Tuesday 28 February 2012

Caitlin Considers: What I want to see less of in YA

In my first Caitlin Considers post I outlined what I'd like to see more of in YA. So I thought an ideal second post would be what I'd like to see less of.

Note: This may end up being highly satirical and not entirely serious. You have been warned.

1. Cookie-cutter characters.
They bore me. Bland bad-boys, self-sacrificing heroines...we've been there done that so many times. I feel as though there's a database of stock characters that authors can dip into. A database that contains only 2 characters. Let's add some PERSONALITY people. Please.

2. Cliches badly used.
Note the last two words. badly. used. I'm not opposed to a love triangle, a bit of insta-love or a science class partnership. As long as it's done WELL. Look at Perfect Chemistry, they rocked the science class partnership. Look at Vampire Academy's love triangle. It's perfect. These devices are used so often because they WORK. What I hate is when they're thrown in, almost carelessly, to add a bit of 'tension' or because the author can't be bothered/doesn't have the skill to create a realistic romance/meeting/relationship. THAT'S what irks me. It's sloppy. Sloppy writing. And I do not approve.

3.Ridiculousness
I really couldn't think of a better title for this one...but do you know what I mean? It's especially rampant in paranormal YA. I almost feel like people are trying to one-up each other:

"So I wrote a book about vampires"


"Oh yeah? WELL *I* wrote a book about a zombie unicorn from outer space who has come to Earth with the sole purpose of finding his one true mate who, conveniently, just so happens to live here. Then they'll lead a dangerous, passion-ridden relationship for all of eternity during which he'll try to forsake his true nature which constantly creates the urge to rip her to shreds and consume her liver whilst she dies slowly and painfully."

"Huh...sounds...intense"

See what I mean? I know a lot of people say "I'm sick of vampires, I want something NEW". But what I want, is something realistic. Now you're all scratching your heads like...paranormal fiction...realistic..? But you know what I mean. Something believeable. Something that actually has us half-convinced it's real. I mean come on, admit it, I know we ALL think there's a tiiiiny chance Hogwarts *actually* exists...

Now I'm not pointing any fingers, nor am I saying authors are setting out with the intention of doing this, it's just how it feels to me personally. And I don't much like it. Your plot does not need to contain ALL THE THINGS. You do not need every plot device, every current and past trend for your book to sell. A well-thought out concept coupled with relate-able characters and great writing will be fine. I promise.

4. Bad writing
I am such a snob when it comes to writing, I really am. If you've repeated a word/phrase a lot I WILL NOTICE IT. If your sentences are badly formed, or if you should've used a different tense, or if the character voice is unrealistic...I'll notice and it will annoy me. I'm not really one of those people who can overlook bad writing for the sake of the plot. I can overlook okayish writing...but bad writing NEVER. I think sometimes, people think that because they're writing for teenagers it doesn't really matter whether the writing is good or not. Let me tell you, this is NOT the case. And even if it is, people should have more self respect than that. I have stopped reading books because of bad writing, I have rolled my eyes, sighed and given bad rating because of bad writing. For me, it is inexcusable.

5. Families
 Most people WANT more families in YA. They're fed up of dead parents but you know what? I don't. Why? Because parents are BORING. These characters are teenagers! They don't want parental involvement. Did you tell your parents everything going on in your life when you were a teen? I didn't. I mean yeah, I never had a vampire boyfriend or a hoard of demons threatening to kill me...but I probably still wouldn't've told. When we involve parents...what's the message we're sending people reading these books? That teens can't handle their own problems? That they should go running off to an adult at the merest sign of trouble? Maybe it's just me, but I prefer books without authority figures in them. The only ones I can think of where it sorta works is Need by Carrie Jones and Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey. And I suppose the Body Finder by Kimberley Derting. But still, I like to see teens solve their OWN problems AWAY FROM parental influence. I mean sure, their parents don't have to die horribly in chapter one. Look at The Wolves of Mercy Falls series...that's such a legitimate case of absent parents...Grace's parents are too wrapped up in their own lives to pay much attention to her, and that really works for the plot.

Other things I'd like to see less of:
Nicely wrapped up series/standalones forced into being series/mermaids/unrealistic teenagers/avoidance of 'tough' issues/series that NEVER end.

So there we are, my somewhat harsh run-down of what I think YA can live without. Do you agree with me? Do you disagree with me? Do you agree but dislike my scathing tone? Let me know in the comments! (but please, no naming and shaming. I've tried hard to to not include any author/book bashing in this post, and I'd appreciate it if you could do the same in the comments)

27 comments:

  1. This is a great list and I agree with quite a few of these. I'm on the side that parents need to be there but they don't need to know everything. I do like when best friends are let in on the truth. I don't think heroines can do it all by themselves while still looking good in a jean and plain t-shirt with just a smudge of mascara. I like it better when they have someone else in their corner!

    I really enjoyed reading your list!

