The Sparkle Project, or How I Intend to Drive Myself Mad with Paranormal YA.
Twilight.
It can only truly be described as a phenomenon. It inspires equal amounts of excitement and rage in people, it inspires people to spend days camping outside a cinema waiting to catch a glimpse of greasy Pattinson hair or underage abs, it encourages lazy journalists to declare it the new Harry Potter and it's power in the YA literature market is undeniable. A quick look in any bookshop, especially the Waterstones in Edinburgh where they have put up a shiny new 'dark fantasy' section, will show you just how big an influence Twilight has had.
Shelves full of dark covers with non-descript objects on the front, blurbs harping on about forbidden love and beauty and every mythological creature you can shake a stick at (although I lament the lack of a kraken romance). At first glance most of these seem to have similar plots to Twilight and the market just keeps growing with everyone declaring that [insert mythological creature here] are the new vampires. Not that many of these books present an accurate or interesting interpretation of the mythology but I digress. But they can't all be Twilight rip offs, or desperate chances to cash in on the phenomenon, can they?
As someone who harbours not so secret dreams to be a YA author, the oversaturation of the market worries and annoys me. The lack of quality is also another hit to the head. It doesn't take a genius to see that publishers are playing a shrewd game with the genre right now and it seems to be working. So, since I'm sure my Twitter feed has gotten sick of me ranting about this, I have decided to put my well honed ranting skills to good use and start the Sparkle Project.
Named after the most memorable, and most hilarious, aspect of thw Twilight sage, the Sparkle Project's aim is to understand and decipher the Twilight Saga's effect on paranormal YA, both the market and the literary content itself. There will also be discussion/ranting over Twilight's effect on books published before the series, most memorably the classic literature reprints, as well as the books's attitudes towards issues such as love, sex and the importance of a personality in a leading character. My list includes 10 books but if you have any books you think I must read, pelase leave a comment. These books were picked specifically because they have either been called 'The next Twilight' or referred to as perfect reading for Twilight fans:
It can only truly be described as a phenomenon. It inspires equal amounts of excitement and rage in people, it inspires people to spend days camping outside a cinema waiting to catch a glimpse of greasy Pattinson hair or underage abs, it encourages lazy journalists to declare it the new Harry Potter and it's power in the YA literature market is undeniable. A quick look in any bookshop, especially the Waterstones in Edinburgh where they have put up a shiny new 'dark fantasy' section, will show you just how big an influence Twilight has had.
Shelves full of dark covers with non-descript objects on the front, blurbs harping on about forbidden love and beauty and every mythological creature you can shake a stick at (although I lament the lack of a kraken romance). At first glance most of these seem to have similar plots to Twilight and the market just keeps growing with everyone declaring that [insert mythological creature here] are the new vampires. Not that many of these books present an accurate or interesting interpretation of the mythology but I digress. But they can't all be Twilight rip offs, or desperate chances to cash in on the phenomenon, can they?
As someone who harbours not so secret dreams to be a YA author, the oversaturation of the market worries and annoys me. The lack of quality is also another hit to the head. It doesn't take a genius to see that publishers are playing a shrewd game with the genre right now and it seems to be working. So, since I'm sure my Twitter feed has gotten sick of me ranting about this, I have decided to put my well honed ranting skills to good use and start the Sparkle Project.
Named after the most memorable, and most hilarious, aspect of thw Twilight sage, the Sparkle Project's aim is to understand and decipher the Twilight Saga's effect on paranormal YA, both the market and the literary content itself. There will also be discussion/ranting over Twilight's effect on books published before the series, most memorably the classic literature reprints, as well as the books's attitudes towards issues such as love, sex and the importance of a personality in a leading character. My list includes 10 books but if you have any books you think I must read, pelase leave a comment. These books were picked specifically because they have either been called 'The next Twilight' or referred to as perfect reading for Twilight fans:
- Hush, Hush (Becca Fitzpatrick)
- Evermore (Alyson Noel)
- House of Night series (PC and Kristen Cast)
- Fallen (Lauren Kate)
- Shiver (Maggie Stievfater)
- Need (Carrie Jones)
- Blue Bloods (Melissa de la Cruz)
- Wings (Aprilynne Pike)
- City of Bones (Cassandra Clare)
- Forest of Hands and Teeth (Carrie Ryan)