: Why do Popular Fantasy Novels of Today Feature Teenagers? This could be a misconception of mine, but I've noticed that the popular fantasy novels of today seem to nearly all have main characters

Vote Up Vote Down

This is a variant of Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey. Adolescent characters are hardly new, Dorothy from Wizard of Oz, Jason of the Argonauts, Theseus (of minotaur slaying fame), and more recently the kids from Narnia, Garion from David Edding's Belgariad, arguably Frodo from LOTR, etc. These characters have the advantage of little to no backstory of merit, other than perhaps their parentage. So the audience gets their entire arc, as opposed to something like Odysseus, who had prior adventures before the Odyssey. The Farm Boy to King plot arc is pervasive and very compelling, even to adults. They serve as a readers entry into a fantasy world as well.

Specifically marketed towards kids/teens, a protagonist of their age/experience allows the reader to more fully relate to the story, like having Jim Hawkins in Treasure Island, with every other character being an adult what is the appeal for kids? Perhaps super-hero fiction deviates from this more than other youth media, but even then there is Robin, Spider-man (the most commercially successful superhero by a mile), Jimmy Olsen, etc, all young heroes/sidekicks that serve as a stand-in for the youthful audience. And of course comics have been trying to kick the "it's all for kids" association for decades!

(0)

Vote Up Vote Down

The question sounds to me like an opinion query. My opinion is that like many other forms of media like movies and music, novels have adapted to the general trend of media where the better looking people (young) get the job done cheaper, etc. I believe it's a management and business decision. You could probably research the topic and find some interesting things.

(0)

Vote Up Vote Down

The main drawback you ll have is you ll not get the same audience.
An adult character is more mature and have another conception of life, that means different choice based on logic more than affect.

Young character are popular in YA fantasy cause it allows author to touch more easily young reader who feel the same thing. Moreover the novels you use in exemple are what i classified as "low level fantasy" (except for HP) --> easy to pick, easy to read and easy to forget.

YA fantasy is like our society, fast and easy enjoyment.

(0)