Age categories are an essential part of the publishing process, yet the least talked about. Often, the term “age category” gets lost inside conversations about genre: You got romance, you got historical fiction, you got picture books and you got young adult fiction. You might even be one of the many writers who have never heard the term “middle grade.” I’ll clarify all these terms, but first let’s get a better understanding of the purpose of age categories.
Simply put, age categories are the movie ratings for novels. If you are ten years old, there are a lot of books you shouldn’t be reading—because of language complexity, because of scary content, or because you’re just not mature enough to understand the themes being explored. Likewise, if you’re an adult, there are probably a lot of books that you don’t want to read the “lessons” in them are too basic (or because you really, really don’t want to revisit middle school). The age category label instantly gives you this information before you spend time reading the book description. But, like the title of this post indicates, the lines between each category is blurry. How, as a writer, do you determine who to market your novel to?
The Current Conversation around Age Categories
Age categories are most often defined by word count and age of the protagonist. The market rhetoric says that readers want to read characters who are a few years older than them (not always true, so if you’re self-publishing you can fudge these rules). Age of protagonist and word count seem pretty straightforward. The question becomes: what content is appropriate for each age group?
In kid-lit circles, there’s a lot of talk about the difference between middle grade and young adult. Another interesting conversation came up in one of my writing groups: What’s the difference between YA and adult novels, especially for genres like fantasy and historical fiction where characters tend to mature at younger ages? This question made me think about something I’ve noticed in reading groups I’m apart of. Many adults vehemently don’t want YA, and they chomp at the bit (to use an old phrase) when an adult novel reads “too YA.”
As I thought about it, I started to wonder if psychology could give us our answers. After all, the central question for determining age categories is maturity: How much can the reader handle? So I looked up Erikson’s psychosocial stages of development to see what I could find.
I want to stress that this is only a starting point. This is only one strategy to break down the concept of age categories which may feel more logical to you or may not be any help at all.
Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages of Development
The word “social” is the important part of this concept. Erikson believed that our internal identity is formed through interactions with other people and the world at large.
A few key details:
- Each stage is defined by a core conflict. How you deal with that conflict shapes your experience of the world.
- Stages build upon one another. Whatever lessons you learned at a younger age impacts how you deal with new experiences.
- These stages aren’t about achieving complete success or failure, but striking a balance between the two. Erikson believed that there are benefits to not being supported 100% of the time.
I used
for my research. Inside, there are links to other articles that further expand on each stage.
Let’s look at how to use this to define your manuscript. These are the age categories I’ll be focusing on:
- Middle Grade (MG)
- Young adult (YA)
- Adult
Middle Grade (MG)
Age of reader: 8-10 years old
Age of Protagonist: 10-13; 10-11 for lower MG, 12-13 for upper middle grade
Word Count: 40-80K, 40-60K for lower MG, 60-80K for upper MG
The psychosocial stage that corresponds with MG is called Industry vs. Inferiority. The word “industry” here means hard work, and this is the stage where kids learn all kinds of new skills (academic, athletic, artistic, emotional and social) and gaining confidence in their abilities. When a child receives support and encouragement from adults, they are willing to work hard and more willing to engage in new experiences. Socially, their world expands to include new friends and new people they might not get along with.
How to use this for writing?
It’s most important to focus on the last point: Your character’s world is expanding. “Expanding” means getting bigger, there’s more for them to explore, more to learn, more people to meet. The main conflicts revolve around the character encountering a new situation and learning how to respond to it.
Of the three age categories discussed here, MG characters change the least. Your character begins the story in a certain role (friend, child, student, sibling), and they end the story in that same role. What changes is their understanding of that role. They might learn:
- New skills to better fulfill their role.
- That their role is more important than they previously realized.
- Their actions have consequences that they must consider.
- Or they could try playing other roles and end up deciding that who they are is best. (If you grew up during the 2000’s, you will be very familiar with this story sequence.)
Basically, success in an MG book revolves around the character solving the main conflict and the rewards they gain from the experience. Their actions will change the world around them but they do not change themselves.
