GENRE: YA Mystery
GOODREADS ~ AMAZON ~ AUTHOR ~ TWITTER
What I wanted to talk about today is what YA Crossover means to me, because I consider myself an author who crosses over YA fiction into adult. What I’ve written that is YA comes off as more mature and is made for a more mature audience than say a 14 year old, who would be considered a YA. I actually had this conversation with a mother of a girl of exactly that age the other day about my YA novel Walking in the Shadows. The novel is about a girl who is of YA age, but whom is very mature. At seventeen she has no parents, lives alone and works to pay her own rent. Not only that, she kind of accidentally started dating a teacher over the summer. That’s where my YA is a little tricky. I don’t want any young girl thinking that this novel condones such a relationship, because it doesn’t, and I also don’t want a parent wanting to throttle me because their daughter suddenly has a crush on her hot teacher.
This is where the novel crosses over into adult, because the decisions that are made are adult level ones—and the tragedy that plays out because of those decisions is also adult level. Vera isn’t in love with a teacher in his forties – she’s in love with a teacher in his very early twenties and she’s eighteen by the end of the novel. She’s also immensely mature for her age and has no one to support her. She’s alone in a world that’s threatening to eat her alive, and the one person she grew to count on can’t be there for her. At least not the way he wants to be.
I’m sure you now see there are young adults, or new adults in the love interest’s case, making adult decisions. Over the span of the novel, you get to see an already mature Vera, becoming even more mature, facing fears and growing as a person. You see her transform from a young adult to a blossoming adult. I think that’s where a true crossover lies – in watching a character grow from one maturity to another – from a young adult into a new one.
And I think that’s pretty darn special – something you don’t get in adult, because adults are adults—and we can be pretty darn boring.
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This is Abigail Martin’s nightmare. After her parents become the first victims of a serial killer obsessed with the vampire saga, "Crimson Reign," Abigail does the only thing that she thinks will save her from her parent’s fate–she becomes some one else. As Vera MacIntrye, she falls in love with the very handsome Tad Knightley, and then walks into her first day at her new school to see him standing at the front of the classroom. He’s every teenage girls fantasy, but as he writes “Mr. Knightley: AP British Literature” across the white board Vera realizes the one person who filled the gaping hole in her heart will soon rip it wide open again.
Vera struggles to adjust to being a ‘normal’ teenager with very adult responsibilities like paying the rent, buying groceries and making sure that lights stay on, while being drawn time and time again back to her off-limits teacher. What’s worse is he is drawn to her too, and their worlds refuse to stay apart when Tad finds Vera screaming in terror in the parking lot after the winter formal. The murderer has struck again and is getting closer to the next target–Vera. Tad will do whatever he can to save her, even if it means losing his dream job, but will it be enough when the murderer is closer than anyone ever thought?
Vera struggles to adjust to being a ‘normal’ teenager with very adult responsibilities like paying the rent, buying groceries and making sure that lights stay on, while being drawn time and time again back to her off-limits teacher. What’s worse is he is drawn to her too, and their worlds refuse to stay apart when Tad finds Vera screaming in terror in the parking lot after the winter formal. The murderer has struck again and is getting closer to the next target–Vera. Tad will do whatever he can to save her, even if it means losing his dream job, but will it be enough when the murderer is closer than anyone ever thought?
GUEST POST - Cassandra Giovanni: YA Crossovers
This particular lingo has been floating around for a while now. So what exactly is YA Crossover? I’ve seen many authors say that it’s when a YA book crosses over into the realm of adult as a series progresses. I’ve also seen others refer to it as a book that appeals to more than just young adults. I’m not sure which definition is correct, because I can think of numerous things that I enjoy as an adult that are definitely childish—like playing in the leaves or making a snowman, but those things aren’t crossing over. They’re just fun; kind of like my love of Tinkerbell movies.
What I wanted to talk about today is what YA Crossover means to me, because I consider myself an author who crosses over YA fiction into adult. What I’ve written that is YA comes off as more mature and is made for a more mature audience than say a 14 year old, who would be considered a YA. I actually had this conversation with a mother of a girl of exactly that age the other day about my YA novel Walking in the Shadows. The novel is about a girl who is of YA age, but whom is very mature. At seventeen she has no parents, lives alone and works to pay her own rent. Not only that, she kind of accidentally started dating a teacher over the summer. That’s where my YA is a little tricky. I don’t want any young girl thinking that this novel condones such a relationship, because it doesn’t, and I also don’t want a parent wanting to throttle me because their daughter suddenly has a crush on her hot teacher.
This is where the novel crosses over into adult, because the decisions that are made are adult level ones—and the tragedy that plays out because of those decisions is also adult level. Vera isn’t in love with a teacher in his forties – she’s in love with a teacher in his very early twenties and she’s eighteen by the end of the novel. She’s also immensely mature for her age and has no one to support her. She’s alone in a world that’s threatening to eat her alive, and the one person she grew to count on can’t be there for her. At least not the way he wants to be.
I’m sure you now see there are young adults, or new adults in the love interest’s case, making adult decisions. Over the span of the novel, you get to see an already mature Vera, becoming even more mature, facing fears and growing as a person. You see her transform from a young adult to a blossoming adult. I think that’s where a true crossover lies – in watching a character grow from one maturity to another – from a young adult into a new one.
And I think that’s pretty darn special – something you don’t get in adult, because adults are adults—and we can be pretty darn boring.
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