And she STILL didn't give up, asking if I really thought that a YA novel could compete on the same playing field as an adult novel.

Good is good. I like Harry Potter a lot better than a lot of adult section fantasy and that's in the Juvenile section of the library.

I like Harry Potter a lot better than a lot of adult section fantasy and that's in the Juvenile section of the library.

Plus it's easier to elbow the kids out of the way when the last copy in the library gets put back out on the shelves.

Has she never heard of Jacob I Have Loved or The Chocolate War or The Outsiders?

Not if they came after she ceased being a "young adult."

I had to smack her over the head with the explanation that "young adult" as it's used right now, is primarily a market construct. I mean, when The Outsiders came out forty years ago, there was no such genre as young adult. It was either a children's book or it was shelved with general fiction.

I mean, I'm trying to think of when I first became aware of "young adult" as its own genre-- maybe some of our librarians can weigh in on this one-- I somehow have a sneaking suspicion that the libraries were on the forefront of separating out books designed specifically for the teen market.

I'm 35, and when I was 12-ish, there was a YA section in my local library. For what that's worth.

I don't remember a YA section in our library when I was that age -- under 12, I mean -- but I'm 42, so. And it was a smallish library. But I DO remember some books being in a teen section of the bookstores then.

Bah. It's been a slow day at work, and the muse stirred her head. I opened a screen to write in--and the clients started showing up. It's a freaking conspiracy.

As a lowly mystery writer, I've got two words for her and one of them begins with "F--- Agents are human, too(allegedly at least):) and if the letter attached to the greatest ms in the history of ever sounded as whiny as that, I'd pass.

if the letter attached to the greatest ms in the history of ever sounded as whiny as that, I'd pass.

BWAH!

Wikipedia on Young Adult Fiction...

The modern classification of young-adult fiction originated during the 1950s and 1960s, especially after the publication of S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders. This book focused on a group of teens not yet represented and instead of having the nostalgic tone that was typical in young adult books written by adults, it displayed a truer, darker side of young adult life because it was written by a young adult.

As publishers began to focus on the emerging adolescent market, booksellers and libraries, in turn, began creating YA sections distinct from either children's literature or novels written for adults. The 1970s to the mid-1980s have been described as the golden age of young-adult fiction - when challenging novels began speaking directly to the interests of the identified adolescent market[2].

But I would. Because if I had to make deals with and/or for that person? I'd put a bullet in my own brain. Because you don't think the diva stuff stops when she starts getting attention, does it? I'm thinking NSM. Only then, our careers would be intertwined(shudder)