WIP Poll: Adult, YA, or middle-grade?

[SciFrac]

I'm currently working on two novels. One is fully adult fiction with a paranormal aspect, the other (I've been told) is an upper middle-grade fantasy. I get the impression most people here are writing for YA or adult.
So I'm curious:

If you are writing to become published, what is your target audience?

Adult? Young Adult? Middle-grade? Elementary? Other?

 

[alchemist]

Young Adult, meaning late teens, but hopefully appealing to Proper Adults as well.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Adult. I often have young protagonists, but tend to stray into adult themes.

 

[nubins]

Young adult and whatever you call the 20-40 age group I guess.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I have a MG / Junior Fiction (or is it Juvenile Fiction?) one going, and an adult one getting started.

 

[Dozmonic]

I've got a middle grade series being written currently. Don't find too many here that're writing to an audience that young, but I'm interested to hear about your fantasy piece SciFrac

 

[AnyaKimlin]

I have a junior fiction/middle grade series of stories, a YA and two adult ones. My main protagonists range in age from seven to seventy. (although one of the adult ones isn't fantasy).

My junior fiction is set in Storyland and has two story fairies (Milly and Billy) who take two children on a variety of adventures like Maeve the Missing Mermaid, Tiny Cuthroats without a Boat, Little Horses of Power etc They get there by going down a slide that appears to be a cross between Enid Blyton's Faraway Tree and an eighties cartoon called Jamie and the Magic Torch.

 

[Juliana]

Another Middle Grade here... There seem to be quite a few of us!

 

[Bowler1]

Adult. Very adult, my lot smoke, drink and swear (they are troopers). And all that is in the first section and they're behaviour does not improve as I go along.

 

[Hex]

One firmly YA, one crossover and one adult (with sex! and mermaids! and Violent Scenes!!)

 

[prizzley]

Adult, but would probably be read by YA even if not ideal in places.

 

[Tecdavid]

Young Adult, leaning towards the older side of its spectrum.

 

[SciFrac]

Huh, there seem to be more middle-grade than I expected.

Dozmonic, my middle-grade is more sci-fi than fantasy, maybe more like a crossover or something. My wife and I are writing that one together. It's been an interesting exercise to say the least!

Hex and Anya, I hear mermaids are a popular creature right now. Good luck with your stories.

Glad to hear from everyone!

 

[AnyaKimlin]

The mermaid is just one story. I've got hundreds of them because i write them when my children request something. My children's stories are the ones I've had commissioned for various things. Almost makes me a real writer lol.

 

[Scott R. Forshaw]

Most definitely adult. Whenever I set out to write YA, it always seems to go seriously awry fast, with far too much bloodshed, gore, sex, and foul language than would be deemed appropriate for such innocent eyes and minds.

 

[Galacticdefender]

Hmm. I don't really write for a specific audience. I write for whoever I think would like my work, mainly late teens/adults. I have only had one short story published, and that was quite recently. I couldn't bare to tone down anything for younger audiences. That would make my writing feel... fake to some extent.

 

[nightdreamer]

My science fiction and fantasy is probably young adult but toward the higher end depending on definitions. Some go as young as 10 and there is some content not suitable for that age. There are some rare pieces that I write that are not technically SFF (but always weird in some way) which fall into the adult category. I have in mind a couple middle-level novels but haven't worked on them to any extent.

 

[clippedwolf]

Adult.
The story I'm writing became more violent than I initially intended. At the very beginning I had a "PG-13" narrative in mind, and then I wrote. Since then I have embraced the fact that the story needs to be too...adult(?) for PG-13; my mind and my pen gravitate toward dark and intense realities.