YA Fiction and What I've Been Reading Lately

Lately I've been reading a lot of young adult fiction as research for a possible novel. Prior to getting this idea in my head a few months ago that I might want to try my hand at writing for the YA crowd, I hadn't really ready any books intended for that audience in ages--more like not since I was a YA.

What I remember of YA books from the late 1980s was that they were generally poorly written and were usually set in Sweet Valley, which was not my cup of tea at all. I didn't care about those Sweet Valley High teens with their perfect suburban lives. I wanted gritty fiction back then but it wasn't very easy to find. So I abandoned the notion of reading YA books pretty early and focused on horror fiction, mystery novels, anything I could get my hands on....and then one day I read Milan Kundera and I forgot all about the other books for a while. I had a holy trinity of writers back then: Milan Kundera -- Toni Morrison -- Ernest Hemingway. Actually, it was more a Holy Rectangle if you added Gabriel Garcia Marquez to the mix. So, my path to literary fiction was set and I turned into a literary snob (though I read frothy romance novels and chick lit in "secret").

And then one day, I sat trying to read a new Milan Kundera novel and the unthinkable happened--I was bored. I tried to read a Toni Morrison novel and couldn't get past the fourth chapter. I tried to read True at First Light (the "lost" Hemingway novel that his son edited and finished) and it did nothing for me. The only member of the Holy Rectangle who still swayed me was Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and I started wondering if it was only because he looks a little like my dad--now that's a weird notion. But I began reading more and more "pop fiction" and realized I preferred it to literary fiction and I abandoned my Holy Rectangle for a time.

Nowadays, I read everything. And this foray into reading contemporary YA fiction has been enlightening. Some of it is really good. Courtney Summers' Some Girls Are was one of those books that I couldn't stop reading. Maybe it was because it reminded me too much of how awful being a teenager can sometimes be. Jacqueline Woodson's If You Come Softly is also great. I loved how she portrayed the main characters, Jeremiah and Ellie, and their struggle to deal with their feelings for one another and how it affects the people around them.

I also read Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series but I just wasn't that impressed. I thought Bella was whiny and annoying. I thought Edward was a control freak with issues. I thought Jacob was snarky. I only went to see the movie because I figured it would be interesting to see if the characters were less annoying. The only thing I can say is Rob Pattinson is fit. I understand why girls scream for him. I know a lot of people try to say Twilight is a take on Wuthering Heights but I don't see that. And I don't buy glittering vampires nor stupid names for kids like Renesmee. I think Stephenie Meyer's The Host is a much better novel, though it drags at times. Still, I enjoyed it more than the entire Twilight series.

But back to YA fiction, I noticed that nearly all the YA fiction geared at black and Latino teenagers dealt with what are perceived as urban issues: teen pregnancy, drugs, gang violence, being abandoned by a parent. And this made me wonder just how many black and Latino teens really want to read about those issues. When I was a teen living in West Philadelphia/University City, I wasn't that interested in reading about drugs when I could see evidence of drug abuse around me--crack addicts were everywhere, all you had to do was take a walk along 40th Street and you'd inevitably see a few. Even though I wanted something gritty, I didn't want to be reminded of what was already around me. And it made me feel like publishing companies assume that all black and Latino kids live in big cities and are only interested in books warning us of the dangers of drugs, gangs, etc.

How about a book about a black kid trying to get into college? That was my teen experience. I lived a few blocks from my dream school and did everything I could to be accepted there but received a rejection letter anyway. I wasn't interested in what was going on around me in my neighborhood--I lived there but I knew I was going to leave there. So I have been looking for a YA novel that speaks to that teen experience but I haven't seen anything yet. I'll keep looking. Maybe I just have to write that book myself.

It's also interesting how few YA novels deal with interracial relationships, which is surprising considering that these relationships seem more prevalent (and accepted) among teenagers than adults. Is it because many authors are afraid of taking on the issue for fear of negative criticism? Or are the publishing companies playing it too safe? Or have I just simply not been looking in the right places?Well, maybe I will have to write one of these books myself.

I just have to finish writing the book I am working on at the moment before I launch into another project. But I do think that my next writing project will be a YA novel. I already have an idea forming and I've taken some notes. Who knows where it will lead me but I am glad that I found some YA novels that proved we've moved beyond Sweet Valley Hell when it comes to what teens are reading.

I also found a publishing company called Flux that specializes in YA fiction. I've read two books published by Flux, Ballad and Lament by Maggie Stiefvater, and they were riveting. Stiefvater's third book, Shiver, was published by Scholastic Press, which will also be publishing a sequel to Shiver called Linger in July. I loved Shiver. I thought Grace and Sam's story was heartbreaking. I could picture it in my mind and imagined which actors I saw playing the roles. But I am sure if they ever make a movie of it I will be disappointed with whichever actors are chosen--unless of course they are the same ones I imagined. But back to the book, it was so beautifully written, and whenever people try to sing the merits of Twilight to me, I just say one word: Shiver.

So I am anxiously awaiting Linger and trying to finish my own book, which I've decided I will probably self-publish, and trying to keep myself from starting another book. But I am also glad that YA fiction has moved away from the squeaky clean cheerleader type stories of my youth and on to more interesting subjects, even if I am tired of seeing books about black teens affected by gangs (which isn't the only experience black teens have, Mr and Mrs Publisher -- some of us were never affected by gangs at all and would love to read about something other than "urban issues"). At least we're seeing something other than the cookie cutter YA novels of my youth.