~Young Adult Enthusiasts~ discussion

What are some trends you've noticed with YA literature? They can be positive or negative, but please be polite.

A few I've noticed are of course paranormal creatures galore and dystopian societies, and several less obvious ones. I've also noticed that stong female leads are beginning to surge (which is awesome), characters moving to a new place (which got annoying after a while), and love triangles (most annoying trend thus far, in my opinion).

Hmmm,

One word melodramatic titles and cover models in poofy dresses.

Both of which I find effective and beautiful but when your choosing between Fallen, Wither, or Unearthly they all start to look pretty much the same.

Oh yeah. And stock cover photos, as this list examples: http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/50... Seriously? Did they think people wouldn't notice? I'd say this is a very negative, displeasing trend.

Wow, I didn't even realize there were that many! hahaha Good old Stockphotos!

Yeah, seems like dystopian is huge at the moment and might last a while, especially given how long vampires have lasted :)

I noticed vampires kind of died off for a little while, but are now coming back in popularity. To quote the Disney adaption of Alice in Wonderland, "Round and round and round it goes until forever more..."

Also, a lot of YA books nowadays are written in first person. That's not really a bad thing, but it would be nice to see a change.

Yeah heaps of first person and in particular first person present tense

Girls suddenly having magical/paranormal powers.

I noticed that Witches and Wizards were trending then Vampires then Fallen Angels and now.. Dystopian novels.

So true but it is a really good genre with many different view points and situations.

Emily, do you mean that Vampire Academy exemplifies many trends found in YA books, or that is a trending series? I'm a little confused.

Wednesday wrote: "Oh yeah. And stock cover photos, as this list examples: http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/50... Seriously? Did they think people wouldn't notice? I'd say this is a very negative, disp..."

Wow! That's so funny. I wasn't aware there were similar covers. Hahaha!!!

Beatrice wrote: "I noticed that Witches and Wizards were trending then Vampires then Fallen Angels and now.. Dystopian novels."

That's what I noticed too. I'm a late bloomer for vampires though, while everyone was into it, I was still into Witches and Wizards. Then I skipped the Fallen Angels and headed straight for Dystopian. =))

I didn't get into angels until I read Unearthly. Angels were never really my thing, but that series is amazing. I picked up based off a recommendation Richelle Mead, author of Vampire Academy, made. Most people say it's the best one of all the angel series, but I have no basis, as I am only halfway through Halo. It's not quite as good, but it's not horrible.

Wednesday wrote: "I didn't get into angels until I read Unearthly. Angels were never really my thing, but that series is amazing. I picked up based off a recommendation Richelle Mead, author of Vampire Academy, made..."

Those are in my reading list too. There's so many I just want to know what they're all about. But I'm taking it a day at a time. :D

Wednesday wrote: "I didn't get into angels until I read Unearthly. Angels were never really my thing, but that series is amazing. I picked up based off a recommendation Richelle Mead, author of Vampire Academy, made..."

Yeah Unearthly is awesome!! I'm hoping for a little alien invasion comeback like I Am Number Four :)

I was a bit sad that I Am Number Four didn't garner as much attention as I expected. I love the books!

I'm just starting the second one, can't wait!!

Wednesday wrote: "I didn't get into angels until I read Unearthly. Angels were never really my thing, but that series is amazing. I picked up based off a recommendation Richelle Mead, author of Vampire Academy, made..."

Yeah, and the Shadowhunter series by Cassandra Clare shows the trend in Angels as well! And paranormal beings, and strong teen leads, and romance, okay you get my point :)

Also, I agree with the love triangle as well. But the similarity is even deeper because its always the "new, hot, dark boyfriend and obvious choice" and the "sweet best friend that's been there all along and existed to be by the main character's side". Needless to say, any romance without a love triangle is high in my book.

I have also noticed that most main characters in YA books are female. Not saying that's bad, just noticing lots of authors seem to prefer female leads. However, I think this trend has inadvertantly caused the demographic for YA books to be primarily female. You do get some male readers, but most, I've noticed, are female.

Wednesday wrote: "I have also noticed that most main characters in YA books are female. Not saying that's bad, just noticing lots of authors seem to prefer female leads. However, I think this trend has inadvertantly..."

Definitely. Every once in a while a series will pop up that gets males readers interested (Hunger Games comes to mind as my only female lead with male readership of recent years), but I've seen that it is a female driven readership as well.

I've also noticed an outcropping of trilogies or super long series. There are hardly any stand alones out there. Or they were stand alones, but now they're series too (Beastly is now book one in the Kendra Chronicles. I can't help but think the movie totally ruined the book).

