How to Switch from Writing YA to Adult Fiction
Can you write for different audiences? Yes, you can.
Hello, lovelies!
One question I get a lot from aspiring writers (and published authors): Is it possible to switch from writing YA to writing for adults? And if so, how?
The answer is yes, I did it, and I’ll give you some tips on how you can, too.
1. Pep talk: You are a writer. You can write anything!
This was actually a big hurdle I had to get over. I started my career with five Young Adult novels, and I wasn’t sure if I knew how to write for a different audience.
But just like you learned how to write YA (or middle grade or fill-in-the-blank for the audience you first began writing for), you can learn how to write for the adult market.
2. Perspective is Key
In YA novels, most experiences are first-time experiences. First kiss, first love, first time away from home, etc.
In The Crown’s Game, Vika has lived a sheltered life with her Papa on a remote island. When she meets Nikolai, it’s the first time she’s ever encountered someone with the kind of magic and power she has. It’s also the first time she’s fallen for someone, and it’s a boy she probably shouldn’t love because he is quite literally trying to kill her.
In adult fiction, the characters have already experienced many things before. So when you write from their perspective, there is often something else to compare it to.
In Damsel, Prince Henry is not the first man Elodie has ever been attracted to; she’s already had other sexual encounters. She is also no stranger to being in charge of vast lands and taking responsibility for the welfare of others. Becoming princess of the Kingdom of Aurea is a different challenge, but not an entirely unfamiliar one.
Therefore, even if you have a character who is 19 or 20 years old, your story will have a different focus depending on the audience (YA or adult). To shift from YA to adult fiction, change your characters’ background experiences accordingly.
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3. Ambiguity
In my experience, my YA editors have liked my young adult books to end with tying things up in neat bows. (Unless it’s a series, but that’s a discussion for a different day.)
It doesn’t have to be a happily ever after, but open questions need to be resolved.
Why? Even though a lot of YA readers are adults, a lot of YA readers are also kids. I know that my daughter and her friends were reading my Circle of Shadows books when they were 10-years-old, and they craved resolution to the problems the characters faced in the story.
With adult fiction, you can leave not only your endings more unresolved, but you can also play with moral ambiguity.
My editors in adult fiction encourage my final chapter to leave something for the reader to wonder about. I like to leave a strong emotion, but the story conclusion itself is often left a bit ambiguous.
Damsel is technically being published as fantasy for the adult market, although I know I’ll have a lot of young adult readers, since that was where I came from, and also because the Netflix movie stars Millie Bobby Brown.
However, because Damsel is an adult/crossover novel, I got to explore some open-ended philosophical questions. None of the characters are entirely good or evil, even the ones who sacrifice women year-after-year to a dragon. And the biggest overarching question is, What would you do if you were in charge of an entire kingdom? Would you kill three women a year if it would assure peace for millions more? Or would you spare the lives of those three but almost assuredly cause the destruction and death of your citizens?
Am I saying that YA novels aren’t complex? No, I am definitely not saying that. It’s just that I write complexity differently for different audiences, depending on what they’re generally yearning for. And as always, there are lots of exceptions! But these are just overarching guidelines for what I’ve done when making the switch between YA and adult fiction.
4. Do Reading Research
When I told my agent, Thao Le, that I wanted to try my hand at writing for the adult market (this was before I actually wrote Damsel and The Hundred Loves of Juliet), she suggested that I take a month of so off away from my desk and just read a ton in the market I thought I wanted my future books to be in.
Now, whenever anyone asks me how to write for a new audience or in a new genre, I always pass on this advice.
Go to the bookstore and spend some time browsing the shelves where you think your next story would sit.
Is it book club fiction? Check out the table display with all the Reese’s Book Club, Read with Jenna, Good Morning America and other book club books.
Is it high fantasy for adults? Wander on over there and pick up a few novels.
Not sure exactly where your books would be shelved? Ask a friendly bookseller for advice—describe the kind of book you’re writing and tell them you’re looking for similar types of reads. I promise they can help—book people are the best people!
I hope this has been helpful!