YA sf = Dystopia?

[rachelmanija]

I found a fascinating blog entry by Rahul Kanakia, the guy who wrote the bedbugs-and-squatters story, with a gay teenage Indian hero (yay!), for Diverse Energies. (I see elsewhere on the site that "I'm currently shopping a gay-themed YA novel -- set in a dystopian Washington, D.C. -- to agents." I hope it sells. Depressing or not, I would read it

Comments

[thecityofdis]

I see some circularity going on here, not merely regarding this particular anthology, but perhaps in YA as a whole. All science fiction is labeled "dystopia," whether it is or not. Actual dystopian fiction is popular. Writers begin to assume that "science fiction" means "dystopia," so when they get a request for science fiction, they write a dystopia. Non-dystopian stories are harder to sell, and so don't make as many appearances.

My experience, of course, is anecdotal, but confirms this to a frustrating extent.

[rachelmanija]

Would love to hear more of your anecdotal experience if you want to email me.

[thecityofdis]

I'm okay posting it here. It's nothing too salacious, I don't think. Just that every bit of YA-SF out there gets stamped with the 'dystopian' label, regardless of accuracy

[rachelmanija]

Arrrrrrrgh. It's so frustrating! I totally sympathize.

And yet, somehow I suspect that three years from now, there will still be just as many dystopias and paranormals. SOME of them will be sold.

One lucky thing about Stranger is that if dystopias are still desirable by the publication date, it could easily be marketed as one. It's not depressing, nobody's being ground underfoot (okay, some people are being discriminated against, but no one's a slave in the salt mines), and the government doesn't control the color of your underwear. But it's post-apocalyptic, so close enough. And, of course, if dystopias are no longer hot, it doesn't have to be marketed that way.

[thecityofdis]

Thanks. It is frustrating! What's also frustrating is that my current project is high fantasy, and I'm told I've already missed the trend-boat on that too. The winds are changing so fast because everyone is so desperate to find the next 'big thing' right now, and as someone who is very much A Slow Writer, I just feel like I'm going to be eating everyone else's dust for the next few years.

C'est la vie, I suppose. I think I'm going to try and finish this draft by Christmas, though, and then take a long vacation.

On a better note, I think post-apocalyptic has really gotten the short end of the stick up till now, and maybe that will change. It's one of my favorite genres! It's NOT dystopian! I WANT MORE OF IT.

So obviously, I'm excited for Stranger.

[rachelmanija]

I love high fantasy! I bet you're doing something interesting and different with it, too.

The good thing about being a slow writer (I am too) is that the trends go so fast that by the time your book FINALLY hits the stores, it might be a genre that's been popular, unpopular, anathema, and then makes a resurgence - just in time for you.

[thecityofdis]

This is what I'm hoping, since I'm one round of submission away from shelving the previous project in hopes that it'll see life as an option book someday.

I've three times now though been thwarted by books released in my genres with unsettlingly similar premises - so similar that my agent and I would e-mail each other simultaneously and go, "Oh, fuck". We almost pulled a sub from one house, which in the end rejected us for being too similar to the title we'd almost pulled over.

All this makes me grateful I ended up overestimating how much booze I'd need for a party last weekend. I brought home an extra handle of vodka. It's possible I've been fantasizing about it all day.

[rachelmanija]

God, that sucks. I need vodka just thinking about the whole YA market, honestly.

It reminds me of how about ten years ago, there were movies released from major studios in the same year which were, respectively, about talking pigs, volcanoes, and boys in men's bodies. Two of each. All in the same year. I remember waiting for two competing movies to be released in which a talking pig and a boy in a man's body save the world from a volcano.

[thecityofdis]

in which a talking pig and a boy in a man's body save the world from a volcano

BUT WHAT ARE YOUR COMP TITLES, RACHEL?!

*stabs eyes out*

[swan_tower]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaugh yes. I've started running into the "sure fantasy is still selling like gangbusters but that's why we won't buy any more of it we want stuff about Realistic Problems now" kind of response, and it makes me want to kick everybody in the head.