Tags
A Wrinkle in Time, books, Harry Potter, Heidi Lang, Kati Bartkowski, MG, The Shifter, writing, YA
Our Steampunk Scientists from Mystic Cooking. 🙂
HEIDI: Since we’re starting our “Middle Grade March” themed blog posts, we thought it might be fun to begin with that most frustrating of questions – what is the difference between middle grade and young adult?
KATI: Many people think it has to do with the protagonist’s age, but that’s not necessarily the case. I’ve seen plenty of great MG books with older protagonists, like Janice Hardy’s “The Shifter.” In fact, we’re planning on dedicating a whole post to MG with older protagonists, so more on that later…
HEIDI: Spoiler! >: (
KATI: I think it’s really more of a teaser. 😉
HEIDI: Call it what you will. But no, the protagonist does not have to be younger, although typically MG seems to feature protagonists between the ages of 9-12. Really the key is the age of the reader, not the age of the character.
KATI: Another difference? Romance. In YA it seems to almost be a requirement. I can’t even think of any YA books off the top of my head that don’t include at least some romance.
HEIDI: Hmm…nope, can’t think of any, either.
KATI: On the other hand, MG doesn’t have to have romance.
HEIDI: But it can have romance, and in fact many good MG books do. Look at the love story in “A Wrinkle in Time,” for instance, between Meg and Calvin. The key difference is in the level of romance: more innocent, crushes, hand holding, first kisses, that sort of thing, whereas YA romance is usually more sexually charged.
KATI: True, true.
HEIDI: I think the number one difference between the two, though, is the tone. MG books have a very different tone, and a very different voice, than YA.
KATI: MG is usually much more light-hearted. There can be dark things happening in the story, but generally the voice of the character narrating is not so dark. YA, especially recently, is much edgier, grittier, whatever you want to call it.
HEIDI: And then there are the little things that help set that tone. Generally there’s no swearing in MG, and the violence isn’t as graphic.
KATI: Of course there are always exceptions. Every “rule” out there has been broken.
HEIDI: It’s more what you’d call “guidelines” than actual rules…
KATI: Nice quote.
HEIDI: I thought you’d like it. 😉
KATI: And if you want more info, there’s plenty out there written about the differences between MG and YA. A lot of it contradicts itself, but there’s still some great advice.
HEIDI: Personally I loved this post by Hannah Moskowitz, especially the bit where she defends Harry Potter as MG all the way, and not MG transitioning into YA. For what it’s worth, I think she’s right on the money.
KATI: “Right on the money?” So now we’re speaking in quotes and bad clichés? ;p
HEIDI: Heh heh. What can I say? When life hands you lemons–
KATI: Don’t even. >: (
HEIDI: …this is probably a good point to turn this conversation over to all you fine folks. What do you think? Did we cover the major differences between MG and YA, or is there something you would add? Please share!
I think you guys have “hit the nail on the head” (thought I’d add to the cliché use). I seem to recall the agents at our conference saying MG usually had bullies and was more making friends focused. Hmmm Harry Potter as MG all the way. I’ll have to go read that post.
Love the art! And as always, love the co-written posts. 😀
By the way, WHOA, that Hannah post was amazing! AMAZING! Thanks for sharing it!
Glad you enjoyed it! I loved the idea of Harry’s battle with Voldemort being a side issue, with the real climax of the book being Harry and Ron’s feud over Hermione’s affections – totally cracked me up.
Dealing with bullies definitely seems to show up a lot in MG; makes sense since it’s such an important lesson especially at that age, and very relatable. I’ll have to go back through all my conference notes…because if at first you don’t succeed, or something…heh heh. 😉
Great post! I agree with Jae, you two did a great job with this. And I totally love the picture of the scientists! I’m totally jealous of Kati’s drawing skills… I’m trying to draw a simple map right now, for my book, and it looks like something a first grader would do.
Thank you!
Maps are hard. I like drawing them, but I always have to look at real maps for a reference to help me. Are you trying to draw a city map, or a world/country map?
Love the illustration and the costumes!
Thank you!
Mystic Cooking has Steampunk scientists? *dies in the awesomeness*
Interestingly, my CP has recently decided that her plot (both major and minor) is more of an MG plot and so we’ve been working through trying to change the voice and tone to make it more of a 12-year-old than 15-year-old. It’s pretty difficult to know what to pick out as being too ‘old’ in voice.
I totally hear you on trying to figure out what language to use for MG. What makes it even harder is figuring out if it’s for an older MG audience, or a younger one.
I’m glad you like our Steampunk scientists. 🙂
I’ve never really thought about writing an MG book, but after reading this, it might be fun to give it a shot! 🙂
It’s definitely a challenge to get used to the voice of MG, but a fun challenge. You totally should give it a shot sometime. 🙂
MG books are really fun. I’m enjoying the Fablehaven series, which I think would be classed as… older MG, I suppose. Definitely not YA, and they’re definitely SAVING THE WORLD!
I’ve never had a problem deciding whether my current story was YA or MG; the characters are older, yes, but also in terms of what happens… definitely not MG territory. For one thing, the romance isn’t innocent, and the decisions the characters have to make, the growing up they have to do, is more relevant to a YA audience. In fact, if I had a question, it would be what the difference is between YA and this “New Adult” thing that people talk about now.
I’m actually super exited about New Adult – the time just after high school is chock full of changes and potential stories, so I’m looking forward to seeing more New Adult; I think it’s only going to get bigger. I guess we’ll see. 🙂 As far as I can tell, it’s very much the same as YA, only the protagonist is out of high school, possibly even in college, but maybe there are more differences I’m just unaware of.
I haven’t read the Fablehaven series yet, but it’s definitely on my radar. 🙂
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