Tuesday, August 5, 2008

YA vs. MG

I've posted this question to my writer's group, but it's really bugging me, so I thought I'd bring it over here, too.

Several people who have read my query think that it sounds MG, not YA. Of the four people who read some sample chapters, one person thought it sounded MG, one person thought it sounded perfectly high school, and two people (my mom and my husband) told me to quit obsessing (my husband added he wanted a pie, so I kicked him).

I'm not really up on my MG reading. When I think MG, I think Lemony Snicket, Cornelia Funke, and The Spiderwick Chronicles...all of which are series that I never finished. MG tends to be a little too light for me, a little too much on the happy ending side (despite my Lemony Snicket connotations)...it's a little more fluff. Not that this is bad--sometimes I really just want a light, easy read, but on my book shelf, I tend to stack my MG novels with my other lighter fare, like my cheesy romances. (Please don't think I'm slamming your book, PJ! Actually, when I read your description of The Emerald Tablet, I thought it sounded more YA than MG...I'm really getting confused about the distinction!)

Most of my book shelf is YA, but, admittedly, the YA I tend to read include the classics (CS Lewis, TH White) or not-as-hardcore-as-some-fantasy books (like JK Rowling, Diana Wynne Jones, Robin McKinley).

The Amnesia Door is between 60 and 65k words and deals with some dark issues: ethics, morality, temptation, death, animal mutilation (it's really essential to the story, please don't think I'm psycho!), intended and implied human mutilation. It's not something I think of a 12 year old reading. Then again, the Lemony Snicket books were pretty dark too, and judging from the movie, Spiderwick got more serious as the series continued. On the other hand, there is no romance at all, there's some pretty typically MG school scenes (wish I fit in! wish I were popular!), and my characters tend to be a bit more believing and less sarcastical doubtful of everything.

So, my basic question is this: what do YOU think is the difference between MG or YA? What makes one over the other? Which do you think my novel should be classified as (know that you've not read it, just looking for a survey answer)? If you think my novel sounds more MG than YA, what do you think I should do about my query?

6 comments:

christine M said...

I think the lines are fuzzy between MG and YA and YA and adult. I think a rule of thumb would be that MG is the equivalent to PG and with YA you can get into PG-13- and sometimes R. Don't know if this holds true for everything.

I also think that it's more a matter of your query sounding PG when the story is PG-13 if you get my drift. Maybe give a hint of some of the other stuff in the query. I'm not sure you can fit "animal mutilations" into it - or if you'd want to - but if you did it would certainly indicate a different feel than what your query generates right now.

Further - and I'm certainly no expert - so people can correct me if I'm wrong. I think that the MG and YA difference really exists at a marketing level - and if you peg it wrong in your query that your agent or editor will know the right place to market it. That's not to say that you shouldn't know the market for your own book - but as authors, not marketing experts, you can't expect to know all the nuances. Obviously someone who rights a true-crime romance shouldn't go and say 'hey I've got a sci fi story here' - you've got to be somewhere in the ballpark.

I've gone on long enough. Hope this helps a little.

Unknown said...

That's really helpful! I haven't been this stumped in a writing business thing for a long time...and the internet has, so far, failed me!

My biggest worry at this point is an agent/editor looking at my query and saying "Hmm, well, this person obviously doesn't even know her audience" and throwing the query back down in disgust. If an agent/editor told me to change it from YA to MG, I'd have no problem at all, it's just getting to that point where I'm having trouble.

I may have to change my query...if I just label it MG, then I'd look just as foolish with a high school character. I don't want to change the characters yet, so I want to keep it high school and YA, but...


argh.

Tabitha said...

Personally, I thought your query sounded more MG than YA too...

You may kick me for saying this...but I think the main difference between YA and MG is Voice. I know, I know, that horrible nebulous thing that no one can seem to consistently define.

But, really, I think there are plenty of MG books out there that deal with serious, even dark, issues. The Watsons Go To Birmingham deals with Racism. Silent to the Bone deals with abuse. So do What Jamie Saw and Good Night, Mr. Tom. Harry Potter's early books are definitely MG, yet they deal with some very dark issues (death, child abuse/negligence, serious dark wizard wants to kill you, etc). It's all in the execution, and how the Voice presents the story. So, if your story is really MG, don't be afraid to keep your important issues in the story.

That said, it could be what Christine says, in that you've got a PG query for a PG-13 story.

PJ Hoover said...

So based on categorizations, many third graders are reading YA!

I once heard (and then someone else negated) that MG is just a subset of YA. Then there's also the Tweener category to think about.

As for your query, I think when most people read a query with "magic" in it, they think The Sorcerer's Stone which was categorized as MG. That's not to say there can't be magic in YA.

I subbed The Emerald Tablet as YA (and, no, I'm not the least bit offended :)), and my editor read it and told me it was MG because it doesn't touch on really hard issues (or something like that). But I agree with Tabitha about the voice thing also. Can a third grader relate to the voice? Are there tough issues?

As for how you submit, I feel it's perfectly fine to categorize it as YA. An agent or editor won't care what you said once they read it.

Sheri Perl-Oshins said...

I agree with PJ and would like to add, there's early MG and late MG. Actually Harry Potter 1 and I believe 2 were considered MG. Rowling was smart because she grew as her readers grew so her later novels were listed as YA. In my opinion this is what kept her readers interested and vested in her series. Harry was growing into a YA as her readers were bridging into that age bracket as well.

There is a new genre between MG/YA age. A lot of publishers are recognizing this group of readers now. You just have to ask them about it at the next conference you attend.

I consider the Series of Unfortunate Events as a late chapter book/early MG.

My novel I consider late MG and it is about a 12 year old. Basically because it doesn't have hard issues like sex and drugs in it. Personally, when I think of MG, I think of ages 10 - 13. Also, remember, readers read up, not down. In other words, if your MC is 14, you are going to attract 12 - 14 year olds as readers. You most likely will not attract a 16 year old who wants to read about a 14 year old.

Unknown said...

Hmmm....these are all really excellent points that I am going to have to consider. I think I'm going to need to do some more research in the MG category and see what's out there...