I don't care.
You can call me childish. You can call me silly. You can call me whatever you want. I like some young adult books. And I have entertained the idea of writing a young adult novel as well. I think it's high time some of the literary snobs stopped turning up their nose every time a serious writer mentions they are writing a young adult piece. It may not be as profound as your literary novel, but it means just as much to just as many people, whether they are teenagers or grown-ups with big imaginations.
There, now that's out of the way.
YA Highway's Road Trip Wednesday
I have been a follower of the YA Highway for a while now and decided I would start participating in their Road Trip Wednesday "Blog Carnival". They post a question and invite followers to answer on their own blogs. If you visit their site, you can click on the different links in the comments and read everyone's replies. The question for this week is:
What novellas would you like to see inspire YA books?
The first novella that came to mind is George Orwell's Animal Farm. I remember reading it in junior high school and thinking wow, this guy had a serious issue with Russian dictators. Or maybe just an insider's knowledge of the hierarchy on a farm. Anyway, it wasn't until much later that I developed an appreciation for the message within the story. If the story didn't leave as much of an impression on you, let me refresh your memory.
On the dystopian Manor Farm, the animals, lead by some radical pigs, revolt against the tyrannical Mr. Jones. They establish their own set of rules called Animalism (a.k.a. Communism) and unite themselves against the humans. But that sneaky pig, Napoleon, takes certain liberties with the rules and leads the animals back into oppression with his "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others" law.
I think these timeless concepts of equality, false allegiance, and political corruption would make a kick-ass YA novel today. There are literally millions of instances where young people come in contact with the ideas of oppression, virtue, and rebellion. I would love to see that message captured into a sort of YA cautionary tale. I can see a Snowball-type character, the unsung hero, defeating the evil and power-hungry Napoleon character. Maybe it could be adapted to the hierarchy of high school? I think we're on to something here...
Thanks for reading and remember, "Four legs good, two legs bad"! Just kidding. Enjoy your Wednesday.
First of all, amen to the first part of your post. YA is completely under appreciated. I loved YA when I was in middle school. In high school and through college, I was a "literary snob," but once I got to grad school I rediscovered YA.
ReplyDeleteSecond, I like your idea with Animal Farm. I'm starting to picture it, too.
Thanks for reading! I think we all went through a snob phase somewhere down the line. Chalk it up to conformity, I guess.
ReplyDeleteI never read YA when I was a teen because I just didn't know about any books and I read strictly fantasy. But now I love it like crazy and everyone can just stick it if they don't! Ha, kidding. I've gotten the same thing about writing it.
ReplyDelete"You write teen stories? Obviously you're not smart enough to write a book for adults..."
I didn't read teen when I was a teen either. You could find me in the adult section reading Salinger, V.C. Andrews, Stephen King. But now I get to go back and play, so there.
DeleteAnd anyone who believes writing YA is easier is delusional. Winning a YA reader over is hard, keeping them is even harder.
Agreed! I'm not sure why, but there are a lot of people that truly believe writing YA is like practice for the "real" writing, a.k.a. literary fiction. Thanks for reading.
DeleteI am not going to say out loud that I'm jealous I didn't think of Animal Farm because it's such an awesome idea to turn the story into a YA Dystopian. But my jealousy is pretty much implied throughout my response. *sigh*
ReplyDeleteI never place an age limit on readers of any genre. I don't know what this says about my character, in general, but that's okay. I'm 29 years old--don't tell anyone else, please. Wait . . . is this on the internet? Dang. Ah well. Anyway. I'm 29 & I read adult romance, science fiction, and poetry as a teen and now I read and write mostly YA. I'm sure lots of judgment is being passed when I'm in the YA section of bookstores with my arms full of YA Lit, but I don't care. I'll be happy with my books while they are busy being bitter and judgy with their crappy judgment.
I can relate. I got lots of fun stares when I was perusing the YA section for books like The Hunger Games, Twilight, and Divergent not too long ago. Not that I really care. If people want to waste time being judgemental then that's their problem. Thanks for reading.
DeleteOne time someone asked me, "What made you decide to write for teenagers?" like it wasn't something I should enjoy. And I just said, "Because it's what came out, and I love it."
ReplyDeleteAlso, let's be honest: most "literary" novels bore me to tears.
I would love to read Animal Farm in a high school setting. I'm sad I didn't think of that myself!
I love your comment. That's exactly what I ended up saying to someone when they asked me why I write poetry. I think we are all slaves to the characters and stories in our heads and no matter how we try to dress it up, whatever is going to come out will come out. Thanks for reading.
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