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The thing that spawns all this is that apparently I am writing a Young Adult novel. I hate to admit it, but I actually loathe the genre. Like, will not touch a Young Adult book EVEN if it was written by an author I love and EVEN if it sounded awesome. I'm not a teen anymore, which might be part of the problem, but I didn't even read much in the way of Young Adult when I WAS a teen. Here's the thing that gets me: The most popular books tend to be teen paranormal romance, but they push the most dangerous ideas. For example, this disgusting idea that the guy in the relationship is allowed to be abusive and overly controlling and flat-out creepy and it's okay because he's HOT! Usually intelligent readers are like "Awwwwww!" and "Best book ever!" and "I want a *Name of guy*!" A couple friends of mine, in fact, bought into it, and they were two of the smartest people I knew. Uh, I think I'll pass. The few books that seem positive in that respect/progressive are real-world based. Not necessarily that they're literary fiction geared towards teens, but everything feels like it could happen right in front of you. With that out of the way, I'm writing a Young Adult novel. Young Adult Supernatural Fantasy, if you'd ask me for a specific genre. It's only Young Adult because the female lead tends to be in the teen range when stuff happens to her (although the first book is more when she's a preteen), but I'll accept it. I would absolutely love to contribute GOOD Young Adult fantasy to the genre, so yeah, I'm fine with it.
Here's the rest of the thoughts, which are only related because they deal with the Young Adult Genre.
Today, I read this post where a mom (I think it was a mom, could've been an aunt or cousin) had this daughter who was getting into the Young Adult genre and she had no idea where to turn. There were a lot of suggestions, most that had me rolling my eyes. Okay, I was surprised my eyes didn't drop from my head and bounce across the floor. Never mind that half these books were the teen paranormal romance I griped about above, some of the authors themselves are unpleasant folks. I don't know about anyone else, but I would not want to support authors who can't accept up-and-coming writers, who chase after people who DARE to say "Your book sucks, here's a comprehensive review to back it up", who have no idea that there are genuinely people who dislike their books, who write horribly abusive relationships and say in interviews, "I've been getting criticism, but these relationships are hot and the guy is hot and I wanted to write a bad boy, so...". One reason I prefer reading from the adult speculative fiction (umbrella term) sections is the writers tend to be less moon-batty (my term for disconnected, wonky) and the fans seem to have a better grasp that "Okay, this is fiction. This is not real." Anyway, this post made me sad. Also, I wanted to come up with my own suggestions (which would turn out to be adult novels that are "clean" or whatever) but off the top of my head, I couldn't think of any.
There's this interesting trend in cover art, which I think is both Young Adult and Adult. It's where there's a woman on the cover, and she has this long hair that billows out. I would not mind having a cover like that on my own book, as long as it was a bit different and distinctive. Yeah, I know authors don't have much say in their book covers, but I'd kind of like to stand out as much as possible.
I find it weird that a lot of writers in the adult Urban Fantasy genre also write in the Young Adult genre. Is it like a requirement? I think I'd find it hard to say "On this day, I'm writing my adult novel. On this next day, I'm writing my young adult novel."
I know there's a lot more I have to say on this topic, so I'll keep you all posted as it comes to me.
Here's the rest of the thoughts, which are only related because they deal with the Young Adult Genre.
Today, I read this post where a mom (I think it was a mom, could've been an aunt or cousin) had this daughter who was getting into the Young Adult genre and she had no idea where to turn. There were a lot of suggestions, most that had me rolling my eyes. Okay, I was surprised my eyes didn't drop from my head and bounce across the floor. Never mind that half these books were the teen paranormal romance I griped about above, some of the authors themselves are unpleasant folks. I don't know about anyone else, but I would not want to support authors who can't accept up-and-coming writers, who chase after people who DARE to say "Your book sucks, here's a comprehensive review to back it up", who have no idea that there are genuinely people who dislike their books, who write horribly abusive relationships and say in interviews, "I've been getting criticism, but these relationships are hot and the guy is hot and I wanted to write a bad boy, so...". One reason I prefer reading from the adult speculative fiction (umbrella term) sections is the writers tend to be less moon-batty (my term for disconnected, wonky) and the fans seem to have a better grasp that "Okay, this is fiction. This is not real." Anyway, this post made me sad. Also, I wanted to come up with my own suggestions (which would turn out to be adult novels that are "clean" or whatever) but off the top of my head, I couldn't think of any.
There's this interesting trend in cover art, which I think is both Young Adult and Adult. It's where there's a woman on the cover, and she has this long hair that billows out. I would not mind having a cover like that on my own book, as long as it was a bit different and distinctive. Yeah, I know authors don't have much say in their book covers, but I'd kind of like to stand out as much as possible.
I find it weird that a lot of writers in the adult Urban Fantasy genre also write in the Young Adult genre. Is it like a requirement? I think I'd find it hard to say "On this day, I'm writing my adult novel. On this next day, I'm writing my young adult novel."
I know there's a lot more I have to say on this topic, so I'll keep you all posted as it comes to me.
