Young Adult sub-genres… with editor Bryony Pearce
One of the lovely things about writing Middle Grade or Young Adult is that you can experiment with genre. Think of a bookshop; the adult books are shelved according to their sub-genre (thriller, romance, sci-fi etc), but in the children’s section books are shelved according to age appropriateness: 5-8, 9-12 and teen / YA.
This means that when you write for adults, you tend to have to stay within the lane of your sub-genre (so your books can all be shelved together), but when you write for children, you have freedom to roam.
I write both YA and adult books. My adult books are domestic noir thrillers and my publisher won’t want me to dilute my brand by writing anything else – they would not accept, for example, a romance or a horror from me.
But as a YA writer, as long as what I am writing falls within the right age category (13+) I can write what I like. While wearing my YA author hat, I’ve written paranormal romance, dystopia, science-fiction, horror and urban fantasy. I love the flexibility to write what most interests me and I love the variety. If I’d been writing only paranormal romance for ten years I’d be bored by now!
There are dozens, if not hundreds of sub-genres, but the main YA genres, in my view, are as follows:
Fantasy (e.g. Sarah J Maas, A Court of Thorns and Roses)
includes heroic fantasy, urban fantasy, alternate history, high fantasy and magical realism
NARRATIVE DRIVEN BY – Adventure / going forth, need for stability / return to golden age
WHAT IS CENTRAL? – Magic
Horror (e.g. Stripes’ Red Eye series)
NARRATIVE DRIVEN BY – Need for safety / Fear
WHAT IS CENTRAL? – Monster and the need to defeat / escape it
Mystery (e.g. Holly Jackson, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder)
NARRATIVE DRIVEN BY – The need to solve the puzzle / curiosity
WHAT IS CENTRAL? – The crime and the detection
Romance (e.g. Casey McQuiston, Red White and Royal Blue, Stephanie Meyer, Twilight)
includes contemporary and paranormal
NARRATIVE DRIVEN BY – Desire for love
WHAT IS CENTRAL? – Development of central relationship
Science-fiction (e.g. Rachel Caine, Honor Among Thieves)
NARRATIVE DRIVEN BY – Speculation – what would happen if? / Drive for change
WHAT IS CENTRAL? – Technology, science, possibilities
Comedy (e.g. Will Sutcliffe, The Gifted the Talented and Me)
NARRATIVE DRIVEN BY – Fun
WHAT IS CENTRAL? – A hero with a knotty problem to undo
Dystopia (e.g. The Hunger Games)
NARRATIVE DRIVEN BY – Need to change the world / Rage
WHAT IS CENTRAL? – Highlighting the author’s core message / issue
Thriller (e.g. Orphan, Monster, Spy, Matt Killeen)
NARRATIVE DRIVEN BY – Adventure / Suspense
WHAT IS CENTRAL? – The drive towards saving something larger
Contemporary Realism (e.g. Anthony McGowan, Lark)
NARRATIVE DRIVEN BY – Striving for change
WHAT IS CENTRAL? – The pitfalls of ordinary life
This isn’t necessarily an exhaustive list but hopefully it’ll give you a sense of which sub-genre you’re writing in, or might want to write in! Cornerstones do recommend being as specific as you can be when pitching your work to agents, so rather than just offering up another YA – if they accept YA, they’ll already have a lot of these submissions – think about pitching more along the lines of “Title is an urban fantasy for YA readers”. Good luck!
Bryony Pearce is an award-winning author who writes horror, dystopia and paranormal novels for young adults (published by Egmont, Stripes and UCLAN), thrillers for adults (published by Avon/Harper Collins) and science fiction short stories also for adults (published in various anthologies). She is available for reports and mentoring – please contact the Cornerstones office for details.
