The Book Lantern: Blog Discussion discussion

I wrote on a thread yesterday about YA Don’ts and my comments centered on Don’ts for heroines in paranormal series. I posted and then realized I still had more heroine Don’ts and began to wonder if authors recognize the impact doing these Don’ts can potentially have on their young audience.

Too often our heroine has a negative self image; in particular negative body image. How many books have you read where the heroine thinks of herself as too thin, not pretty, or just a little fat? I understand that giving a character insecurities may make her more relatable but with an impressionable audience this must be done very carefully. It may seem like harmless self deprecation but girls are 3x more likely to have a negative self image then boys. We should have YA heroines learn to accept and celebrate her body with all its flaws (real or imagined). Our heroine never thinks she’s pretty yet will inevitably have at least 2 boys fighting for her attention. I don’t know about you but having hot guys want me would definitely make me rethink my “I’m not pretty” stance. Actually I would think, “I’m freaking fabulous and I’m going to drop these two losers for someone who can handle my fabulosity”. At what point do these plain Janes realize that maybe they are not so plain? It would serve young girls better to have an MC that learns to love herself and not just because a boy told her she was pretty. Having a hero validate the heroine is not real confidence. Having a boyfriend should not be what makes a girl feel special. Bella was not whole without Edward. So was she nothing before him? Not the best lesson for our young girls.

There are some female YA characters who can celebrate who they are but unfortunately they are the bad girls. The bad girl is never the MC. She may be the villain, a mildly important extra or an eventual frienenemy but never the MC, making the most confident female character in the book someone we hate or love to hate. Why can’t YA heroines be confident? Meek is not a virtue I think most teens strive for yet many heroines have no back bone. I’m also disturbed that confidence is synonymous with slutty. The bad girl is always a little more sexually aggressive than anyone other character in the book. In actuality a girl who is truly confidant has no need to be overtly sexual since those kinds of antics are for attention. Being strong has nothing to do with sex or aggression but it is all we seem to get in YA. The House of Night Series, Aphrodite was the strong and smart rival of MC Zoey. They made her so bitchy and over sexed that you quickly lost all interest in her (this among other things have not allowed me to continue with the series).

All YA paranormal has a romance factor but no 16 year old should be dying for love. It wasn’t even cool when Romeo and Juliet did it…that’s why it was a tragedy. It should not be romanticized. A good heroine should fight to keep moving despite her circumstances. That is true strength. A great example of this is Gemma in Libba Bray’s Gemma Doyle Trilogy (I can’t say too much without spoilers). Losing the will to live because your high school boyfriend left you is disconcerting. In real life girls like that need professional help because they can’t cope. It is not a sign of everlasting love, it is a disorder.

There are some authors out there that are writing great heroines but I feel like the weaker characters get more recognition. I guess swooning and being rescued by prince charming (even a dicky one) is still what sells.

I'd actually LOVE to read a post on the exploration sexuality in YA books! The good girl, the bad girl, the expectations attached to both labels, etc. Do you want to do a post on that, or are you too busy? If you are, I'm willing to use your ground work and plagiarize your idea! ;-)

LOL. I would love to hear your thoughts. Plagiarize away.

Kody Keplinger just did a post on that yesterday. If you did a follow-up to hers, expanding what she laid down, you could send her a link and maybe she'd read it.

Yeah I saw that, and I'm reading DUFF now for my post! :)