Rated YA-MA discussion
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What Would You Like to See More/Less of in YA?
I would like to see a more even mix of male protagonists. It seems mostly female dominated to me and most males serve the purpose of "love interest". I would also like fewer love triangles - it is much too common in YA. I am not an expert of YA though so I may have missed a lot.
I'm in complete agreement. Love triangles are far too common. The main reason I've been reading more middle grade lately. The Authors go to a lot of trouble to make us believe the girl has found her soulmate, and then we're expected to believe in book 2 that she has two of them. It got very old very quickly. And what's worse, is the boys put up with it. It's each other they're mad at, not the girl for messing around. It's time we had some more intelegent girls in YA fiction.
Oooh, hmm.Mine:
More everything in Stacia's list, especially the space sci-fi.
Yes to more male main characters.
More protagonists of color. Not (just) supporting characters - main characters.
Standalones that are NOT contemp/realistic fiction.
More horror and/or psychological thrillers.
Unique magic systems.
Pirates.
More stories about friendship, or ANY relationships that aren't romances. (I like romance in books, but authors maybe feel like they HAVE to include it. And they don't.)
I fully support:...a more even mix of male protagonists...fewer love triangles.
More protagonists of color.
Standalones that are NOT contemp/realistic fiction.
More stories about friendship.
I love it when a story is about M\F friendship, occasionally with slightly blurred lines like in
. I'd also like to read more music-centered novels, without going for the usual oh-I'm-a-teen-music-star routine.
Jenny wrote: "Standalones that are NOT contemp/realistic fiction."I agree with you a 1000x over on this one.
I'd love more horror driven YA pieces that don't shy away from being dark.
R. wrote: "Jenny wrote: "Standalones that are NOT contemp/realistic fiction."I agree with you a 1000x over on this one.
I'd love more horror driven YA pieces that don't shy away from being dark."
And I support your list, Rachel, including Jenny's demand.
Plus more humor, as you said, Stacia.
Leave all the romance you want in YA. But convince me. I don't fall easyly.
Im all in for more Standalones that are NOT contemp/realistic fiction.
also more horror and creep.
Can never get enough monsters
also more horror and creep.
Can never get enough monsters
Like many of you: Less love triangles, for sure. And more books about things other than romance. Friendships, family ties etc. There is so much more to teen life than just romantic relationships. More non-magical/paranormal. I like paranormal, it happens to be my favorite, but, sometimes I just want to read about something more "real" and believable.
I disagree with wanting more horror and darker. But that's just me.
I'd love more horror driven YA pieces that don't shy away from being dark."Try Lockdown if you havent yet it is very dark but part of a series.
I just think there should be more YA horror and psychological suspense type of stuff. I'm not a fan of horror movies and whatnot. I hate them, in fact. But there's just something about reading a creepy book late at night. And scary things have become quite romanticized in the paranormal genre, so I'd like to see more books where the monsters are actually scary/evil to balance it out. More books along the lines of The Monstrumologist would be magnificent.
Have you read
yet?
Finished
- nice read and pretty cover ;)Also done with 2 short stories:
- these two weren't really interesting.
i'm kind of tired of the whole dystopia/post-apoc thing...there needs to be some new buzz setting, or something
Less stupid MC's.I mean, really? Humanity is not the brightest species of the bunch, but reading about some of these characters makes me want to throw my kindle across the room.
And I would probably fast for no more stupid love triangles too.
From all the books I've EVER read, I think only 2 or 3 of the MANY stories with love triangles haven't been obvious as to who is going to end up together. And those few left, have done an amazing job a keeping me on edge. Everything else? Saw it from a mile away, and it frustrated me to no end to have to put up with the LOVE TRIANGLE for longer.
I'm have to agree with most of the above suggestions particularly more male protagonists, more stand alones, more friendships and less love triangles.One other thing I'd like to add that goes with Carina's less stupid MCs (which I also agree with) is less stupid names. I feel like so many characters have these ridiculous made up names that make me gag. I don't have a lot of love for Twilight but Stephanie Meyer did pick great names that were popular from when the vampires would have been born.
I give more of a pass for sci-fi/fantasy but it still should make some sense. I really liked the Hunger Games names with the tie in to the different districts e.g. Glimmer from the luxury district, Wiress from technology.
Yeah, I like dystopian but...woudln't mind more modern times as they are type books.And less stupid MCs for sure! Maybe an intelligent girl that doesn't become a doormat for a guy, or constantly make horrible decisions. Maybe some "good role models" or something.
