The 6 Pillars Of Young Adult Fiction

Are you writing for young adults? In this post we include a definition of young adult fiction with examples, and present the 6 pillars of young adult (YA) fiction to help you write your stories.

This is part of a series exploring the pillars of literary genres. Previously, we have written about:

1. The 3 Pillars Of Horror
2. The 4 Pillars Of Fantasy
3. The 4 Pillars Of Romance
4. The 5 Pillars Of Family Sagas
5. The 5 Pillars Of Thrillers
6. The 4 Pillars Of Literary Fiction
7. The 4 Pillars Of Science Fiction
8. The 5 Pillars Of Police Procedurals
9. The 4 Pillars Of New Adult Fiction
10. The 4 Pillars Of A Memoir
11. The 5 Pillars Of Action-Adventure
12. The 4 Pillars Of Magic Realism
13. The 6 Pillars Of Westerns
14. The 4 Pillars Of Women’s Fiction
15. The 7 Pillars Of Historical Fiction
16. The 5 Pillars Of Speculative Fiction
17. The 6 Pillars Of Young Adult Fiction

In this post, we will explore the six pillars of young adult fiction.

What Is Young Adult (YA) Fiction?

Young Adult Fiction is defined as stories about teenagers but which crucially are told from a teenager’s point of view in a teenager’s voice. They are for readers aged 12–18, featuring a teen-aged protagonist. As a ‘rule of thumb, the protagonist is usually about two years older than the reader’ (via). Many adults also enjoy reading YA. These are generally coming-of-age stories, and often cross into the fantasy and science fiction genres.

Considering all the films based on the books, you’d probably be surprised to hear that The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, one of the most famous YA book series, is only at number 45 on the Times Magazine Top 100 Young Adult Books Of All Time list.

The Top 10 are:

1. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (Set 1860s. Published 1868) Never Banned but has been challenged.
2. Anne Of Green Gables by L M Montgomery (Set 1880s. Published 1908) Banned in Poland and East Germany after WWII for a time. Rumours of banning in China and Alberta, Canada more recently.
3. A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith (Set 1912 to 1918. Published 1943) Has been on banned lists and frequently challenged.
4. Anne Frank: The Diary Of A Young Girl by Anne Frank (Set June 1942 to August 1944. Published 1947) Banned, challenged, and abridged.
5. The Catcher In The Rye by J D Salinger (Set Late 1940s or early 1950s. Published 1951) Banned and challenged.
6. Lord Of The Flies by William Golding (Set Around 1950. Published 1954) Frequently challenged and removed from schools.
7. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Set 1933–1935. Published 1960) Banned and challenged.
8. From The Mixed-Up Files Of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler by E L Konigsburg (Set Mid-1960s. Published 1967) Challenged and removed from schools.
9. A Wizard Of EarthSea by Ursula K Le Guin (Set pre-industrial, medieval, early Iron Age. Published 1968) Challenged.
10. I’ll Get There. It Better Be Worth The Trip by John Donovan (Set 1969. Published 1969) Never banned.

Looking through this list, it will probably come as no surprise to learn that The Hunger Games has also been challenged, restricted, or removed from schools and even some libraries. So, what is it about YA books that adults are so afraid of?

Well, Anne of Anne Of Green Gables has an independent, free-thinking, romantically hesitant nature. The book, apparently, promotes feminist and women’s rights themes. In the craziness of current times these are challenging to certain groups. 

The 6 Pillars Of Young Adult (YA) Fiction

1. Themes – How Teenagers See Themselves And The World Around Them

Young adults between the ages of 12 and 19 want to read books that reflect their actual, lived experiences, books in which they see themselves. Most teenagers feel like outsiders, so to see themselves reflected in books gives them that longed for sense of belonging. If the protagonist overcomes the trials in the book, even better, as it gives the reader hope that they can overcome their own obstacles.

Obstacles such as: 

1. Self-realisation, self-actualisation, and throwing off the restrictions of society to achieve those goals. Finding one’s true self and place in the world.
2. Overcoming hardships faced in the family, the poor choices of adults, fear, rape, abuse, poverty, violence, alcoholism and drugs, racism, ostracization – these are all things many children face daily.
3. Making sense of, and surviving, the politics of the day, which is why many current YA novels are dystopian in nature.
4. Human rights, especially as they pertain to the teenage reader.
5. Navigating old relationships and new ones while also trying to navigate the chaos of hormones.
6. A longing to fit in, find love and acceptance while not really knowing who they are or what love and acceptance looks like for them.
7. Discovering that adults and their upbringing isn’t always right and trying to bring themselves up to become the person they want to be. This is more often a late teenage experience.

Young Adult is a broad catch-all term for books written for teenagers from a teenager’s point of view. But that could mean anything. As a result, there are a number of sub-genres, but certain things remain the same:

2. The Protagonist

What age should your protagonist be? The Goosebumps Horrorland series by R L Stine only just makes it into Young Adults as the characters top out age-wise at 12. The main character of the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer is 17. You probably won’t find a Twilight reader devouring a Goosebumps book. Decide on which reader age-group your story would most appeal to and write in the voice and tone of that age-group.

