What drives YA speculative fiction?

[Sci]

twilight. we have to credit twilight for driving the ya genre. there is something about a female leading character in her teens that attracts both teen boys and girls. teen boys want to be with the girl and teen girls want to be the girl so that is the attraction.

I dare say that Harry Potter just might have had something to do with the rise of the YA market to greater prominence, before Twilight.

 

[JoeZhang]

The first potter book is a book for children - it's only later they the style changes.

 

[Sci]

The first potter book is a book for children - it's only later they the style changes.

Sure. But the later ones were definitely YA, and their massive sales almost certainly helped raise the prominence of the YA market as all the teens they brought in started looking for other YA novels in between HP installments. Not saying Twilight doesn't share credit for raising the YA market's prominence, too, but I think it was building on what Harry Potter started.

 

[theenglish]

The first potter book is a book for children - it's only later they the style changes.

Sure. But the later ones were definitely YA, and their massive sales almost certainly helped raise the prominence of the YA market as all the teens they brought in started looking for other YA novels in between HP installments. Not saying Twilight doesn't share credit for raising the YA market's prominence, too, but I think it was building on what Harry Potter started.

Someone told me, but I have never seen it written down, that Rowling wanted the books to be enjoyed by people as they got older so picking up The Philosopher's Stone at 10 years of age and finishing The Deathly Hallows at 18 and still being able to enjoy it.

But YA didn't really exist as a genre when Harry Potter started, at least not like it is today.

 

[JD]

I really think it was the 1, 2, 3 of HP, Twilight, and The Hunger Games in fairly quick succession that really set of the current YA book craze. Each one by itself would have been a big deal, but to have all three so close together probably did a lot for the whole YA market.

 

[Sci]

The first potter book is a book for children - it's only later they the style changes.

Sure. But the later ones were definitely YA, and their massive sales almost certainly helped raise the prominence of the YA market as all the teens they brought in started looking for other YA novels in between HP installments. Not saying Twilight doesn't share credit for raising the YA market's prominence, too, but I think it was building on what Harry Potter started.

Someone told me, but I have never seen it written down, that Rowling wanted the books to be enjoyed by people as they got older so picking up The Philosopher's Stone at 10 years of age and finishing The Deathly Hallows at 18 and still being able to enjoy it.

Yeah, the Harry Potter series is unique in that it was designed to become a more advanced as its original audience aged.

But YA didn't really exist as a genre when Harry Potter started, at least not like it is today.

I really don't know how you can say that, given that numerous YA classics that exist and pre-date Harry Potter. The Giver? Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry? Jacob Have I Loved? Island of the Blue Dolphins? Hatchet? The Outsiders? A Wrinkle in Time? Number the Stars? The Devil's Arithmetic? The Giver? Arguably The Catcher in the Rye and Lord of the Flies, too.

I really think it was the 1, 2, 3 of HP, Twilight, and The Hunger Games in fairly quick succession that really set of the current YA book craze. Each one by itself would have been a big deal, but to have all three so close together probably did a lot for the whole YA market.

Oh, definitely. The YA genre is in a much higher prominence than it was as a result of that punch. Add to that high-profile non-series novels like John Green's The Fault in Our Stars and you've got a much larger YA market than existed before.

 

[Nerys Myk]

The first potter book is a book for children - it's only later they the style changes.

Sure. But the later ones were definitely YA, and their massive sales almost certainly helped raise the prominence of the YA market as all the teens they brought in started looking for other YA novels in between HP installments. Not saying Twilight doesn't share credit for raising the YA market's prominence, too, but I think it was building on what Harry Potter started.

Someone told me, but I have never seen it written down, that Rowling wanted the books to be enjoyed by people as they got older so picking up The Philosopher's Stone at 10 years of age and finishing The Deathly Hallows at 18 and still being able to enjoy it.

But YA didn't really exist as a genre when Harry Potter started, at least not like it is today.

I had 24 feet ( about 144 linear feet) of YA at my book store long before Harry Potter. It was a popular genre and had more than enough titles to keep in full. Potter changed how the books were written and marketed. More multi book series and more SF&F.

 

[intrinsical]

Sure. But the later ones were definitely YA, and their massive sales almost certainly helped raise the prominence of the YA market as all the teens they brought in started looking for other YA novels in between HP installments. Not saying Twilight doesn't share credit for raising the YA market's prominence, too, but I think it was building on what Harry Potter started.

Someone told me, but I have never seen it written down, that Rowling wanted the books to be enjoyed by people as they got older so picking up The Philosopher's Stone at 10 years of age and finishing The Deathly Hallows at 18 and still being able to enjoy it.

But YA didn't really exist as a genre when Harry Potter started, at least not like it is today.

I had 24 feet ( about 144 linear feet) of YA at my book store long before Harry Potter. It was a popular genre and had more than enough titles to keep in full. Potter changed how the books were written and marketed. More multi book series and more SF&F.

I imagine pre-potter YA books would be stuff like Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Famous Five, Secret Seven?

 

[theenglish]

I didn't say it didn't exist prior to Harry Potter, just that it was very different. It didn't become the marketing giant publisher life line until the turn of the century. As a Language Arts teacher for Middle and High School I know first hand it has come a long way. This wikipedia entry addresses, in broad strokes, the history of YA:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young-adult_fiction#Trends

 

[Nerys Myk]

Someone told me, but I have never seen it written down, that Rowling wanted the books to be enjoyed by people as they got older so picking up The Philosopher's Stone at 10 years of age and finishing The Deathly Hallows at 18 and still being able to enjoy it.

But YA didn't really exist as a genre when Harry Potter started, at least not like it is today.

I had 24 feet ( about 144 linear feet) of YA at my book store long before Harry Potter. It was a popular genre and had more than enough titles to keep in full. Potter changed how the books were written and marketed. More multi book series and more SF&F.

I imagine pre-potter YA books would be stuff like Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Famous Five, Secret Seven?

The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew had YA series that were separate from their main series. You also had books by authors like Judy Blume and S.E. Hinton, SF&F writers like Madeline L'Engle, Susan Cooper and C.S. Lewis, plus a ton of stand alone books. Cooper's books have a certain similarities with the Potter series. But didn't hit the right "nerve" with the public. Right place. Right time, I guess. Before Potter took off there was a series of books called "Animorphs" that was all the rage with young readers.