The Prophecy is science fiction and it is a Young Adult novel. It is the first book in the Peace Child series and it was a first in many ways for me when I wrote it. It was the first time I’d written science fiction, it was the first time I’d written for young adults and it was the first time I’d written a novel over about 29,000 words.
In fact, if formed part of my PhD thesis, Peace Child, Towards a Global Definition of the Young Adult Novel.
I had a writing routine back then (2003-2007) that involved writing for two hours a day and producing 2000 words. I also read avidly and devoured as many young adult novels as I could find: ones in other languages, form other English-speaking countries and anything that was labelled ‘young adult’ by publishers, book-sellers, teachers, librarians and young adults themselves. I sought to define what the young adult novel was and shape my novel accordingly.
It soon became apparent that it wasn’t a matter of writing the story and then working on the definition. The two processes had to go hand in hand.
I won’t give you my definition here - why would I deprive you of the pleasure of reading the thesis? Find out all about it here: https://research.bangor.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/peace-child-towards-a-global-definition-of-the-young-adult-novel. I can however tell you I identified seven characteristics.
There was an explosion in YA literature between 1996 and 2005. Back then I was familiar with pretty well every YA text. Now there are far too many of them to keep track and the YA novel has moved on.
The story itself is a about a Peace Child, a sort of super-charged diplomat who seeks to bring people on opposite sides together. Oh, I wish we had a few of those around now. Kaleem’s world is in a distant future, where we have colonised other planets and found other life in the universe, But as ever in science fiction we encounter the same problems that challenge us in our own world.
I spent many months before I started writing the story creating Kaleem’s world. I thought about food, clothing, schooling, religion, finance and many other matters. When I started writing more questions came up. I find this happens too in fantasy and historical fiction. With the latter you have to go and find out - for example for one book I needed to know which cut flowers would be available in the autumn in 1941. In fantasy and science fiction you have to use your imagination – but in fact you are still writing what you know.
Is science fiction and science fantasy for young adults the equivalent of the glove puppet and anthropomorphised animals for very young children? I suspect it is.
I have now completed six stories in the Peace Child series. I shall be starting the seventh and final one shortly.
This first novel shows how the Peace Child, Kaleem Malkendy, fulfils a prophecy and saves his planet. In the process he finds out a lot about his own identity. He has to learn to understand otherness. In subsequent books he faces other issues but there is always the need to find a third way between opposing entities. In books five and six he hands over the batten to the next Peace Child and in book seven we shall meet her successor.
The prophecy? It is something to do with the Tower of Babel. Kaleem is a super linguist. Is the prophecy accurate? In a later book some explanation is offered as to how it came about … and yet we are left wondering. Here’s a hint for you: one characteristic of the young adult novel is that it allows the reader to make up their own mind about what is really happening. I think The Prophecy does.
Kaleem Malkendy is different – and on Terrestra, different is no way to be.
Everything
about Kaleem marks him out form the rest: the blond hair and dark skin,
the uncomfortable cave where he lives and the fact that he doesn’t know
his father. He’s used to unwelcome attention, but even so he’d feel
better if some strange old man didn’t keep following him around.
That man introduces himself and begins to explain the Babel Prophecy – and everything in Kaleem’s life changes forever.
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