3. Plot Depth

How ‘deep’ can your plot be? The Fault In Our Stars by John Green is about 16-year-old Hazel who has thyroid cancer that has affected her lungs. Forced by her parents to attend a support group she meets and falls in love with 17-year-old Augustus Waters. It’s a tragic and heartbreaking novel. It could be too heavy for a twelve-year-old but not someone who is nineteen.
The Fault In Our Stars book quote: ‘But I believe in true love, you know? I don’t believe that everybody gets to keep their eyes or not get sick or whatever, but everybody should have true love, and it should last at least as long as your life does.’

There is hardly anything that is out of bounds for a Young Adult novel. You just need to write for your chosen age-group within the YA range. YA novels are banned or challenged more than other books precisely because nothing is out of bounds when it comes to plot.

Unfortunately, ‘life’ doesn’t limit the age-groups to which it happens, and teenagers want to know that someone has been there before and understands what they’re going through. Unlike in the romance genre, people and dogs can and do die.   

The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time by Mark Haddon, a story whose narrator is Christopher Boone, a 15-year-old boy with autism, is also heart-breaking. Someone once said, ‘the defining characteristics of a YA story could be called emotional truth and intensity.’ It’s vital that this emotion is seen in our characters, because that’s what drives the plot.
The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time book quote: ‘Sometimes we get sad about things and we don’t like to tell other people that we are sad about them. We like to keep it a secret. Or sometimes, we are sad but we really don’t know why we are sad, so we say we aren’t sad but we really are.’

4. Be Real

Because you are able to write in any genre you like while writing a YA novel, you can write in fantasy or speculative fiction, as well as romance or adventure, so ‘being real’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘reality’. You have permission to explore fantasy, science fiction, dystopia, or speculative fiction. However, no matter where or when your book is set the struggles, especially the emotional struggles, need to be relatable and real within your readers’ experience.

Take the Harry Potter series, for example. It may be set in Hogwarts, but Harry is growing up throughout the series. He is navigating the joys and trials of school, making friends, dealing with bullies, all while searching for his purpose in the world and discovering who he is along the way. What teenager doesn’t do that?
Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince book quote: ‘The thing about growing up with Fred and George is that you sort of start thinking anything’s possible if you’ve got enough nerve.’

5. Pace matters

It’s a rare teenager that will read and enjoy Proust. That’s why you need to avoid writing slow-moving plots, complex writing styles, and detailed descriptions of the mundane. YA readers want plots that move along briskly. They want to experience the haunted house at the same time as the main character. Stories must be immediately impactful. Most YA books have only one POV so writing in the active voice, first person singular, present tense will work well. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins does this and no one could claim the book moves at a glacial pace. It’s action all the way.
The Hunger Games book quote: ‘That pulls me up short. Did his mother really say that about me? Did she rate me over her son? I see the pain in Peeta’s eyes and know he isn’t lying.’

6. Voice Of The Protagonist

Remember, the most important thing is the writing about teenagers is not the same as writing as from a teenager’s point of view, as if you are a teenager. No matter how old you are, you were once a teenager. Get back into that headspace to write your book. Don’t write based on all your adult life experience and, hopefully, ability to pace your reactions and thinking through consequences. Clear, easy-to-read, fast-paced, truthful storytelling with a unique voice is always good, especially for YA books.

Tone is a very important part of voice when it comes to capturing your character’s age and inner world. The teenage years are the ‘changeling years’. Moving from childhood to early adulthood is a wild mix of maturity and immaturity, innocence and experience, thoughtful actions and unthinking reaction, boredom and excitement. Without imposing your adult experience, understanding, and insight, you need to write to reflect the changeling nature of teenagers. Teenagers have a language, slang, idioms, culture references that adults don’t share. Write in their rhythms and communication styles that are appropriate for the era in which your book is set.

A very unique voices in YA books is that of writer Meg Rosoff, whose most well-known book is How I Live Now. Notice the punctuation style in the quote below.
How I Live Now book quote: ‘Wake Up! And there was his face right near mine and a burning cigarette in one hand and some kind of striped Turkish slippers on his feet, and he said Come on we’re going fishing. and it felt much nicer than usual to be alive even if it meant a bunch of fish were going to have to die.’

The Last Word

The one over-riding element of most YA books is encouraging readers that they matter, their experience and voice matters, and that life, no matter how hard can be lived through, often with joy in unexpected places.

If you’d like to write for children, young adults, or adults, why not sign up for one of the rich and in-depth courses and workbooks that Writers Write offers to learn how to write the best book you possibly can.

Source for image: Pixabay

by Elaine Dodge. Author of The Harcourts of Canada series and The Device Hunter, Elaine trained as a graphic designer, then worked in design, advertising, and broadcast television. She now creates content, mostly in written form, including ghost writing business books, for clients across the globe, but would much rather be drafting her books and short stories.

More Posts From Elaine

1. Figurative Language – Definition & Examples
2. The 5 Pillars Of Speculative Fiction
3. The 4 Pillars Of Women’s Fiction
4. The 6 Pillars Of Westerns
5. How To Write A Bestselling Book
6. How To Be Authentic As A Writer
7. How To Use Contrast In Writing
8. What Is Memory? & How To Use Memory In Writing
9. How To Write Historically Correct Books Without Offending Modern Sensibilities
10. Books That Didn’t Age Well

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