How to Create Adult Characters in Young Adult Fiction

How to Create Adult Characters in Young Adult Fiction

Young Adult (YA) literature isn’t only for young adults. A 2023 study by WordsRated indicates that 51% of book purchases in the YA category are by those who are between 30 and 44 years old, and 78% of those buyers plan to read the book(s) themselves. 

Most likely, the attraction to YA literature by a vast audience results from several factors common to many YA novels, including: an accessible writing style, a sensitive exploration of serious topics, and the emotional depth of new experiences as seen through the fresh eyes of an adolescent protagonist. 

Teen characters, like their reality counterparts, tend to be deeply impacted by events such as the death of a family member, a broken friendship, or a burgeoning romantic relationship. These events can be difficult for human beings of any age, but they are usually even harder for young people with scant experience to navigate through rough waters. 

These challenges, expressed in fiction, can create intense, nuanced, and sympathetic stories to which adult and teen readers can relate. A story might grab an adolescent reader who is currently living the issues presented therein, and that same story can resonate with an adult reader who has survived similar experiences in the past. 

Many authors do not craft YA fiction with only a teenage audience in mind. When I wrote my debut novel, Other Words for Love (Random House; Delacorte Press), I simply created a story that I hoped would be compelling to all readers. The novel is narrated by an adolescent and deals with her coming-of-age story, but her interactions are not merely with other teenagers, and her story impacts adult characters in her orbit. 

In Other Words for Love, and in most YA fiction, the adolescent characters don’t live on an island that admits only teenagers; they exist in the real world with their parents, teachers, and other people over the age of twenty-one. For any story to ring true—especially to a wide audience—characters at all stages of life should be authentically portrayed. But how does an author achieve this goal? Here are five tips: 

Give Them a Chance

Don’t let adult characters linger in the shadows. Provide them with opportunities to interact with their children, grandchildren, and students. Teen protagonists might not be eager to disclose personal information to adults, but this dynamic overflows with possibilities for drama, tension, and conflict. Draw the young and older characters together in a meaningful way that enriches the narrative. 

Build Their Lives

Although the main focus of a YA novel is always on the teen characters, the adults should never be one-dimensional figures. They should be as vibrant, complex, and intriguing as the younger characters. What do these adults do for a living? Where do they come from? Have they achieved their dreams? Are they dissatisfied or fulfilled? What are their personality quirks? Answer these questions and devote equal time to developing both the adults and the teens.

Make Them Sympathetic 

Authors of YA fiction strive to create well-drawn teen characters who are not only realistically flawed but who are also likeable. This objective can be achieved by depicting the characters with positive, admirable traits such as kindness, sensitivity, and compassion—which are attributes that should also be displayed in adult characters. While teen protagonists are relatable due to their struggles at school and with various relationships, older characters can be equally sympathetic as they cope with problems in the adult world such as career, marriage, and children. Rather than portraying only one side of a parent-teen conflict, deepen the story by giving adequate time to the perspective of Mom and Dad. 

Explore Their Backstory

One of the best ways to determine how someone behaves today is by considering who they were in the past. A backstory is crucial to the development of both adolescent and adult characters—and with older characters, there is more history to utilize. If, for example, a teen protagonist’s mother dislikes her daughter’s reckless best friend, perhaps this is because the currently conservative Mom sees her daughter’s friend as a disturbing reflection of her former self, which could be a bombshell to the protagonist and the reader. Rather than contributing an adult character’s viewpoints and actions to something basic like a generation gap, consider more complicated reasons that add layers to the character. 

Show Them Respect

Adult characters don’t have to be clueless relics. Although a teen protagonist might view a grandmother as tone deaf to the current generation, further exploration might prove otherwise, and it will make the story more captivating. Maybe Grandma was a carefree hippie during the 1960s counterculture or an active supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment during the 1970s. Keep in mind that adult characters were young once, too. Create conversations between teenaged and older characters in which an adult voice provides further dimension to the story. 

Keeping these tips in mind, authors can write a YA novel in which characters of all ages come to life. 

References: 

WordsRated (2023). Young Adult Book Sales Statistics

https://wordsrated.com/young-adult-book-sales/

Lorraine Zago Rosenthal is the author of OTHER WORDS FOR LOVE (Random House; Delacorte Press); NEW MONEY (Macmillan; St. Martin’s Press); and INDEPENDENTLY WEALTHY (Macmillan; St. Martin’s Press).

Website: www.lorrainezagorosenthal.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/lorrainezago

OTHER WORDS FOR LOVE

It’s the mid-1980s, and Ari Mitchell feels invisible at her Brooklyn high school. Her hair is too flat, her style too preppy, and her personality too quiet. And outside school, Ari feels outshined by her beautiful, confident best friend, Summer. Their friendship is as complex and confusing as Ari’s relationship with her troubled older sister, Evelyn, a former teenage mom whose handsome firefighter husband fills Ari’s head with guilty fantasies.

When an unexpected inheritance enables Ari to transfer to an elite Manhattan prep school, she makes a wealthy new friend, Leigh. Leigh introduces Ari to the glamorous side of New York–and to her gorgeous cousin, Blake. Ari doesn’t think she stands a chance, but amazingly, Blake asks her out. As their romance heats up, they find themselves involved in an intense, consuming relationship. Ari’s family worries that she is losing touch with the important things in life, like family, hard work, and planning for the future.

When misfortune befalls Blake’s family, he pulls away, and Ari’s world drains of color. As she struggles to get over the breakup, Ari must finally ask herself: were their feelings true love . . . or something else?

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Category: How To and Tips