YA/NA FANATICS discussion

Ever read a series and suddenly feel like the characters have outgrown their YA behavior and dialog?

Would you have liked it better if the author had switched to NA, or was their decision to keep it YA wise?

Do you have an example? I haven't read many series.

Time passes, characters age, and relationships grow.

Perhaps things they'd say and do in the first book don't match what they should be saying or doing in the third book after they've matured and experienced different things...

I understand what you mean, but I haven't read a series like that. That's why I was asking for an example, 'cause it would be interesting to read a series like that.

I'm actually doing this with my series. My first book After Tuesday is completely a YA book, but the following book will be an NA book. The characters grow and the relationships change. I don't know any others that have done this though...

I'm in the middle of writing the forth book in my series and this has become an issue.

Colee wrote: "I'm in the middle of writing the forth book in my series and this has become an issue."

I say make the jump...you know your characters. That is why I made the jump. Some parts of the stories come to a natural end and therefore new beginnings are meant to be.

Um, I think the Harry Potter books kind of did this. At first there were like a "middle grade" level, then they grew into YA. Not exactly the same, but similar. Obviously that worked out well.

Don't moan and groan, but what about Twilight? She went from being a kid in high school to a woman who was married and had a kid.

Eh...she was still a kid. Just a married kid with a kid. She didn't get older really. I don't feel like that book aged in that way. Maybe though. The book did get better.

there are many examples of books transsitioning between childrens and young adult (eg harry potter and percy jackson) so i don't see why they shouldn't then move from YA to NA as it is not as large a jump

Casey wrote: "Eh...she was still a kid. Just a married kid with a kid. She didn't get older really. I don't feel like that book aged in that way. Maybe though. The book did get better."

I think I saw it that way because of the sex scenes and then becoming a mother. I don't know, maybe I don't know the difference really.

Casey wrote: "Eh...she was still a kid. Just a married kid with a kid. She didn't get older really. I don't feel like that book aged in that way. Maybe though. The book did get better."

lol, so true!!! teenage pregnancy at it's worst!!

But it shouldn't be a problem, because people grow up and I'd actually like to see some character development. so I don't see why going from YA to NA should be a problem. At least I'll read it, if everything else is good!!

Raquel wrote: "The only problem I see with that is losing the younger audience you gained while it was YA. Switching over to NA can sometimes mean including warnings of mature content and 17+ ratings that YA does..."

Exactly what I was thinking with this. Depending on where an author wants the series to go, it's tough not to write yourself into a corner.

Raquel wrote: "The only problem I see with that is losing the younger audience you gained while it was YA. Switching over to NA can sometimes mean including warnings of mature content and 17+ ratings that YA does..."

That's true, particularly if you want to go into sex and the like. But really a lot of teen books do now anyway...so it's not like they aren't seeing it.

Casey wrote: "Raquel wrote: "The only problem I see with that is losing the younger audience you gained while it was YA. Switching over to NA can sometimes mean including warnings of mature content and 17+ ratin..."

there is also the fact that i know that many teens don't care about mature content ratings and will read them anyway the only people who will probably have a problem may be the parents

Renee wrote: "I say make the jump...you know your characters. That is why I made the jump. Some parts of the..."

It's been kind of building in that directing anyway. Book one really stuck to the YA category and book two was more mature YA. The third is skirting the line of NA.

Honestly, how many times can I fade to the next chapter just as they get to the good part? :-)

Panda wrote: "there are many examples of books transsitioning between childrens and young adult (eg harry potter and percy jackson) so i don't see why they shouldn't then move from YA to NA as it is not as large..."

I think if sex is involved it's a bigger jump from YA to NA than from childrens to YA. Most NA are virtually adult romances with the only exception that the MCs are around 20 instead of 30. I don't think they are appropriate for younger teens. It wouldn't be a problem if the writing was more sophisticated or if the characters were more complex (I've read Gone with the Wind when I was 11 and lots of historical novels throughout my teenage years) but that is not where YA and NA differ. It's mostly the sexual content. If I had a 15/16 year old daughter I wouldn't want her to read some of the NA books that I know.

