Writing Romantic Comedy for Teens AND Adults
As the author of both YA and contemporary adult romance novels, I get a lot of questions about the intricacies of writing within two different age categories.
“Do you approach writing YA in a different way? Is it difficult to go back and forth between the two categories? Do you have a favorite?”
My answer is a solid NO, which seems to surprise people.
And I get it.
When you read a young adult rom-com, it feels vastly different from its adult counterpart. YA is filled with high school experiences, parental expectations, teen characters, and a whole lot of emotion, whereas adult romances often center around things like workplace interactions, financial obligations, and the pursuit of romantic partnerships (with a myriad of different “spice” levels to choose from).
Romance in the high school life vs. romance in the “real world,” adult-y life.
Those are two very, very different experiences that would seemingly require two very different writing processes.
But for me, they’re incredibly similar.
When I draft a new YA novel, the only consideration I give to the “YA” part of the equation is the protagonist’s age. I have no “rules” in place regarding sex or cursing, no teen “lessons” to teach, and no process to “age it down” so that it’s “appropriate” for a younger audience.
Primarily because it’s romantic comedy.
In romantic comedy, the main character a. embarks upon on a romantic journey (usually either seeking romance or seeking to avoid it), b. experiences hilarious cringe on that journey while also discovering new things about herself and her relationships, and c. ultimately gets her swoon-filled happy ending.
Yes, that’s wildly oversimplified, but you get it, right?
Since my goal, as a romance writer, is for my literary rom-com to feel like a cinematic rom-com, I focus primarily on this romantic journey while outlining the project—both in YA and adult.
Because when you consider classic rom-com films with teen protagonists, i.e. 10 Things I Hate About You, Easy A, She’s All That, Clueless, etc., they don’t feel like they’re created to be “young adult” or “teen” at all.
They are romantic comedies, plain and simple. I lump them together with Notting Hill, 27 Dresses, and Set It Up without a second thought.
And I want to capture that it’s-simply-a-rom-com vibe in book form.
Once the initial draft is outlined, the differences between YA and adult begin showing themselves in an organic way because of the built-in roadblocks that naturally exist within a teenager’s life. There are curfews, parental dynamics to navigate, teachers, grades, laws; life proceeds along a different route for a young adult than it does for someone in their 20s or 30s. So once a writer starts adding things like high school parties, prom, and biology tests, while layering in the emotions that accompany these (and so many other) coming-of-age experiences, the differentiation begins to exist.
And this is when I’m reminded why I love writing both categories so much.
Check out Lynn Painter’s Happily Never After here:
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With YA, I find it so compelling to explore this tiny window of time in our lives when we straddle both childhood and adulthood—on a daily basis. We wake up in our childhood bedroom, eat food provided by our parents, listen to and obey (most of the time) their rules, and basically function as dependents as we embark upon our days.
Yet there are random time pockets in our YA era where we’re free to roam about the adult world completely free of supervision. It’s Friday night, you’re going to a game with your friends, and your curfew is midnight. After being a “child” all day long, you suddenly have this gift of a few post-game hours where you’re out in the world, socializing without a chaperone, making very adult decisions, and having to deal with the very adult consequences of those actions.
This juxtaposition is what makes YA literature so interesting to me.
Alexa, play “I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman.”
But on the other side of the coin, the wide-open world of adult romance is like a writer’s dreamy playground. It’s the Grand Theft Auto of book writing, where nothing is off-limits and you can throw your characters into literally any situation.
Should my character flip-off her boss and get fired from her job? Sure, why not? Nothing is stopping her. Do I want my protagonist’s love interest to push her into a broom closet for some spicy moments at an NBA game, regardless of the fact that they’re in a public stadium filled with thousands of fans, any of whom might throw open that door and expose them? I might actually want for that to happen.
The bottom line is that in an adult romance, no one in my main character’s life can stand in the way of her decisions (unless I want them to) because she is a grown-ass woman.
And that is a whole lot of fun to write.
It’s all a whole lot of fun to write, to be honest.
As someone who grew up voraciously ingesting all-things romance, both on the screen and on the page, I’m grateful I don’t have to choose between categories.
Because I could never.
I mean, why would I want to?
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