Dafne Keen
On the shelves of bookstores and on the Internet, you can increasingly find books and collections with notes or tags "Young Adult", YA, "young adult". This genre is gradually capturing cinema as well: The Dark Materials series based on the books by Philip Pullman is very popular, the Shadow and Bone series based on the books by Lee Bardugo is scheduled to be released in 2021 - and this is not to mention the Harry Potter films! Let's see what lies behind the newfangled word "young adult".
Perhaps the easiest way to define young adult fantasy is by the age of the target audience - from 12 to 18 years old . Therefore, from the point of view of the Russian language, it is more logical to call this subgenre teenage fantasy . But we love neologisms and borrowings, so we have what we have :)
Teenage fantasy is not bound by any conventions, therefore it can borrow images and ideas from any other subgenre: the setting of the city - from urban fantasy, steam mechanisms - from steampunk, etc. However , there is still one rule - the main character must be the same age as the readers . Therefore, if you are older than the target audience of young adult, do not forget that the words and actions of the characters need to take into account age.
For example, books of this subgenre are characterized by emotionality . Heroes acutely experience first love, first fears, relationships within the family, and much more. Of course, this leaves its mark on their actions, which may seem too categorical.
The plot around the protagonist, a teenager, usually develops in such a way as to gradually teach him to make independent, adult decisions. I think this is the reason for the success of young adult - readers (of the same age or older) associate themselves with the main characters and seem to live life anew. Often the main storyline is related to learning (hello Harry Potter and co!
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