If I only think of myself then I really don't care. I like YA, NA and adult romances and I think it's an interesting concept seeing the characters grow up throughout a series.

Cassandra wrote: "Panda wrote: "there are many examples of books transitioning between childrens and young adult (eg harry potter and percy jackson) so i don't see why they shouldn't then move from YA to NA as it i..."

hmm while that is true the jump from children's to young adult also usually starts incorporating romantic relationships... and the line between YA and NA is so often blurred with sexual relationships taking place in the YA... in particular i remember Looking for Alibrandi which i read for school in yr 9-10 i was surprised when i came across a sex scene but by 15-16 it is hard to protect them from it (and i know many people who were actually having sex at this age so trying to avoid them reading about it seems pointless... although i do understand where you are coming from). also i personally don't believe that NA is only about the sex but about the the age group and maybe more complex issues than what you would expect in YA. when you look how YA spans over such a diverse age range it just becomes a case of choosing something that is appropriate for the individual teen

Panda wrote: "Cassandra wrote: "Panda wrote: "there are many examples of books transitioning between childrens and young adult (eg harry potter and percy jackson) so i don't see why they shouldn't then move from..."

I agree that the lines are blurred between YA and NA, more so than 10 or 15 years ago. There is much more sexual content in YA than back then. And teenagers are used to it much more then when I was young. Not just through books but TV and movies and the society as a whole. I think that teenagers can for the most part decide themselves what they want to read. If they feel uncomfortable with a book they can stop and look for something else. My parents never restricted my reading - I could read anything I wanted and I think I started reading adult romances when I was 17 or 18. I guess it depends mostly on how mature a teenager is. If you have two 16 year olds they can be at totally different levels depending on their general nature, how they grew up, if they are already in a relationship or having sex. Some are very grown-up intellectually but not so much emotionally and vice versa.

With the more complex issues in NA, I don't know. There are some YA that handle quite heavy issues like sexual assault, illness, death, violence etc. and some NA that are pretty shallow in that regard (but I still like to read them just for fun :) ).

I do believe that teenagers can and should decide for themselves what they want to read but that the books should have a description of what to expect so that they can make that decision.

Cassandra wrote: "Panda wrote: "Cassandra wrote: "Panda wrote: "there are many examples of books transitioning between childrens and young adult (eg harry potter and percy jackson) so i don't see why they shouldn't ..."

i agree with you there i find people tend to find things when they are ready for them (but a warning would be nice). i agree that parents shouldn't ban books from kids and teens (it will only make them want to read it more) that being said i am often glad that most of my NA books are on my e-reader so people don't see the covers... which i believe most of the time is a fairly good indicator of what to expect within a book. and yes i know my idea for NA may be a bit idealist however while many YA deal with these issues i do not feel they deal with them in quite the same way (at least in my experience)Easy for example is a really great example of NA dealing with issues with that maturity that is often lacking in YA and despite being NA i do not remember an explicet sex scene... if there was one it was not prominant.

I am also doing this with my series . I say at the top of my synopsis that it is Mature YA/NA so even if the first book is more YA than NA they have been warned. I think is is natural that the writing would mature along with the characters. Through the series my characters age a couple of years. But, just like many said before just let the reader know. I knew from the beginning this was going to be the way my series went, but I still let people know every chance I get because readers still are putting it in the YA section. The next book Fire In The Darkness definitely jumps from Mature YA to NA.

I think this following example isn't accurate but it would give you an insight to the complete transformation from YA to NA:

Have you read ? I believe it was a YA book. The relationship between the characters was simple and there was no sex scenes.
As for the second installment which is about two different characters , it is more mature and intense. This is an NA novel :)

Because those two books are about different characters, the author managed to switch into the NA genre.
Pushing the Limits series is an example of genres combined.