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'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.

This has a couple of prominent side-effects, the first of which being that anything SF-oriented that cannot be labeled dystopian, even if you squint at it (i.e. my ms), is harder to label and categorize, and is met with trepidation by editors and terror by marketing folks.

I've gotten several regretful rejections from editors based solely on genre. One house said they were having a terrible time selling SF, and so had to pass due to marketing concerns. (They published a mega-bestselling dystopian series, but the corollary to 'all SF is dystopian' seems to be 'dystopian is not SF'.) Another was doing TOO well with SF, and looking to diversify their list. (They ALSO have a bestselling dystopian series, so it's fascinating to see the dissonance).

That's how it affects me. But in my opinion, the bigger problem is that editors (and agents) have burned out faster than readers do. Dystopian is dead and gone as far as new projects or - worse - new authors are concerned, because pubs have been flooded with these projects, accurately-labeled or otherwise.

The same holds true for anything paranormal. Agents and editors won't touch it, by and large, with a ten-foot pole.

You'll note, of course, that books in these genres still sell quite well.

I'm just becoming a little bitter, honestly, which I've tried so hard NOT to do. But as a genre writer, I feel like an awful lot of YA pub folks have started turning their nose up at genre fic and are now in pursuit of more 'literary' works, even though genre is still keeping the lights on.

[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.