A few months ago I finished reading the adult book Stardust by Neil Gaiman. In the foreword, Gaiman introduced the book as a “fairytale for adults.” Personally, I never considered fairytales as only being for kids, especially considering the ones from the Brothers Grimm, but I assumed he was referring to how some groups frown upon whimsical stories.
However, I soon discovered that his “fairytale for adults” was very similar to a lot of the childrens’ whimsical and fairytale-esque stories I’ve read (e.g. Peter Pan by JM Barrie, Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, Narnia by C.S. Lewis). Stardust could even be described as a “coming of age” story, something I reserve for the childrens’ and young adult categories. In fact, the only major difference was the sex and, to an extent, the violence.
And that got me thinking…is that really what makes a story for adults? Is that even what most adults enjoy in a story?
Mature content vs. clean (adult) content
First of all, what is mature content? Many entertainment organizations that include mature ratings define it as anything graphic that is only suitable for adults to consume, including nudity, sex, drugs, violence, language, and gore.
Clean (adult) content is what I’ll be using for the purpose of this post to refer to content that is written for adults but isn’t necessarily graphic. This content is suitable for adults and tends to be of little interest to younger readers.
Clean (adult) content includes mundane topics like changing careers, raising a family, and going to work everyday. They may also include moral dilemmas more intense than the ones found in children’s novels. Genre-specific themes may be discussed in a way not appealing to or suitable for kids, such as crime, war, or romance. These are things adults might encounter or understand in a way that kids and teenagers typically can’t relate to.
This kind of content can still include mature themes like sex and violence without making them graphic or explicit. It’s important to note that mature themes can still have a place in “clean” books depending on how they’re handled.
What makes a story “adult”
Our culture tends to slap an age-rating on a story based on its “mature content,” which they define as content inappropriate for children, typically sex, violence, etc. But is that really the only defining marker of maturity in stories?
The obvious answer is no.
Adult stories come with their own themes and way of handling them, like described above. While some of those themes may be inappropriate for a child audience, some are themes that can also be covered in a children’s novel, just in a different way (e.g. the loss of a loved one). These themes aren’t “mature” so much as “serious.”
For example, the children’s story The Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson involves the main character losing his best friend in an accident. Death could be classified as a mature/serious topic, but when handled correctly, it may be present in a children’s story, like done in this novel. Similarly, even Peter Pan has some darker elements and themes that a child may not fully grasp, like how Peter never wants to grow up and Wendy has to lose Peter to his own devices.
Clearly, serious topics are not always off-limits in children’s stories because sometimes it’s not about the content, so much as how the content is handled. In these stories, mature/serious content is handled delicately. Similarly, when it comes to adult stories, it’s not just the content that makes the story adult but rather how that content is handled.
This is because adults process things differently than children do. The way an adult would process the death of a friend is different than how a young child or even a teenager would.
In addition to the content differences, adult and children’s stories can contain different internal conflicts and storylines. Adult stories tend to revolve around changing directions in life, reconciling past conflicts, and rising up to face conflict. Since adults have more life experience than children and even teenagers, their stories reflect that.
For example, an adult fantasy story may feature an MC learning to forgive their lifelong enemy, gearing up to fight in a world-changing war, changing career paths from assassin to story peddler, or even preparing to save the world when all they want to do is settle down.
On the other hand, children’s fantasy stories, specifically in the YA range, almost always have a coming of age arc. In those stories, the young MC goes on an adventure and discovers who s/he wants to be. A lot of books for young readers involve the MC figuring out his/her belief system and his/her place in the world.
Of course, these are generalizations. Adult books can involve themes like self-discovery, but again, an adult learning more about themselves and who they want to be looks different from a teenager figuring themselves out.
Age-ratings vs. age of the characters
This may be a given, but adult books tend to feature adult characters and YA and kids’ books tend to feature young characters. While this can give the reader a general idea of who the book is for, it’s not a hard and fast rule. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee has an MC in elementary school, but the story isn’t specifically for kids. Similarly, some books that are (falsely) labeled YA have teenage characters but then they feature those characters in inappropriate scenes and the pages are loaded with language. At that point, the book is adult or new adult.
The opposite can be true as well. Some books with mostly adult characters, like The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, can be written for a younger audience.
The best way to describe what makes a story adult isn’t with a “mature content” label or even a strict age measure, but by the themes and who the story is intended for.
Deciding to label your book “adult”
This section is for fellow writers. If you’re anything like me, your book ideas can be all over the place. When you factor all the elements in, it can sometimes be difficult deciding what to classify your book as, especially since the lines between young adult, new adult, and adult can be blurry.
A general rule is to match the age of the characters with the ages of the target audience. Here are the corresponding age ranges (of the audiences) with each category:
- Young adult (YA): 13-18 years old
- New adult (NA): 18-24 years old
- Adult: 25+
Of course, like mentioned before, this rule is not set in stone. There are many stories that transcend the ages of their characters and cross into other categories.
Another way to classify your book is to look at the extent of its “mature content.” If your book handles mature themes that are only suitable for adults, then your book may land in the NA or adult range.
However, remember that while some adults want mature content, some have no preference, and still others may want to avoid it. Don’t feel pressured to include mature content in your adult book if you don’t want to; there will be an audience for it regardless. And besides, as we’ve established earlier in the article, adult books are a lot more than just mature content.
Depending on how the mature content is handled, it may be acceptable for your book to be classified as upper-YA. However, it is important to note that when writing for YA, those topics must be handled with the teenage audience in mind.
A key defining feature of YA is a coming of age arc. If your book doesn’t have one of those, it probably isn’t YA.
That being said, an adult book—though less common—may feature a younger character going through a coming of age arc. At that point, you’d look at other elements of the story to label it. For example, Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb revolves around 15-year-old Fitz, but the book was clearly written with an adult audience in mind given the prose, the narrator, and the events of the story.
The most important question you need to answer is: Who is your book written for? And along with that, what is the target age for the audience of your book? The answer to those questions should not only affect how you write the book, but also how you label it.
It all comes down to who the book is for. A lot more than mature content makes a book for adults—and a lot more than a lack of it makes a kids’ book.