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Young Adult (YA)
Age of reader: 12-14 years old
Age of Protagonist: 16-18 years old
Word count: 70-90K; 100+K if writing fantasy or science fiction
The psychosocial stage that corresponds with YA is called Identity vs. Role Confusion.
This stage requires engagement in role confusion, though it is not the end goal. Erikson believed that you can’t truly form an identity until you’ve explored all, or at least most, possibilities. Teens must try different roles, activities and behaviors to discover what works best for them. Forming a self identity is important in several ways: the most vital being that a person gains confidence and trust in their abilities, a sense of security that they can handle what comes at them in the future and the ability to commit to the decisions they make. On the other hand, a continued state of role confusion creates uncertainty of who you are, what you want and where you fit in life.
How to use this for writing?
YA is probably the most discussed of the age categories in regard to writing craft. This is where you put your characters through all the change and conflict you can think of. The key is to allow your characters to explore the possibilities without completely changing them from scene to scene. Some things you can ask yourself:
- What is their instinctual reaction to things (you could use personality tests to determine this)?
- What lines do they refuse to cross? What person/issue/value would they sacrifice for?
- What is the inner change they need to make? Do they need to gain confidence, trust in them, learn a lesson about how the world “really” works?
Why adult novels might sound “too YA”
With the growing trend of protagonists in their twenties, a lot of readers complain that adult characters too closely resemble teens in the way they talk and deal with conflict.
Erikson believed that if you haven’t yet developed a strong sense of identity, it’s difficult to be successful in life. If something happened in the character’s teen years that disrupted their ability to explore (a traumatic event or an unusual amount of shame and ridicule from adults or peers), then the character will still not know who they are or what they believe when they hit adulthood.
Some things you can try to differentiate the two age categories:
- Limit impulsivity. If you need your characters to act rashly on a certain issue, make sure they’re more level-headed with other decisions.
- Emphasize prior experience and knowledge during decision-making scenes.
- Keep the wider context of the world/situation in view as the plot unfolds.
- Focus on changing only 1-2 aspects of the character’s lives and make sure the rest is consistent.
Adult
Age of reader: 16+ years old
Age of protagonist: 18+ years old
Word count: 70-90K; 100+K if writing fantasy or science fiction
There are three psychosocial stages that apply to this category. The age ranges are approximate; a person can hit each stage at any time or even cycle through them depending on how life plays out.
Intimacy vs. Isolation (age 18 to 40): The conflict in this stage revolves around forming meaningful, lasting relationship. Friendships, social and romantic relationship form the support system we need to thrive and essential to emotional well-being. Everything learned in the stage of identity development influences how a person navigates these relationships. (There’s a reason many adult books include romantic subplots. The best way to learn about relationships, in my opinion, is to study psychology and therapeutic techniques.)
Generativity vs. Stagnation (age 40 to 65): At this stage, people want to feel productive and make a difference in the world. This typically take two forms: caring for others (as in raising a family, caring for elderly parents and/or taking part in the community) and creating products that will outlive them. Success here creates a sense of pride, feelings of inclusion and a sense of control.
Integrity vs. Despair (age 65+(: In this stage of development, people reflect on their lives and are either satisfied or experience regret by what they’ve done. This stage is usually caused by a major life change (retirement, death of a friend or loved one, age-related illnesses, etc). There’s a reason many older characters become teachers or mentors as it gives them a way to think about what they’ve learned and pass it on to the next generation.
How to use this for writing?
Because of the sheer range of life experiences, pinning down a focus in the adult age category can be difficult. At this point, your characters have formed an identity, they know what role they play and are focused on fulfilling it. They understand that the world is complex and they have, most likely, decided to live in it (instead of, say, burning it down).
The actions a character takes in this type of story are very firmly guided by their identity and changes are ideally slow and hard-won. Most important, the characters know their actions have consequences and so take this into account.
I hope this has helped clear up some of the confusion around age categories. It’s a little-talked about topic but essential to reaching the proper audience for your work. If you plan to pitch to agents, demonstrating a strong grasp of age categories will help your submission stand out.
Any thoughts/questions? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.