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Q&A YA novel with old protagonist?

There are plenty of examples of novels about adults written for young people in the canon. Look at Rosemary Sutcliffe for example. But this involves a different view of how a reader identifies with...

posted 8y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2020-01-03T20:41:49Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/21738
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T05:12:11Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/21738
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T05:12:11Z (about 5 years ago)
There are plenty of examples of novels about adults written for young people in the canon. Look at Rosemary Sutcliffe for example. But this involves a different view of how a reader identifies with a work.

Traditionally, most works were written for the reader looking outward. They were windows. For children or young adults, they were about looking forward to adulthood and the assumptions of its responsibilities, not to what you were but what you were trying to become.

The fashion today, however, seems to be more the mirror than the window. The focus is not on other but on self, not on what you want to be but what you are.

Personally, I would love to see a return to an emphasis on fiction as window rather than mirror.

But whether you prefer your fiction to be mirror or window, I think it the questions about making such a book work are not technical, but cultural. Are you writing an outward looking book for young adults who want to look outward?

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2016-04-16T15:28:57Z (over 8 years ago)
Original score: 1