That’s an abbreviation for young adult fiction. It is also a descriptor because it can fit into nearly any genre. There is YA science fiction, YA Dystopian, YA fantasy, and so on. What makes it YA is just that the protagonist(s) is/are teenager(s). The main goal of this literary genre is that it gives young people more reason to read.
There are many subset genres of YA
There are many examples of this field, some of which I’ll cover more in other posts on this blog, but they include the Harry Potter book series, the Divergent one, and the current big hit, The Hunger Games.
I wrote one my third NaNoWriMo titled Introvert. It was my most successful to date, writing the most words per day and completing it in record time for me.
The one rule that I’ve seen to all YA fiction that I’ve seen is a rule that makes sense:
“No sex”
This doesn’t mean that all teenagers don’t; although frowned on, some teens do, even though they aren’t all mentally ready.
What I mean is that as a rule, you don’t describe it in detail (or at all). Doing so risks making your fiction seem to be child pornography, and put you at legal risk.
The field for this fiction (so long as you follow the rules) is huge, with the potential for the books to become films. It’s also a field that I have ideas for… I have to locate my file for Introvert because I have an idea for a sequel.
