I’ve written a fantasy novel. It’s “young adult-ish” and features a prominent love story. I say it’s young adult-ish because while the protagonist is 17 years old for most of the story there is some sexual content. This content is not explicit or gratuitous in nature and is integral to the progression of the story. However, it’s definitely in there. While I think the story is appropriate for a 17-plus audience, I’m not sure I would want a 13-year-old reading it. Though kids are so much more advanced these days I really don’t know.
Sometimes I wonder if Romeo and Juliet were published today would it be considered a Young Adult work? The protagonists were teenagers (Juliet a mere 13!), yet there is wild and reckless sex in the story and a dual death by suicide. If those aren’t adult themes than I don’t know know what are. My novel is much tamer than that. When did I first read Romeo & Juliet? At 15 years and in ninth grade English class? I can hardly remember. Regardless, my protagonist is seventeen and has sex with her boyfriend (or “potential match” as I refer to them in my book). Perhaps a better and more recent point of reference would be Forever by Judy Blume. I’ll have to look into where that book falls on the “Young Adult” spectrum.
Here’s what I would envision as a book description. My questions to you is simple. Would you want to read more?
Title: The Madian (muh-DAY-in)
Genre: Fantasy
Thoughts of childhood always evoked certain golden memories for Alastine Arden. Long days spent in the village of Glyn with her family passed with the contended predictability of a community living in harmony with nature. The truth of her reality had long escaped her attention. How could she have been so blind for all those years? Falling deeply into an obsessive love during her seventeenth year was her only plausible explanation. A love so all-consuming that it obliterated the obvious truth of her world. Signs of a presence lingering just beyond her perception were there from the very beginning, signs she blissfully chose to ignore. But lingering at the edge of her awareness The Madian was patient, elusive, and ever present – just silently waiting to be seen.
