Recent YA Patterns, and recs
rachelmanija and I were talking the other day, and I realized that though I read scads and scads of YA last year for the Norton Award, a lot of them have blended in my mind.
Publishers put out what readers want to read, and popular books do emerge in patterns. When I was a kid, the pattern that came closest to my tastes was the "Four kids go to another world to have adventures." I absolutely loathed and hated the ending wherein the kids have to forget it all when they are safely deposited back into their lives. I hated that ending with every atom of my being. But I read them anyway, because the gatekeepers weren't letting any writers explore the consequences of such adventures--from the relatively simple one of the kids remembering, to what if they chose to stay? So I wrote those myself.
But when I went to the library and scoured the 'new' shelves, that was the most frequent fantasy pattern, besides talking animals, and the occasional historical with a touch of magic. (I loved those, too. One of my top favorites was Benary-Isbert's The Wicked Enchantment--I wonder how that would be marketed today, as it doesn't have a romantic relationship central, nor a teen upwards of sixteen, so how could it be YA? But the language is much more sophisticated than today's MG.
Anyway, obviously teens like the bad-fae boyfriend plot a lot (and the bad-fae and the good-werewolf, or bad whatever and good whatever) love triangle or there wouldn't be so many of them. But it's difficult to get excited about them, especially when the plots follow the same pattern, and come to the same conclusions.
Another one that teens seem to like is the simplistic dystopia. I would probably have liked those too, at thirteen, but the threadbare worldbuilding makes it difficult to get into them now.
Anyway, recommendations are sought over at Rachel's, or here . . . though I am keeping my eye cocked for this year's award, nobody can read everything, so heads up always appreciated.
Publishers put out what readers want to read, and popular books do emerge in patterns. When I was a kid, the pattern that came closest to my tastes was the "Four kids go to another world to have adventures." I absolutely loathed and hated the ending wherein the kids have to forget it all when they are safely deposited back into their lives. I hated that ending with every atom of my being. But I read them anyway, because the gatekeepers weren't letting any writers explore the consequences of such adventures--from the relatively simple one of the kids remembering, to what if they chose to stay? So I wrote those myself.
But when I went to the library and scoured the 'new' shelves, that was the most frequent fantasy pattern, besides talking animals, and the occasional historical with a touch of magic. (I loved those, too. One of my top favorites was Benary-Isbert's The Wicked Enchantment--I wonder how that would be marketed today, as it doesn't have a romantic relationship central, nor a teen upwards of sixteen, so how could it be YA? But the language is much more sophisticated than today's MG.
Anyway, obviously teens like the bad-fae boyfriend plot a lot (and the bad-fae and the good-werewolf, or bad whatever and good whatever) love triangle or there wouldn't be so many of them. But it's difficult to get excited about them, especially when the plots follow the same pattern, and come to the same conclusions.
Another one that teens seem to like is the simplistic dystopia. I would probably have liked those too, at thirteen, but the threadbare worldbuilding makes it difficult to get into them now.
Anyway, recommendations are sought over at Rachel's, or here . . . though I am keeping my eye cocked for this year's award, nobody can read everything, so heads up always appreciated.