I was speaking with my lovely friend Ashley today and something that has been bugging me for a while came up.
Where is the genre between YA fiction and adult fiction? You go into the bookstore and you have three options for fiction books: childrens, YA, and fiction. I enjoy my YA novels, they are fun times, but sometimes the whole teen angst thing gets really annoying. So then you think "ok, I'll go pick out a book over here" and you search around through all the many many books int the fiction section and find something that looks interesting. Then you start reading it and it's just too much. Take "Time Traveler's Wife" for example. It's a great book, but there is soo much sex! Or you end up with a novel that belongs in an AP Literature class.
Now, that being said, there is also a lot of crap in the YA section, I will admit to the need to be careful about any book you read. Really though, are sex, drugs, and rock and roll the only things that people ever think about? Because that appears the be the only thing people will write about. Where is our modern day Jane Austen? Dickens? CS Lewis? Where is the section of books meant for college age students? Where the protaganist is somewhere between the ages of 18 and 28? I want to read about a protagonist that I can relate to. I can still have fun with the HS freshman and the chick in Austenland is around 30. But that isn't the freshman in college. Seriously, that could be a really interesting genre. If I had a desire to write, I would write about college simply because nobody else seems to do that.
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Where is our Jane Austen?! Are you kidding? I've said it before and I'll say it again: Austen was a hack! The only reason we call her a master is because she is the mother of the modern romance genre. The REAL successor to Austen, you ask?
ReplyDeleteDanielle Steele.
Now, here's an opportunity for you to become an instant classic: you can INVENT the "Jaded, Not-So-Young Adult" fiction genre! The disappointed, disillusioned adult whose experiences with sex, drugs and rock'n'roll have made him/her completely unhireable in today's demanding business world. Embittered by Pearl Jam's betrayal of reality, the not-so-young protagonist embarks on a journey of self-employment, finding himself caught in a deadly web of multi-level-marketing.
See? I've just turned drivel into classic literature by creating a new genre for that drivel! Problem solved.
I approve this rant.
ReplyDeletetry reading some Tim O'Brien books. ashley doesnt like them but he's really good with philosophy in every day life. He mainly writes about the vietnam war, which he fought in as a draftee, but he also has some other topics and whatnot....
ReplyDeletejust an idea