, I guess. Good luck, Jean. Great to have finished it. Wish I could finish mine!!

Jean said...

Jo - Yes, I'm sure you're right in that 'we just have to write what feels right for us'. There's no other way to get through the hard work of writing a novel. Good luck with yours, too. I like the idea of having several main characters to give different perspectives.

Karen said...

I often read books with teenage protagonists even though they're generally marketed as YA. I think The Lovely Bones was the one exception. If I like the sound of a story I'll read it regardless of who it's aimed at :o)

Congratulations on almost finishing it!

Jean said...

Karen - I like reading books with a teenage protagonist. Kate Atkinson, Mark Haddon, Jeanette Winterson and, yes, Alice Sebold, have each written a book not aimed at the YA market but with a teenage protagonist. I suppose these are exceptions, but anyway if I hadn't been writing what I wanted to write, my motivation to finish would have deserted me before the end of chapter one.