Young Writers Society

Why the shudder?

Because if the ending was bad...then the next book is like the ending of the ending? AHHH! I'll probably read it anyway though, in case I'm wrong.

I didn't think the ending was bad. I think it was a bit forced, but the sequals could be very good. And obviously, Libba Bray is not a bad writer or a bad storyteller, as I thoroughly enjoyed the book. What did you find was so bad about it?

yeah, I liked the book, but the ending was bad. So isn't the sequel the ending of the ending? That's my twisted logic...

I think Teen Fiction could be remarkably enriched if there were more publishing companies willing to publish books by Teens who were willing to challenge their peers, not conform to them. I find that most Young Adult Novels Today concentrate on redefining what people would consider average teenager problems and thrusting them into a lighter, more trivial context. They are targeted towards teenage girls that aren't willing to challenge even themselves, and would find it easier to read about somebody with obstacles that they can relate to, and a happy ending that they can wish for.

It's nice to read a little Georgia Nicolson every once in awhile, but if every novel's like that, then it gets very tiring.

That's basically the big problem with the entertainment industry. Not just in books, but in movies, TV, and music. They see one book etc. that's success and suddenly everyone wants to cash in on that success by putting out a similar product. A librarian friend of mine told me about a book she had recently got where the jacket made it sound like one of those pink Princess Diaries books, when it was really a boy's book. There is a place for every kind of book, regardless of it's target audeince, but simply because one was successful does not mean publishers should forget about other kinds. In fact, in a book I read about publishing, it said that publisher would be making even more profit if they didn't just put out books that supposedly have high commercial value.


I agree that it would be nice to have more novels published by teenagers. Unfortunately, the average teen-aged author either hasn't developed strong enough skills, doesn't know enough about the industry, or is simply not trying to get published. I can think of a few authors who were published as teens. Some were good enough, such as Hinton, and others were not, such as Amelia Atwarer-Rhodes. (The worst part is that she never got any better.) But the one thing a lot of them had in common was that they knew people who could help them get published. They had connections. Things were easier in Hinton's youth. It takes time. Publishers are more likely to print books by authors who have proven themselves in the literary journals, magazines, and possible newspapers. If you've got talent and know where to look (there is one reference book I've seen just for this purpose) it's easy for a teen to get poetry and short prose published, and it's not until you collect a list of these credits that you're likely to get book publishers looking at you seriously, no matter what age you are.

That's one of my drives for writing Hourglass. Even if only like five people will ever read it, they're getting YA fiction that [is going to be] more realistic, and more serious. A change from the Princess Diaries calibre...

I sorta missed the Teen Fiction thing. I started Lord of the Rings when i was 10 and then went onto reading people like David Eddings and the other fantasy novels of the time, this year however, i did read Noughts and Crosses and then Knife Edge, which is supposed to be teen fiction, didn't really enjoy it. All the teen fiction i've seen in the bookshop is like girl sleep-overs, who gets to snog that cute lad type things, and i dont like reading them, so i sorta missed it.

If anyone knows any decent teen fiction, point it out to me please

Personally I like YA novels, mostly because they ARE light and fluffy, and since I'm usually really busy I dont have the time or patience for an involved storyline. I even like Meg Cabot (not Princess Diaries, but others like 0800-Where-R-U and Mediator). I generally go for the fringe authors, things like unusual ghost stories and supernatural stuff, or historical fiction, of which there are pitifully few worth reading.
I basically reached YA level when I was 10 and adult level when I was 13 but I've never been overly interested in adult novels because I find them all depressing. I have read Eddings - he's OK but epic fantasy is too much for me most of the time, I dont read as much as I used to so I dont get the gist, you know? I've also read Mary Renault - AWESOME - Laurie R. King - ditto - the Otherland series by Tad Williams - OK, but by the end they got a bit stale - Michelle Paver - GREAT - and sundry other adult stuff, so I'm not exactly atrophying hehehe. And I do agree that YA fiction needs to stretch a bit - I cant stand authors that patronize or talk down to their readers, or expect them to be a certain way - but when I need a light read I always go for YA.

I'd say some YA fiction is awful, and some YA is pretty decent. The book review I posted a while back was a YA fiction.

Honestly, I dabble in lots of places. Though the only children books I read are the Royal Diaries. I really like those...anyways. I only read YA because, typically, they are less risky for me. They tend to bypass the more adult themes, which I don't like to read. I did read two adult books that I liked, but they were a tad risque for me. (P.S. I love you and something about a magazine writer who falls for the playboy gangster, don't remember the name)

The stuff I write usually ends up in the YA category, like The Closet. But I try to reach into more mature and realistic themes. I think The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants does this pretty well. The Uglies trilogy did, somewhat, but it had parallels and symbolism.

The method of catagorizing books for age groups is certainitly flawed. A few months ago I went to my local book store in search of a trilogy I had read called the Bartimeaus Trilogy right? Anywho, I search and search the teen fiction area with no luck, I then head over to the adult fiction to look for it there. Fruitless. I finally gave up and asked for some assistance from the worker. Turns out it was in the childrens section. Surprise. See these books are hundreds of pages thick, the main character is a demon, and the death tole by the last book is in the hundreds.

More proof that the system is flawed. : /

I read a lot of YA. It's usually my fav genre. It's usually quite good, but sometimes the author has no idea what they're talking about. I hate reading books about 12-14 yearold girls who go to loads of parties and have had millions of boyfriends. Like, have these people talked/observed a teen in a while? It's just not realistic.

Natasha Friend is good, and so are some other authors whose names do not immediately come to my head. I do like some adult stuff, though.

I think there needs to be more teenage authors getting published. I sort of know one, and I'm hoping to be published by the time I'm 15, but it's a cruel industry out there.