flitting on fiction

 So - if I were to write my Major Research Paper (MRP) on the topic of emerging adults and fiction, what would be the point?

Do I think that publishers should add a new classification to books? Children, Young Adult, Emerging Adult and Adult?  Not particularly - at least not at this stage of my thinking. It seems to me that categorizing books into particular sections is largely counterproductive….but then that could be because my own interests don’t fit into a particular category, age group or genre. I like many children’s books, and young adult books as well. When I was a child, on the other hand, I was just as likely to choose books that were intended for readers far older than I.

People aren’t meant to fit into boxes - and while books, of course, do - as one can clearly see by looking at the stacks of boxes of books behind me in my office - that’s different! 

But I do think that there might well be benefits, to publishers and to readers, in identifying characteristics of fiction that make a work more likely to appeal to emerging adults, and in at least keeping that in mind when marketing a work of fiction.

Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet is one such book. It was published as an adult novel, and given the language and some of the content - and the fact that it is an excellent read that appealed strongly to this adult - that is entirely appropriate.  It is, however, also a novel that is particularly well suited to readers in the emerging adult range.

I have discussed this with my sister several times; she is a sales representative for Penguin Canada. Our conversations began with Anthem, but have moved on to also discuss other books that fit the largely non-existent in publishing ‘category’ of books for emerging adults. She has little trouble pulling out books that interest me: they are the ones that she and the booksellers she deals with have discussions about -should they be placed in the YA section or the Adult section? 

Emerging adulthood is, according to Dr. Jeffrey Arnett, who coined the term, the age of in-between. So too, it seems to me, are these novels. There is plenty of research about what characteristics of fiction appeal to YA readers - but I have not found similar research about what appeals to EA readers. There will, I suspect, be some similarities - but also differences - and that, it seems to me, would be worthwhile to explore.

So - now to frame my research question(s).

When I met with my MRP advisor to be, I was still focusing strictly on Canadian fiction for Canadian adolescents… would like to get at least a preliminary proposal roughed out for my first meeting with her in September… and for scholarship applications, of course. While they don’t hold you to your statement of intent on those, they do look for a clear sense of direction… as you can no doubt tell, I am not really there yet.

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