Whether you are a reader or a writer of young adult fiction, there are a lot of misunderstandings and misconceptions, so hopefully this article will clear many of them up and give you a better insight into the term 'young adult fiction.' 

Young adult fiction is not a genre. It is a term used to describe the age range most suited to the novel. Young adult fiction content is targeted at young people between the ages of 12 and 18 years of age. This, however, doesn’t mean that adults cannot read young adult fiction; in fact, a huge proportion of the readership is over 18. 

Young adult fiction spreads itself across many genres, from horror to coming of age to fantasy, so never walk into a book store and ask for recommendations without being specific about the genre you want. The great thing about writing adult fiction is that you can really experiment with mixing up different genres. For example, The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau is a mixture of coming of age genre with fantasy. Have fun with taking an idea and injecting your own unique twist to the story. As long as the content is suited to the age range, then let your creative juices go crazy. 

You can break the rules and create storylines about more daring subject matters when it comes to writing for young adults. This is because young adults are not as sensitive to social issues as many adults. A young adult novel can cover subjects such as teenage pregnancy, racism and forbidden love with a fresh flexible perspective. Many subjects in young adult fiction would just not work if the characters were adults. As teenagers, they are moving from childhood and into adulthood and it is important they have a voice and a platform to be heard. 

Adults can read and enjoy young adult fiction too and there should be no stigma around it. The novels can be just as interesting and sophisticated as adult novels, and often the stories are very moving, as they are told from the viewpoint of a teenager. We were all teenagers once, and so relating to the subject matter is very easy for adults. As a writer, you can unleash your creative side when writing teenage characters as they are renowned drama queens and love to exaggerate situations and emotions.  

Always ensure that the teenage characters remain the protagonist and although adult characters can be included in the storyline, teenagers must take centre stage, and the whole plot should revolve around their situation and journey. Teenagers love to read about the empowerment of other teenagers.  

Although a large proportion of young adult fiction is written in the first person, this is not a rule set in stone. There are many great novels such as The Mortal Instruments that are written in the third person. If you are thinking about writing a novel for teenagers, then you have to ensure the plot moves at an incredibly fast pace, the action has to start almost immediately and they want to know the outcome to the situation quickly too, otherwise you are likely to lose their attention. Teenagers need instant satisfaction. The novels often tend to be around 70,000 words which is far shorter than adult fiction.  

Finally, do not preach to your reader or not cover certain subjects because you feel that they are too young to grasp what you are trying to say. Teenagers are very astute and will know when you are holding back. Read plenty of young adult fiction and research what is popular with today’s teenagers. A great place to start will be reading novels by Meg Cabot.