Comments on: An Introduction to Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction, Part 1: Definitions http://www.sfwa.org/2013/02/an-introduction-to-middle-grade-and-young-adult-fiction-part-1-definitions/ Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Tue, 14 May 2013 14:54:07 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Peter Dudley http://www.sfwa.org/2013/02/an-introduction-to-middle-grade-and-young-adult-fiction-part-1-definitions/#comment-153475 Peter Dudley Tue, 05 Feb 2013 17:51:34 +0000 http://www.sfwa.org/?p=29743#comment-153475 Great summary; thanks for posting it. A couple years ago I heard an editor from Chronicle Books say that MG is about the main character finding his/her place in the family, but YA is about the main character finding his/her place in society. I think that description meshes well with a lot of the quotes in this post.

]]> By: Middle Grade or Young Adult? http://www.sfwa.org/2013/02/an-introduction-to-middle-grade-and-young-adult-fiction-part-1-definitions/#comment-153471 Middle Grade or Young Adult? Tue, 05 Feb 2013 16:26:04 +0000 http://www.sfwa.org/?p=29743#comment-153471 [...] What’s the difference between Young Adult and Middle Grade fiction?  Authors and editors discuss the matter at the SFWA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America) website here. [...]

]]> By: Stacy Whitman http://www.sfwa.org/2013/02/an-introduction-to-middle-grade-and-young-adult-fiction-part-1-definitions/#comment-153464 Stacy Whitman Tue, 05 Feb 2013 15:05:11 +0000 http://www.sfwa.org/?p=29743#comment-153464 Middle grade and young adult are two different age groups. The Hobbit is a children’s novel–not young adult. The Lord of the Rings was actually published for adults, but is considered a crossover teen read.

As for necromancy, rape, injustice, and corruption of society officials: plenty of YA books cover those topics, in varying levels of graphic-ness. For necromancy, see Garth Nix’s Abhorsen series, which is all about a necromancer family. For rape, see Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan (and many others). Injustice and corruption, Bitterblue (and the entire Graceling trilogy) by Kristin Cashore (and many others). These topics are not off-limits in YA by any means.

]]> By: Malinda Lo http://www.sfwa.org/2013/02/an-introduction-to-middle-grade-and-young-adult-fiction-part-1-definitions/#comment-153376 Malinda Lo Mon, 04 Feb 2013 16:21:45 +0000 http://www.sfwa.org/?p=29743#comment-153376 Glad to see people are finding this post useful! Just a reminder: Membership in SFWA’s MG and YA Writers Group is limited to SFWA members. You can see the requirements for joining on this page:
http://www.sfwa.org/for-authors/sfwa-middle-grade-and-young-adult-writers/

]]> By: Eric Upchurch http://www.sfwa.org/2013/02/an-introduction-to-middle-grade-and-young-adult-fiction-part-1-definitions/#comment-153369 Eric Upchurch Mon, 04 Feb 2013 16:03:38 +0000 http://www.sfwa.org/?p=29743#comment-153369 I don’t consider David Eddings … Pawn of Prophecy, Diamond Throne, Ruby Knight, and The Malloreon Series – Sorceress of Darshica and Demon Lord of Karanda to be Middle Grade Young Adult. Maybe The Hobbit or Harry Potter would be consider Young Adult Fantasy. David Eddings tackles such topics as necromancy, rape, injustice and corruption of society officals in his books like Diamond Throne and Ruby Knight. It is the difference between The Hobbit and Lord of The Rings … which are two different catagories in Fantasy Literature. The Hobbit was originally written for his grand-children and LOTR was written much later for a more adult and more demanding fantasy fan-base. While WOTC and Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, DarkSun – are products aim at Middle Grade Young Adult – most of these books have a huge Mature Adult following of 20-40 year old’s who asipre to become writer’s themselves or computer game designers. And while games like Skyrim, Oblivion, Morrowind and Daggerfall most of these games have an M rating for the nuity in third party mods. Some critics say they should have an A rating for adults only … because of these nuity mods.

]]> By: Natalie Aguirre http://www.sfwa.org/2013/02/an-introduction-to-middle-grade-and-young-adult-fiction-part-1-definitions/#comment-153325 Natalie Aguirre Sun, 03 Feb 2013 15:58:54 +0000 http://www.sfwa.org/?p=29743#comment-153325 This is a great post Malinda. I think in middle grade there is an upper middle grade subcategory for the 5th to 8th graders who would be into the longer middle grade books like Harry Potter and the Percy Jackson series.

This sounds like a fantastic group. I applied to join as a affiliate member. As an aspiring middle grade and YA fantasy author, I could learn so much from your group and I’d love to network. I feature many fantasy authors on my blog, Literary Rambles. Fingers crossed that I can join.

]]> By: RinibyDesign http://www.sfwa.org/2013/02/an-introduction-to-middle-grade-and-young-adult-fiction-part-1-definitions/#comment-153179 RinibyDesign Fri, 01 Feb 2013 19:06:52 +0000 http://www.sfwa.org/?p=29743#comment-153179 @sfwa Love this advice on writing for middle grade readers! Thanks!

]]> By: Cat Rambo http://www.sfwa.org/2013/02/an-introduction-to-middle-grade-and-young-adult-fiction-part-1-definitions/#comment-153165 Cat Rambo Fri, 01 Feb 2013 17:42:01 +0000 http://www.sfwa.org/?p=29743#comment-153165 This is really useful, thank you so much!

]]> By: Deborah J. Ross http://www.sfwa.org/2013/02/an-introduction-to-middle-grade-and-young-adult-fiction-part-1-definitions/#comment-153160 Deborah J. Ross Fri, 01 Feb 2013 17:22:53 +0000 http://www.sfwa.org/?p=29743#comment-153160 Great post, Malinda! Thanks to everyone for their insights!

One of the most interesting differences for me is the shift from external to internal dynamics. Not that younger kids don’t have thoughts or feelings or dreams, or that older kids aren’t affected by outside events, but a key piece of the older-years growing up is finding out who you are and what you want…and what you’re capable of. Even while you’re having wild adventures!

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