Wait, what. Beastly is a series now? Did they decide to make it one because of the movie or something? I'm confused. I haven't seen the movie, by the way. How was it?

It was ok, but the stuff they changed in it was off the wall stupid. Separate from the book you'd might say it was pretty good.

@Wednesday Really? It's a series now? About the witch?

Yes. It is listed as #1 in the Kendra Chronicles, with Bewitching following it. Not the smartest move in my opinion. :(

I'm reading I am number four now and love it!!

Wednesday wrote: "Yes. It is listed as #1 in the Kendra Chronicles, with Bewitching following it. Not the smartest move in my opinion. :("

Huh. That's interesting. I didn't think Beastly had enough substance for a series...

Brittany wrote: "I'm reading I am number four now and love it!!"

That's great! I'm waiting to get the third one from the library myself :)

Wednesday wrote: "Yes. It is listed as #1 in the Kendra Chronicles, with Bewitching following it. Not the smartest move in my opinion. :("

I looked it up on my eReader and it doesn't sound too bad. I see how Beastly could be apart of the series, but I think it would better if Bewitching stays a side story not really apart of Beastly.

I don't think Bewitching is actually a direct sequel. It looks like it might make references. Beastly doesn't really need an actual sequel. Where would she go with the story that doesn't get ridiculous? Still, I think the idea of the Kendra Chronicles is just the author/publisher milking the idea for its money.

It fits though. because in Beastly she talks about how she got in trouble in the past from some of her spells. Then you look at the people in the chat room it seems that they could have been other people she cast spells on.

It does work, but I think Beastly was meant to stay as a stand alone. Notice that this idea didn't pop up until after the movie was released? Beastly was one of those obscure that I fell in love with, and I'm not too happy with the direction the author has taken. I read Beastly years before the movie was ever even announced.

I saw the movie, it was 'lolwat'. But now because of you guys, I want to read the book. XD

I just found this on her blog:

4. Are you going to write a sequel to _______________________?

I never say never, but probably not. Two of my books, Beastly and Breathing Underwater do have companions. A companion is a book that isn’t really a sequel but somehow reaches out to fans of the first book. In the case of these books, they are about other characters in the first book. Diva follows Caitlin after she breaks up with Nick and goes to performing arts school (I’m sorry it has such a chick lit cover; They’re supposed to do a new one soon). Nick does make an appearance and, I hope, gives readers more closure on their relationship. Bewitching is a companion to Beastly. It’s not about Kyle and Lindy because I envision them leading a happy but boring life. However, it does follow the adventures of Kendra, who is one of my favorite characters.

She answers some good questions on her blog about her writing and even the Beatly movie. Scroll to the middle to get to the FAQ post: http://alixwrites.livejournal.com/

"Oh yeah. And stock cover photos, as this list examples: http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/50... Seriously? Did they think people wouldn't notice? I'd say this is a very negative, displeasing trend."

>>Wow, as a writer, I never thought about stock photos for my cover. I do photography, so I guess it's just in me to do all my covers. I'm Indie so I have that choice, those covers are actually from major publishing houses, which don't give their authors that choice. I'm stunned that so many of them are so similar!!!

I've noticed that a lot of YA books are now serialized. I was looking for a good stand alone novel and having a lot of trouble finding anything that wasn't a trilogy, series, saga, etc. There's nothing truly wrong with this--I just found it interesting because it's harder to publish a series than a stand-alone book.

I agree with you Cassandra. I think the world needs more Great stand alone titles. I just recently read one after so many trilogies, series, etc and I forgot how fantastic they were. I noticed though that stand alone novels are usually within the realistic fiction genre.

I noticed that a somewhat trend lately has been the "love at first sight". Although sometimes an author can pull it off, i feel like other times there should be an effort to build the relationship of two characters before readers ate forced to believe their head over heals. It took HP almost the whole series before ron and hermione, and harry and ginny each became couples. By then we knew and loved each individual character and made the connections so much more meaningful :)

Ah, yes love at first sight. I don't think that concept in itself is bad. I think it's the instantaneous way it's played out in novels that is illogical. I do believe in love at first sight, for I had that with my husband. I saw his picture and I thought to myself 'God, that is the most gorgeous man alive.', then I got up the guts to talk to him and fell head over heels. However, it took me a year and a bad boyfriend to figure out he was the one and that I would wait for as long as I had to for him. We were best friends by this time and I didn't have to wait long because it turned out he felt the same. So it was love at first sight, but it wasn't wham I'll jump off a bridge for you. There has to be a realistic build up to the confession of love. Maybe I'm just a hopeless romantic though, and extremely lucky!

