Young Adult Fiction: Has the Genre Outgrown its Audience?

What is the Definition of “Young Adult” as it Relates to Literature?

Let’s start with the basics. If you look in an actual dictionary, there is a very specific definition of “young adult” as it relates to works of fiction. Look at Merriam-Webster - “young adult: of, relating to, or being a category of fiction that is primarily intended for adolescent readers.” Maybe not the greatest definition for purposes of defining a young adult. So, now the definition we are looking for is “adolescence.” What is an “adolescent” if the “young adult” literature is intended for a reader who is in a state of adolescence? Again, according to Merriam-Webster, adolescence is “the period from puberty to maturity terminating legally at the age of majority.” The age of majority in the U.S. is 18 years of age. 

In relation to literature, young adult fiction is intended for readers under 18 but who have already hit puberty. Although puberty can happen anywhere between the ages of 9 to 14,  let’s go with 12, for this article’s sake. Young adults would range anywhere from 12-18 years old. If we are looking at the category of “young adult fiction,” we are then looking at books intended for an audience between the ages of 12-18 years. 

How Has the Definition Changed in Society?

Children are growing up fast - far faster than say the kids from the 60s or 70s. Looking back even 50 or 60 decades ago, there was a cultural standard of keeping kids innocent. But that isn’t so much the case anymore. Between the internet and the lack of parenting happening more and more often, kids are “growing up,” theoretically, much faster than they should. But I digress, I’m not here for the purpose of breaking down societal norms.

The point is, that young adults are expected to be turning into adults, rather than treating the stage as a transition period between childhood and adulthood. They are expected to “grow up” and “act like an adult,” when in reality, this stage is the teenage years of life. 

Someone in their teens (under 18) is likely to be living with parents. One of the benefits to living with your parents is that big responsibilities, decisions, and the heaviness of life (as well as the consequences for all that) falls to the parental figure. Whereas, late teens and early 20s are when our naive little selves now go out into the world and with that comes a whole new load of information.

In society today, the definition of a young adult has become more nuanced to cultural relativity more so than an exact definition. Young adults are seen more as adults than teenagers. Young adults are teenagers under the age of 18, but societally speaking, are thought to be later teens and early 20s. 

Take all of this information with a grain of salt, as I am not a Doctor of Definitions. 

But this transition in the “definition” of a young adult has affected our literary guidelines.

What Does that Mean in Terms of Young Adult Fiction?

Recently, I have received a lot of questions about whether or not sex scenes are considered to be appropriate for “young adult fiction.” Thus, this article was born. While I can admit that there is no definitive answer, it seems that there should be. People want to know what they are getting into when they pick up a book.

If Young Adult Fiction is written for an audience between the ages of 12-18, then Adult Fiction would be written for those over the age of 18. Shocking conclusion I came to there, I know. 

Now, let’s look at the general features of Young Adult Fiction versus Adult Fiction. 

Young Adult Fiction is generally written for an audience between 12-18 years of age with the focus being on “coming of age” topics. While this genre generally handles sensitive topics like sex, drugs, violence, or abuse, those topics are often written with less graphic detail or occur “off-page” (meaning there is a reference to the content or only the very beginning is written out but the scene stops before any details are mentioned). Conversely, Adult Fiction is more often written for an audience over the age of 18 and handles more mature themes from the perspective of an actual adult. Adult Fiction tends to have more explicit and graphic content, with much of it occurring “on-page” (meaning it is written out in full detail on the pages of the book). 

Even though this is the general idea for Young Adult and Adult fiction, many would argue the lines have been far too blurred. I have even read some Young Adult Fiction where the content shocked me. As is defined above, I would expect the Young Adult Fiction I read not to have detailed sex scenes or graphic violence (really, I’d expect no explicit detail of any sensitive topics at all). That’s what I read Adult Fiction for. 

Having been an avid reader since childhood, I have watched the “appropriate content” for Young Adult Fiction change over the years. Young Adult Fiction now contains sex scenes, explicit on-page content, and detailed sensitive topics that are really far more acceptable for Adult Fiction.

TheConclusion

So, to answer my question about whether or not the Young Adult Fiction genre has outgrown its audience. The answer is… Yes! Young Adult Fiction has absolutely outgrown its audience. The lines have been completely blurred as to what is deemed “appropriate” content for young adult readers. This has happened as a result of the definition of “young adult” changing within culture and society as a whole.

My solution? In a perfect world where I get to decide what is best for every single reader and person in all of America? Just kidding, there already is a solution - authors and publishers just aren’t using it to the fullest extent for which it was intended.. 

New Adult Fiction! People… There is literally a genre already available to handle this issue of Young Adult Fiction being too mature for the young adults in the world. New Adult Fiction is a literary genre intended for readers aged 18-25 years old. And THIS genre is what bridges the gap between Young Adult Fiction and Adult Fiction. In this genre, authors have the freedom to write more explicitly about sex, drugs, violence, etc. and be far more graphic than they should be in Young Adult Fiction. 

If that doesn’t do it for you, there is another genre. Well, it’s actually a sub-genre of Young Adult Fiction. It’s called Upper Young Adult Fiction. If Adult Fiction is too much for young adults (which I argue that it is), Young Adult Fiction shouldn’t contain explicit material (which I argue that it shouldn’t), and New Adult Fiction doesn’t solve the problem (which I argue that it does), then that’s where Upper Young Adult Fiction comes in. It could be its whole own genre, rather than a sub-genre. In this genre, authors have the ability to explore these more explicit themes without being overtly graphic on page. 

Now, in my perfect world where I dictate all the rules about literary genres… We have the genre of Young Adult Fiction which should have no explicit details around mature themes on page. We have the sub-genre Upper Young Adult Fiction, which should be its own genre and explore the more mature themes on page but still without overtly explicit or graphic details. We have the genre of New Adult Fiction, which explores mature themes with graphic detail but focuses on the challenges of new adults (college age to 25 years old). Lastly, we have the Adult Fiction genre, which has the full free reign to have any adult content with as much graphic detail and explicit language as anyone could want.

So, if we want to give young adult readers more explicit content, there needs to be definitive guidelines for each genre that let those readers know what content and what level of explicitness will be in a book. Readers really should know what they are getting into when they pick up a book. That’s why we have genres in the first place. No one should have to spend an exuberant amount of time digging and researching every single detail about every single book they want to pick up. It shouldn’t be so complicated. 

Also, what about SPOILERS?! What if the entire book is ruined for the reader because they dug so deep into researching the content for appropriateness that now the whole read is ruined?! ;)