Yesterday Slate published a bewildering, rambling missive from two YA authors who discussed their craft, or, you know, lack thereof. This morning many YA experts are complaining about this entitled, bizarre, loathing-filled article (which is probably why Slate ran it in the first place), but I thought we should discuss it a little here. I'm not really sure how to summarize this thing, though. Here's how it starts:
One of the authors has a background in journalism? ARE YOU SURE? What the fuck kind of paragraph is that? At first it sounds like this is going to be a piece about how ironic it is that old people write about kids. Is that ironic, Alanis? Did you know that Chappelle's Show had some white writers? But that thesis, if it is one, is jettisoned. In favor of...uhhh?
And, besides, there's no shame in Y.A. these days. Since 1999, the market has grown by 25 percent, and all the big authors are doing it: Patterson, Grisham, Bushnell. At this point, the next likely candidate is a Y.A. book from Jonathan Franzen. It would be very meta: The Corruptions. By the time the kid finished it, he'd be 35.
I'm 60% sure that is supposed to be a joke, but it's going in so many directions I can't make heads or tails of it. And the writing gets way worse.
Our series, The Magnolia League, is, in some ways, the high-school experience we never had, where everyone is witty and good-looking and their problems are more like, "My evil grandmother is torturing my dead mom's soul!" rather than, "I have a lot of zits." It's an opportunity to relive high school in a more perfect manner.
"In a more perfect manner"? I'm having trouble imagining an uglier phrase, not to mention the issue with something being "more perfect." And here's where it becomes most relevant to our interests:
It would be creepy if we included explicit sex scenes with glistening young skin and heaving young bosoms, but we keep it on the clean side. This isn't Twilight. No slutty werewolves here.
Did you just scream? It's okay if you did. I'll let literary agent Sarah LaPolla take this one:
But readers in Y.A. don't care about rumination. They don't want you to pore over your sentences trying to find the perfect turn of phrase that evokes the exact color of the shag carpeting in your living room when your dad walked out on your mom one autumn afternoon in 1973.
OK, so I'm 24 and I can barely remember being 20 but I know for sure my teenage self would have resented such a statement. My nine-year-old self would have resented it! From there, they talk about how much they hated being part of the "real" literary world, and how getting messages from fans on Facebook is better than being "anointed by The New Yorker." ("Who care about awards?"-A guy who just lost an award) There's a confusingly-worded section where it sounds like they say they want "to make out with" their fans, but I'm pretty sure they're talking about their former, adult fans, not their new teenage fans. And then they compare being a YA writer to being the socially acceptable version of a pedophile! Really?! Yes, really. That happens:
It's sort of weird how, at a time when a reliable scare story is, 'Are internet predators coming for your children?' that we are being paid good money to be literary predators and come for people's children. Only we do it with a nice marketing campaign and books about Southern debutantes with occult powers, rather than an old van with the windows blacked out.
The other day I walked past a girl with a t-shirt from like, her high school's graduation. It read 2011 Trojans: We Made It Thru. My point is, people need to think about how the words coming out of their mouths actually sound. Go read this alienating, horrible piece of shit at Slate, and then read the comments! They're great!
(Thanks, Kim and Mufasa)
3 comments:
This comment is probably going to be long. There are just so many things about that article that piss me off.
1. It's a shameless plus for their (apparently not very good according to the reviews) book disguised as a comment on YA lit.
2. it's dripping with their obvious contempt for YA lit. In addition to the lines you mentioned, this one got me: "And, besides, there's no shame in Y.A. these days." I can think of a pretty long list of authors who've been writing YA for decades, even before YA was a thing, who would take offense at the implication that what they were doing was shameful until recently. And these authors are a hell of a lot better than these two twits. Not to mention their target audience who really don't like being talked down to and can spot a fraud faster than most adults can.
They're insulting their audience, their fellow authors, and the entire field of writing and YA lit. It's so self-righteous, I can't even take it seriously.
If they're so contemptuous of YA, why bother? Because of their misguided idea that it's easier to write? Because they think it's easy money? Because they think kids are stupid? None of those are good reasons to write a book.
3.Readers of YA most certainly do appreciate well-crafted sentences and well-developed plots just as much as readers of adult lit, do. Assuming they don't is incredibly insulting to teens. It's as if they're saying these kids don't deserve good writing. They deserve it and they want it.
4. No one gives a shit that one of them has an MFA. Plenty of YA authors have MFAs. Are we supposed to be impressed by the fact that she has one? Because, given the writing ability shown there, I'm really not.
5. YA isn't a genre, it's a classification or a suggested reading level. It covers several genres (which they'd know if even bothered to check out one of the great authorities on the subject, which they should if they're planning to be YA authors). It also covers all manner of subject matter, writing style and ability, format, and comprehension level. You know, just like "adult" lit. Funny how that works out.
They seem to be confusing all YA lit with paranormal romance. Sure, paranormal romance is popular right now, but not every YA book is about falling in love with a vampire or having magical powers. There are plenty about the very real things that teens experience and they go beyond the "I had a zit" level. Maybe they should read Speak or Dreamland or Parrotfish or Some Girls Are or any of the other realistic, heartfelt and sometimes heartbreaking books that are out there before they judge all YA by Twilight. Twilight does not equal all YA. It doesn't even equal all paranormal romance.
6. How is including sex creepy? I mean, I find these two creepy, but sex in YA in general is not. It's part of teens' lives, so it should be a part of their literature. it's just like anything else. If it's needed for the story and it's done right, it can be a great inclusion to a novel. If it's not, then it's not. it's that simple. Leave the complaining up the censors. They should be writing for the kids, not the parents.
Gah! This is just ridiculous. The response to it has been pretty awesome, though.
Isn't it just like adults to think that kids are stupid and will read anything that involves wasp semen (WTF)? I think they're a little (lot) presumptuous to believe going to see Varsity Blues in your 20's means your a pedo. These guys need their writers licences revoked for being pompous jerks who hate their cash flow.
That was so condescending. Teens like literary devices and good writing just as much as adults. If you think describing the color of shag carpet makes a novel more real and important then you have no idea what reality and importance is.
I'm guessing the "2011 Trojans We made it out!" tshirt was worded that way on purpose. It's a gimmick to sell more tshirts. I know because I gew up in a town called Hooker. The summer baseball team is the Horny Toads. I could tell you all sorts of awkward business names and tshirts, but I won't.
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