Brittany wrote: "I'm reading I am number four now and love it!!"

Yay I just finished it and the sequel and really enjoyed them!!

Cassandra wrote: "Ah, yes love at first sight. I don't think that concept in itself is bad. I think it's the instantaneous way it's played out in novels that is illogical. I do believe in love at first sight, for I ..."

Exactly!! I agree completely. With my wife it was the same. I fell for her right away, engaged in three months, married in 9 months :)

I've noticed that the love at first sight tends to be based mostly on appearance. Personally, I like it more when characters spend some time getting to know each other before falling in love. It's much more realistic, not too mention I become more involved with those couples, versus couples that get together right away with no basis for their relationship other than, "you're hot!"

I'm also getting pretty tired of characters going after the mysterious, super hot, dark dude. It's just getting super repetitive and unoriginal. Why can't they fall in love with the geeky type, or the nicer type? Oh right, because the mysterious jerk is apparently what teenage girls are into.

Another thing that's been bothering me is the overabundance of Mary-Sues. I hate when you have main characters who are perfect in everyway; appearance, skills, power.... And then authors use the excuse that they're supernatural creatures, which makes them better at everything. Examples would be Zoey Redbird, Bethany Church, and Jacinda Jones. They're all so awesome and beautiful! Give me a break.

Which brings me to another point: The concept of beauty in YA books. Ever notice that characters are always falling the hottest guy in town, and that the main character is the most beautiful girl to ever walk the planet? Why can't we have characters whose appearances aren't perfect? Characters who are overweight, have crooked teeth, brown eyes (characters always seem to have amazing blue, silver/grey, or green eyes), are short....

I think the concept of the "perfect" guy has to do a bit with the fact that many authors, like myself, write in the first person. Therefore, you are reading what that person thinks, and are relative to their biases. The character is going to bias in that the person they fall for is going to be perfect in their eyes.
As a writer I can say that I tend to write the main man to be what I find appealing, and then what that character needs to be believable. I don't find extreme fitness to be attractive, but the main character in In Between Seasons is ripped because of who he is. He has to be, otherwise the whole story wouldn't make sense.
As a reader I can say the attraction to bad boys that are actually bad boys is irritating. The girl who let's herself be walked all over is also irritating. I find myself wanting to yell at the character. There's actually a character in a popular novel that I compare to a wet mop, she's just so soppy.

I'm not sure if this has been discussed but I remember reading something once about how most books (YA in particular) have little in the form of female to female interaction (excluding the protagonist). A lot of the times, the majority of dialogue is predominantly between males or females and males.

If I can find the article I will because it was discussing the psychological aspects behind such a phenomenon. I found it pretty neat.

M. Reed

That is very interesting. Now that I think about it, I have noticed most books I've read kind of follow this. I would be very interested to read that article if you find it.

Allie B wrote: "Hmmm,

One word melodramatic titles and cover models in poofy dresses.

Both of which I find effective and beautiful but when your choosing between Fallen, Wither, or Unearthly they all start to..."

I agree with the whole one word cover thing, but then we start to have about a million of the morwe obvious ones.

Cassandra wrote: "I think the concept of the "perfect" guy has to do a bit with the fact that many authors, like myself, write in the first person. Therefore, you are reading what that person thinks, and are relativ..."

yeah i think i write the guys to look how i would want them to look lol it makes me actully want to put them in the book...and i agree girls who are timid are super annoying, like they kinda ruined bella in twilight because everytime i read the book i only see Kristen Stewart and she is very annoying in the movies

Becca wrote: "Allie B wrote: "Hmmm,

One word melodramatic titles and cover models in poofy dresses.

Both of which I find effective and beautiful but when your choosing between Fallen, Wither, or Unearthly t..."


Ahh, the poofy dresses is really starting to get to me. I did my cover reveal last night and I had a reader jokingly say to make everyone love my book I should put a girl in a poofy dress on it...
Ouy!

Hannah wrote: "Cassandra wrote: "I think the concept of the "perfect" guy has to do a bit with the fact that many authors, like myself, write in the first person. Therefore, you are reading what that person think..."

You are so right! I think that's why I liked Katniss in the Hunger Games so much. She was much more confident and willing to stand up for what's right. She isn't timid and whiny, like Bella seemed to be.

IAmanda wrote: "Hannah wrote: "Cassandra wrote: "I think the concept of the "perfect" guy has to do a bit with the fact that many authors, like myself, write in the first person. Therefore, you are reading what th..."

I was so happy when one of my readers said Kate from my novel
In Between Seasons is a Katniss and not a Bella. I thought, phew thank goodness!