1. Even the very serious teen books usually have lots of humor, angst about fashion, and boy trouble. So much adult fiction is about stuff you read about in women’s magazines or the newspapers: depression, unemployment, and cheating spouses. I’m sixteen at heart, so there my interests lie. I can’t really work myself up to enjoy “real life” as adult fiction writers like to tell it. At least not when I’m stretched out in the bath with a paperback or curled up by the fire with the cats.
2. I like a good series and there are lots of them in YA.
3. Almost no gratuitous violence. Yeah, I’m a wimp. So what? You gotta problem with that?
4. In general, books for teens seem to be filled with hope. Hope I like!
5. And last but not least, and really the inspiration for this post, YA books are just rarely about dying. Sure, there’s the <a href=”https://joelleanthony.com/my-non-fiction/red-hair-is-not-as-common-as-you-think-by-joelle-anthony/”>thing with the dead mother</a>, but that almost always happens before the book starts. And sometimes a grandparent will kick the bucket during the book, but for the most part, the characters are going to make it through all the way to <strong>The End</strong>. And I’ve yet to read a YA that is a letter written to a sibling or parent by a dying teen.<strong>*</strong> It seems like there are a <em>lot </em>of those in adult fiction (mostly written to the character’s young children so he or she’ll be remembered).
Maybe I’m shallow or light hearted or just want to be entertained, but I don’t think that’s really it. For one thing, I read a lot more than light and humorous YA. I read the deep, literary, sometimes darker, and award winning stuff too. I just think that sometimes in adult fiction, the need to rip emotions out of the reader instead of gently coax them or tease them into being overwhelms me. Obviously plenty of people like this, so I’m not dissing adult fiction at all, I’m just saying why so often it doesn’t appeal to <em>me </em>much. The best part of this realization is confirmation that I’m writing for the audience I’m best suited to write for!
*Now there’s an idea for you YA writers who LOVE all the depression and sad deathbed books! You can be the first to write a YA one told as a letter. If you dedicate it to me, I promise to read it.
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