The Problem of Underage Heroes

Note that in both of those cases, it's most definitely a conscious choice on the part of the author.

Also, keep in mind that they were written in the Fifties and the Sixties, when the young adult market (or such as existed at that time) couldn't really get away with writing about complicated themes and angsty protagonists. Contrast Robert Heinlein's Farmer in the Sky and Red Planet (written earlier in his career, when he was still writing mostly young adult fiction) with Starship Troopers (after his break with his original publisher, when he was free to write more adult-themed stuff).

edited 2nd Jan '12 5:56:41 PM by Specialist290

Apparently, Starship Troopers was originally supposed to be what amounts to YA, but the publisher wouldn't go for it so they tacked some stuff on and marketed it to adults instead. The themes were that questionable.

It is now required reading for most of the US Military academies.

Although, I'd say, having read it myself, that at this point it comes across less as legitimately creepy and more as just comically stupid, if interesting as a piece of fiction. The fact that it's more notable for TEH POWER ARMORS!!!11! (which was admittedly damn cool) rather than attempting to idealize a fascist militaristic "democracy" speaks volumes...

Mistborn series and Night Angel Trilogy, most of Mercedes Lackey's books, Witches Of Eileanan series and the Rhiannon's Ride series, The Dragon Queen/ The Raven Warrior series. That's just off the top of my head.

Basically 90% of epic fantasy starts off with the character between 14 and 18. And the other 10% starts with them about 20, which is borderline. The Chosen One is never in his thirties for some reason. The character may grow older as the series continues but that still annoys me.

edited 2nd Jan '12 7:09:43 PM by NoirGrimoir

Mm. The one high fantasy story I did had an immortal protagonist who was biologically somewhere between 25 and 30, but I never really specified...

I've been known to exaggerate and generalize.

Is Enders Game considered YA or Adult?

Where would we be without hyperbole?

I imagine it'd be considered YA, but don't quote me on that. It could go either way, really.

edited 2nd Jan '12 7:24:33 PM by Flyboy

The Other Wiki doesn't list it as YA, so presumably it's adult. Also I think the later books are adult. I know I've seen it in the adult section of books stores and libraries.

But Enders Game is, what, late '70s, early '80s, right? Did they even have a YA classification back then? I doubt it...

Isn't The Outsiders considered YA fiction? And that was written during the 60's and explicitly aimed for teenagers.

edited 2nd Jan '12 7:43:20 PM by chihuahua0

The Other Wiki says it is YA, yes.

Well it's not like we don't ever retro-designate things into genres. Science Fiction didn't exist when Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein but now-a-days that's what genre we call it. If we considered it YA, no matter how old it was, it would be called YA.

Mm, true.

But Enders Game is a bit of an oddball. It sometimes pop up in the classroom yet it seems like Adult Fiction.

But of course, from what parts I read from it, the protagonist is quite exceptional.

Meh. I've heard good things about it and bad things about it. Apparently it's a decent story with questionable moral themes, or something similar...

It's a good book that's over-hyped, IMO. I find it well-written but rather typical sci-fi, all around, but people act like it's some crazy awesome book. Kind of annoys me. The themes aren't really questionable that I'd noticed.

edited 2nd Jan '12 8:07:50 PM by NoirGrimoir

Ender's Game is the book to read if you want to understand virtue ethics. The "questionable themes" come from the fact that a lot of people who follow deontological ethics consider virtue ethics creepy. (Personally, I consider deontological ethics creepy, but that's another argument . . .)

Anyways, chalk me up as someone who doesn't usually write teenagers. I've had a few characters who needed to be young enough not to be employed, but I've had a bunch more who needed to be above college-age. (Then again, I've written most of the latter as unmarried and without children . . .)

edited 2nd Jan '12 8:31:40 PM by feotakahari

Gosh, now that I think about it, the only Young Adult novel I remember reading with an adult protagonist is Montmorency. Even the review on the back of the book starts with "Here is a young adult novel with no young adult characters therein..."

I write a few teenagers, though they're starring in a slice of life type story, not engaging in heroics. And in Boy Aurus, the title character (well, he's chronologically not a child aside from one upcoming chapter) attempts heroics, but having the mentality of a ten-year-old (and not a particularly bright one), he's lacking a bit in competency and tends to latch on to the closest adult that will put up with him. Writing children is so hard. They all mature differently and their parents tell them to put up or shut up in different amounts and everyone has a different memory of how they acted at that age. Most of my characters are adults, though nearly no one is older than 30 (minus immortality)

edited 2nd Jan '12 8:33:15 PM by Kaxen

As for why... I've been writing teenage protagonists since I was twelve, since I just got into manga and anime and everyone was a teenager and I kind of wanted to copy that.

I feel it's kind of stupid now, though, in most portrayals. Teenagers have too many issues on their hands already. Even though my protagonists are a little more, uh, stable, they still have a lot of shit going down at home, and they have to teleport back and forth between exploring magical ruins on weekends and school, which is stressful.

edited 5th Oct '12 1:14:28 PM by SnowyFoxes

It seems that I will be using adult characters (well, if you can consider college students as...) in my side project.

And yet in The Lord of the Rings (the books) and The Hobbit both main protagonists aren't under the age of 30. Bilbo in his book is 50 and Frodo is in the low 30s at introduction.

Yeah, according to (LONG FREAKING ASS) introduction, he was basically an adult by the story began.

It's something you can't tell from just watching the movies, though.

I used to write people who were in high school when I was in middle school.

In high school I wrote people who were in highschool.

In college, I write people who are out of college.

Who do you suppose you'll be writing about when you graduate from college?

I don't know. Probably people with actual *jobs*

@ Major Tom

Bilbo and Frodo aren't human, though. Also it's Tolkein, of course he wouldn't buy into this underaged hero nonsense.

edited 3rd Jan '12 11:27:20 PM by NoirGrimoir