Is Your Novel MG or YA?

One of the first critical decisions a novel writer must make is will it be a middle grade or a young adult? Knowing the differences will save you an enormous amount of time and inconsolable frustration. (Been there, done that.)

I wrote a 70,000-word YA and made several major revisions from whole novel critiques. The last revision suggestion was “it’s more of a middle grade than a young adult.”

Ok, I thought. I’ve heard that before, I can make the changes, it shouldn’t be so bad. Shortly after I started, I realized I’ll have to check and revise almost every sentence, delete scenes, change scenes and add scenes. It was a nightmare and I realized I would be rewriting the entire novel. (I have shelved that project until I can decide what to do with it.)

I’ve broken down the differences by category.

1. MG basics: Age of readers, 8 to 12; word count 30,000 to 50,000; age of protagonist usually 10 to 13.

YA basics: Age of readers, 13 to 18; word count 50,000 to 75,000; age of protagonist 14 and up.

2. Romantic relationships: MG: holding hands, having a crush, innocent kiss or first kiss and starting to like someone as more than a friend.

YA: character can be sexually active and relationships can involve deep feelings of love.

3. Language: MG: swearing should be avoided (even though that’s not real life). Your book could be banned because of profanity, parents won’t buy it and libraries won’t order it.

YA: swearing is more acceptable, but don’t do it gratuitously, in other words, is the swearing appropriate to the situation, the emotion that is being displayed, etc.

4. Violence: MG: brutal viciousness (stabbing, machine gun slaughters, etc.) are not acceptable in this category. Remember the reader is as young as 8 and in third grade. Your book will be banned or rejected by editors or agents.

YA: violence is acceptable, but it should serve a purpose not thrown in because you’re trying to make the book edgy or feel this will make it YA. YA books can also be banned for sexual content, language and violence.

5. Their world: MG: their focus is on home, family and friends and their place within that structure. They may engage in pretend play. They are dependent upon parents for transportation, money, food, clothing and shelter. Even if they have a part time job, they are not able to meet all their needs. They do not think long term, for example, what college do they want to attend, etc.

YA: they have more freedom, more experiences and more opportunities which means more decision making. They drive, they may drink, do drugs, etc. They may make poor choices because they are inexperienced in the real world of adulting. They start thinking about the future: going to college, what they want to do with their life, etc.

6. Interpreting experiences: MG: they will be having new experiences and new feelings that will be foreign to them. They may have trouble processing them and understanding them.

YA: when they have new experiences, they may be able to draw on a past experience to help them interpret the situation.

7. Language and voice: MG: simple sentence structure (not easy reader structure), but the sentences are not punctuated with a lot of asides and however and extraneous thoughts and are usually written in third person.

YA: sentence structure is more complicated, there can be multiple clauses and the sentence could be a whole paragraph. The voice is usually first person.

8. Ending: MG: these usually have a happy ending or end with hope.

YA: the ending can be happy or sad. Such is life.

If you’re writing MG, read MG and pay attention to the sentence structure, vocabulary, word choice and if using analogies, make sure they are relatable experiences to the MG reader.

The same applies if you are writing for YA. Read them. Study them. Pay attention to content, message, amount of sex, violence and language.

For my sources, here are some of my favorite craft books including SECOND SIGHT by Cheryl B. Klein, WRITING IRRESISTIBLE KIDLIT by Mary Kole and DIALOGUE by Gloria Kempton.