Interesting point about the names Natalie, I didn't think about it but there are a lot of the silly ones out there. I like when there is meaning behind a characters name.
Yes no more vampires please, or love triangles...
Ottilie just took the words out of my mouth, the reason I clicked on this thread lol. I am so sick of love triangles.
I'd like to continue seeing the dystopian stuff. I love dystopian fiction and I've discovered that I like YA more than adult. Not sure why. I know there's lots out there now, but to me, the more the merrier.
I don't want dystopian to stop. I just want other things to start too!
The YA speculative fiction market is almost completely saturated with dystopia. I definitely want to see more varied sci-fi in this age bracket. Like Stacia said, more space settings and cyborgs!
I often jump from one genre to another so that I'm not tired of vampires or dystopias but they must be fresh and original, not copycats.
message 28:
by
Stacia (the 2010 club), groupaholic, YA-MA founder
(last edited Mar 02, 2013 11:24AM)
(new)
I don't necessarily want to see much of anything go away (other than characters who are too clingy or can't think for themselves). I just think that there's enough room in YA for so many ideas to be explored, so why aren't we constantly being bombarded by new and crazy things?I do think that I spend time wondering why authors aren't constantly looking to come up with the "next big thing" instead of cashing in on the "last big thing," if that makes sense?
Even so, I will read another vampire book, another dystopia book, or even another love triangle book if the summary looks interesting, or if I trust the author to take me there. Look at books like The Hallowed Ones, where the vampires were creepy and not romanticized. There's still room to breathe new life into old topics.
Oh, and no more 'Instant Love' crap please!Unless it's abwsolutely well done, with an awesome story and plot around it(which happens rarely), I am so sick of seeing it done so often.
Let's hope some author is reading this thread ;).
I don't want to see fewer fantasy novels with female protagonists; I want to see BETTER fantasy novels with female protagonists. For me, that would mean novels in which adventure, not romance, is the primary focus. I do enjoy romance, when it's well done. But these days I'd rather see the romance as a subplot, not the main plot.And hey, maybe once in a while, a good female-centric fantasy novel in which the heroine doesn't fall in love with anyone! And in which the absence of romance or pairing-off is not depicted as a failure or defeat!
I would also like to see more books, like Midori Snyder's Oran Trilogy, which feature more than one heroine. I'm very tired of book after book giving us only one important female character, with all other female characters (if there even are any) written as her foils.
And please, can we give "Beauty and the Beast" variations a bit of a rest? Human female/nonhuman male -- it's getting old, don't you think? Or else flip the genders once in a while, and show a love story between an ordinary guy and a magical nonhuman girl?
Haha Kelley I was thinking the same thing! Why does the male have to be the paranormal one? Why can't we get a male lead in UF books that's human??I agree with pretty much everything you guys have said!! Especially insta love and LOVE TRIANGLES. Love triangles are SO unrelatable!
I'd love to see some Alternate History (a la Harry Turtledove - i think his name is) but YA focused (Does that make sense?)
By alternate history, do you mean a real-world time/location but something different happens? Or do you mean a fictional place modeled after a real place?Because if you could deal with the second, there is an alternate take on historical Venice in
real-world/location but history is changed...like what is d-day had never happened...or the a-bomb never dropped on Japan - Harry Turtledove writes quite a bit of it for adults
Publishers and agents please stop flooding the market with whatever subject book first sold most.If you had a hot vampire book, that doesn't give you the green light to flood the market with every vampire idea that crosses your path.
STOP IT STOP IT!!!!!!!!!!
We want variety!
This has happened with:
Vampires
Angels
Wares
Fairies
Dystopian
Troubled Teen Contemporary YA
Fairytale Retellings
(feel free to add to my list)
unfortuantely they need to contract what they know sells and if its popular they sell...they don't necessarily want to take a risk on an unpopular idea because of the cost if it flops...which is why the publishers that do ebooks first (samhein etc) tend to start off trends because it is easier to finance an ebook launch and have it flop, than a print/ebook one
I'll join in and say I want more stand-alones in paranormal YA. I'm so sick of a book ending on a note that is NOT an ending and then waiting a year for the sequel to come out. If there is to be a trilogy, at least let each book also stand alone!This said, I also want to add to the discussion that I am an author and that I have had publishers reject my paranormal book which they said kept them up reading at night and was beautifully written, but they wouldn't take it on. NOT ENOUGH ROMANCE. I am putting the book out later in the month as is, but I wanted to make the point that authors are pressured to write things publishers think will sell and publishers sometimes don't publish things that maybe would change the market for fear of not selling them.
