Showing posts with label YA vs. adult. Show all posts
Showing posts with label YA vs. adult. Show all posts

Monday, May 17, 2010

YA vs Adult fantasy vs crossover

I've had a little problem figuring out what market I'm writing for. Here's what I THOUGHT was the problem. My MC is immortal, her body is perfect and youthful (making her look about 17), she's terribly innocent. She finds out that her chronological age, from before she became immortal, is 28. And her love interest is 27. I've had some questions about a girl who is presented as a 17 year old falling for an FBI agent, who is obviously older than 17, and told to be careful because that could be really icky. But she's mentally mature, I swear, and it's not icky. Really. Lolita is not my scene.

So, right after the agent asked me for pages (Still can't believe it!!!), I started to walk out, then remembered my question. Is this YA or adult:?

I'd been thinking I would query agents who rep either adult fantasy or YA fantasy. And I have found an agent who specifically wants crossovers between YA and adult, so I was excited about querying her.

But Mr. Agent said, "No, you're adult. The language is adult."

Oh. You mean the complexity of the writing is the major factor?

I had thought since there's no profanity and no sex that I could make a case for YA, so I could query YA agents, too. But I was thinking about it wrong. And this is not exactly a coming-of-age story. There is some self discovery, but that's not the main conflict. So maybe someone else will benefit from this tidbit, too.

Am I the only one that didn't get this?

Happy Writing! 
Glutton for Punishment?