Ah, the great genre divide: young adult (YA) versus adult fiction. It’s like choosing between a concert filled with teenagers moshing to pop-punk and a poetry reading with ambient jazz playing in the background. Both have their own vibe—their own set of expectations and emotional beats. If you’re a writer teetering between these two worlds, you're probably wondering how to navigate the differences without ending up in an identity crisis of your own.
Let’s break down the 5 key differences between writing YA and adult fiction, and why, if you mix these up, your readers might just side-eye you like you’re trying to pass off instant coffee as freshly brewed espresso.
1. Protagonist’s Age: Who’s in the Spotlight?
The most glaring difference is, of course, age. In YA, protagonists are usually between 15 and 19 years old. It’s the age of discovering first loves, enduring the world’s worst haircut, and figuring out who you are while attending classes you never asked for—like Algebra II or "How to Survive High School Drama." In contrast, adult fiction typically focuses on characters in their twenties or older, grappling with adult responsibilities—taxes, careers, midlife crises, and trying to keep a houseplant alive.
Why does this matter? Because the age of your protagonist heavily influences their worldview. A 16-year-old is probably dealing with their first heartbreak, wondering if they’ll ever recover. A 35-year-old might be reeling from their third divorce, wondering if they’ll ever get their house deposit back. The stakes change based on where your characters are in life—and that’s what makes YA and adult fiction fundamentally different in terms of character development.
In YA, readers want to see someone navigating the chaos of adolescence and coming out (hopefully) a little wiser. Meanwhile, adult fiction is more about figuring out how to deal with an already messy world, or sometimes making peace with the fact that life never really gets “easier.”
Percy Jackson and the Olympians (2010) movie inspired by the books of Rick Riordan.
Â2. Themes: Life’s Big Questions, Tailored to Age
YA fiction loves to explore themes like identity, belonging, first love, rebellion, and independence. It’s about characters who are on the verge of becoming themselves—as dramatic, reckless, and thrilling as that can be. Readers of YA crave this intensity because they’re often living through those moments themselves. Think of YA as a shot of adrenaline, a quest for meaning delivered in an angsty yet hopeful package.
Adult fiction, on the other hand, might still tackle questions about identity or belonging, but it does so with a very different lens. It often includes more nuanced, complex situations—moral dilemmas, family dynamics, existential crises that creep up when you realize you’ve become your mother. The characters have often been knocked down by life and are figuring out how to stand up again. Instead of first loves, adult fiction might delve into what happens when the magic fades, and how to keep love alive through rough patches, or what it means to let go.
YA deals with the firsts: first kiss, first betrayal, first taste of freedom. Adult fiction deals with the afters: what happens after the dream job isn’t quite what you imagined, or after you’ve been married for ten years and it’s not like the movies. The emotional beats are different because the life experience is different.
3. Voice: Tone It Up or Tone It Down?
Voice is where the magic happens, and it’s also where YA and adult fiction diverge the most. YA has a distinct energy to it—fast-paced, emotionally charged, and often more direct. YA characters don’t sit around contemplating the meaning of life for ten pages; they’re too busy doing something about it—sometimes impulsively, often dramatically, always entertainingly. The tone can be snarky, hopeful, and a little messy, because, let’s be honest, teenagers are kind of a lot. And that’s why we love them.
In adult fiction, the voice can be a bit more reflective. It’s okay to take a pause and delve into complex feelings. The tone might be darker, more ironic, or introspective, because adults have the luxury (or curse) of hindsight. They might see their mistakes and have to live with them, whereas YA characters are still figuring things out in real-time, with all the optimism and rawness that comes with it.
For YA, keep it vibrant, visceral, and real—like you’re writing to someone who’s in the thick of it. For adults, lean into the complexities. Life is no longer a straight line between problems and solutions; it’s a tangled web, and adult readers want to see characters struggle through it.
4. Pacing: The Roller Coaster vs. The Scenic Train Ride
YA is often likened to a roller coaster. It’s fast, thrilling, and takes you through loops of emotions. Chapters are usually shorter, and scenes cut straight to the action—whether that’s a romantic first kiss, a heated argument, or running from something (or someone) dangerous. The stakes are always high, and everything feels like it’s life or death (sometimes literally, especially if you’re writing fantasy). YA readers are looking for that adrenaline hit—for stories that feel like a sprint, full of momentum and urgency.
Adult fiction, however, might be more of a scenic train ride. The pacing doesn’t have to be relentless—there’s room for long, meandering moments where characters sit with their thoughts or struggle with the ambiguity of their feelings. That’s not to say adult fiction is slow or boring—far from it. It just doesn’t always have to go full-throttle. There’s beauty in the quiet moments, and adult readers are more likely to appreciate the intricacies of character motivations, the subtlety of relationships, and the gravity of seemingly small choices.
Think of it this way: in YA, the thrill is in the immediate experience—every problem has to be addressed now, every decision feels monumental. In adult fiction, the thrill is often in the tension that builds over time—it’s the slow burn, the what-if, and the exploration of what happens when the rush is over.
The content itself is also a key difference between YA and adult fiction—specifically, how far you can go when it comes to sex, violence, and language. YA might have romance, but the focus is often more on emotional intimacy rather than explicit scenes. That’s not to say YA can’t get steamy, but it’s often more fade-to-black or subtly implied. The same goes for violence and language—YA tends to lean away from anything overly graphic, although there are always exceptions (looking at you, The Hunger Games).
Adult fiction, on the other hand, doesn’t have these limits. It’s more open season—there can be explicit sex scenes, graphic violence, and strong language if that’s what the story calls for. Adult fiction can go to those dark places because it’s assumed that the reader is prepared to handle it. In YA, even if the themes are dark, there’s often an underlying sense of hope—an understanding that things can and will get better. Adult fiction, well… sometimes it just wants you to know that life is hard and complicated, and that’s okay.
Bonus: The Reader’s Perspective
While YA and adult fiction differ in terms of protagonists, themes, pacing, voice, and content, perhaps the most important distinction is the reader’s experience. YA speaks to a teenager’s present—their immediate reality and the dreams or nightmares that shape their world. It’s raw, unapologetic, and often filled with the kind of hope that comes from not yet being weighed down by too much reality.
Adult fiction, however, speaks to reflection—to lived experience, regrets, triumphs, and the gray areas in between. It doesn’t have to end neatly, and the journey is just as important as the destination—if not more so.
So, Which Should You Write?
The answer really depends on who you want to speak to, and how you want to tell your story. Do you want to capture the intensity of first experiences, the adrenaline of coming-of-age, and the angst and magic of becoming someone new? Or do you want to explore what happens after—when dreams change, relationships evolve, and characters have to live with the choices they’ve made?
Both YA and adult fiction offer a wealth of opportunities to connect with readers on a deeply emotional level. Whether you want to evoke the hopeful vulnerability of youth or the nuanced complexity of adulthood, remember: every story has its audience, and every audience craves authenticity.
Now, it’s your turn—are you team YA, adult fiction, or maybe somewhere in between? What’s your favorite part of writing (or reading) for your chosen audience? Let me know in the comments!