This is going to sound all contradictory from what I just wrote earlier about how I wish authors would stop looking at the last big thing and instead look for the next big thing, but I'll go ahead and look at the other side just to show some of the bigger picture, even if it goes against my personal opinion and what I might want.Publishers are looking to make money. If a trend is selling, they are going to want to put out more of the same trend.
Even though I am wanting people to write new and different stories, I understand (to a certain extent) why publishers do ride out some of these waves.
Last year (or was it the year before?) I got all excited about a centaur book and asked if anyone wanted to read it with me. No one responded. No one seemed interested in a book about a girl who hung out with centaurs. I was all BUT OMG I HAVEN'T SEEN THIS DONE BEFORE, DON'T YOU GET IT?!? And it was like crickets up in here. (not that it has any effect on the point I'm trying to make, but the book itself didn't end up being all that great. :p)
So different does not always equal sales, as much as I would like it to.
While I am fully aware that money talks in publishing as it does everywhere. I am also sadly aware of the follow the herd mentality that big publishers use as an excuse to sit in their glass towers and mass produce copycat, and often substandard books on the heels of original success. That being said I love that smaller imprints such as Strange Chemistry and Soho Teen are coming out with new and original titles and ideas.
Also there is:
Spencer Hill
K-Teen (Kensington)
Flux
(feel free to add to the list)
I seem to have much worse luck with small pub and indie books producing stuff that I like, but Entangled and Kensington have come out with a few I've liked.
I guess I should clarify that a lot of the smaller pubs have come out with some of the fresher ideas/concepts lately, but a good portion of the time when I actually pick up a book I'm looking forward to, the writing or story itself hasn't been impressive. I do applaud the smaller publishers for trying to buck the trends but I don't want 'different' just for the sake of different either. Good idea has to match up with good story/characters/writing.
I dunno some of the smaller press books I've read seem like they're better written than a lot of the New York publishers' books. I like Sourcebooks Fire in addition to the the ones already mentioned.Kelley, you should check out The Cadet of Tildor if you want a female lead fantasy without a romance. I believe it is a standalone, as well.
MORE SCIENCE FICTION!LESS DYSTOPIA!
Sorry. I'll stop screaming and get off the soapbox. ;)
"And please, can we give "Beauty and the Beast" variations a bit of a rest? Human female/nonhuman male -- it's getting old, don't you think? Or else flip the genders once in a while, and show a love story between an ordinary guy and a magical nonhuman girl?"*plauds to Kelley*
"I also want to add to the discussion that I am an author and that I have had publishers reject my paranormal book which they said kept them up reading at night and was beautifully written, but they wouldn't take it on. NOT ENOUGH ROMANCE.
Ugh. That sucks. Especially in the eyes of a reader like me...who's always in search of books where romance is marginal...I hope you'll be able to stay your ground Katie :).
@Roberta - I think there's a few of us on here ;) I'm kind of thankful that almost none of my (unpublished but shopping) books follow the trends you guys want to avoid. Most of my manuscripts are stand alone - success!However, I do have to wonder - If X publisher likes the book but wants it only as a series... how many authors have been asked to "make book two"?
Roberta R. (Offbeat YA) wrote: ""And please, can we give "Beauty and the Beast" variations a bit of a rest? Human female/nonhuman male -- it's getting old, don't you think? Or else flip the genders once in a while, and show a lov..."Thanks,Roberta! I am digging my heels in. There's romance, but it's not the main thrust of the book.
What a stupid reason to decline. I know A LOT of people who are getting sick of every book HAVING to have romance in it and especially sick of plots in action genres being driven by romance drama rather than by the action.
I guess that is where the self-publishing option would be something to consider - because books that were passed over for trad pub have later been picked up
Hi,YA author here--thank you for this thread! One of the reasons I started writing YA is because of my frustration with some of the trends mentioned here, and because I wanted my friends' daughters to have some YA novels to read that don't feature insta-love, love triangles, weak heroines, etc (I'll admit, my book has romance, but it's only one element of the book, and the characters don't move out of the "friend zone" until about 2/3 of the way in).
Rated YA-MA
Books mentioned in this topic
Matter of Resistance (other topics)Lenobia's Vow (other topics)
The New Hunger (other topics)
Clockwork Angel (other topics)
The Fault in Our Stars (other topics)
More...
My wish list :
more space sci-fi
different/new creature types (i.e. hybrid creatures like centaurs, aliens, cyborgs, bird shifters, etc.)
superheroes
realistic love stories
humor
mystery