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    1. Oh heroines absolutely can't do it all themselves! I just prefer non-parental help..like you said a best friend or something. It just appeals to me more.

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  2. Good list. I also find i. having multiple sequels that follow the same formula as the first book and ii. ripping off a well known author i.e. Rowling massively irritating.

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  3. I don't class VA as a love triangle anymore...Adrian never stood a chance. Sexy boy.

    Nice list although the parents thing DRIVES me insane. Just don't mention them. Don't need to kill them off in some absolutely plotless and pointless way. Leave the parents alone.

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    1. That's why it's such a GOOD love triangle..it doesn't feel like one! But really, it was.

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  4. I'm so glad I'm not the only one who wants to see less parents. I don't mind if the parents aren't dead, or they're not absent-minded like Grace's parents in Shiver, but whatever they are, I just don't want to see them. :)

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    1. I'm glad someone agrees with me! They don't NEED to be there...:P

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  5. I so agree with this list. I want to see more families the most. There are only a few handful of books with actual families (Soul Screamers series is a great book with families.)

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  6. Other than the family angle, I pretty much agree whole-heartedly with you! Seriously, you covered SO many great, relevant points that have had me shaking my head going "UGH LESS PLEASE." I agree with wanting plot devices that are done WELL. We have enough of all of them that are done poorly, lord knows. I would love to be able to pick up a book and NOT cringe over a love triangle, etc.

    And holy crap YES to the cookie-cutter characters. OMG. One of my FAVORITE authors back in the day passed on and a ghostwriter took over for her. Couple books down the line and I can practically recite who each new character is, because they're the exact same as the last, just with a different name. That bugs me SO much.

    Wonderful post, chica!
    I love realistic paranormal books, romance or contemporary, etc. I think just because an author is writing about a paranormal element doesn't mean it's a challenge to see how over-the-top one can be!

    Trends bother me, and unfortunately be it vampires, angels, mermaids, whatever, the more authors that flood the market with those such books, I think it does sometimes bring out the ones who go off the rails and start writing erratically when it comes to paranormal.

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    1. Great comment Molli (I think everyone but me loves a good family :P) That's SUCH a shame about that author....I wont read LJ Smith's books now they're ghostwritten...just seems wrong. I totally agree about the trends, they're definitely a problem when it comes to over-saturation and going off the rails.

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  7. Love this list. I totally agree with them all except the family one - I do enjoy a good family. :)

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  8. Cookie cutter characters. I agree but I can't help but notice that when I DO read about a un-self-sacrificing female MC I get annoyed at her selfishness.

    Cliches badly used. I realized just the other day with all my whining about love triangles that sometimes they're nice just so you have another option. Even if the character is never going to choose the guy you like at least you can like him. Am I right? But, yeah, throwing in a love triangle for the sake of a love triangle drives me nuts!

    Ridiculousness. LOL! Oh my heck that zombie unicorn book sounds awesome!!!! Hee hee. Love it. I know exactly what you're talking about. I think we all do. Well, except for the authors that keep doing it!

    Bad writing. Yep! I'm a snob too. Not to say I can write by any means but I can spot bad writing from a mile away and more often than not it totally turns me off!

    Families. I know what you're saying here too. I think YA authors sometimes purposely add involved parents in the hopes that their readers will be encouraged to talk to their own parents. I think everyone come from different parenting backgrounds and not always good ones. So if there's no parents in a YA book I deal with it even though that's not what my childhood was like. Make sense?

    Alright I'm shutting up now. Loved the post!

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    1. Great comment Jenny! I know what you mean about the selfish characters...but sometimes it can work, if it's done right. Look at Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr (which if you haven't read you should). PLus, we can't like EVERYONE. we don't like everyone IRL so we shouldn't really like everyone in books, too.

      I LOVE a good love triangle, I totally do, I always pick the wrong boy and I agonize over the MC's STUPID choice BUT I hate the half-hearted LT. A trend we see at the moment is she gets all settled in book 1 with a guy then in book 2 it's all WHAM here's another guy too....she's 'mysteriously drawn' to him DESPITE BEING IN A LOVING RELATIONSHIP. Just a lazy way to add tension to a happy relationship.

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  9. Love the list, laughing at the zombie unicorns from outer space! You pretty much covered most of my pet peeves. I hate bad boys who are bad just for the sake of being bad. Unconvincingly bad. I need believable backstory/reasons for his badness. And it takes more than a leather jacket and a few cuss words to class as a 'bad boy'!

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    1. Ugh, bad boys, when done well they are so, so appealing. When done badly I want to kill everyone. Glad you feel the same!

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  10. I agree with one through four, so much so that I laughed out loud for most of it. Particularly number three. But I have to disagree with number five, simply because I've read so many great parents/families that it makes the book all the better. I don't think of the characters telling their families everything about what goes on in their life, but, realistically, not every single person is without a family. It's kind of expected that most have at least someone, and a lot of YA tends to ignore or kill that someone(s). And if they happen to be there, they're not characterized very well. If I Stay, Lola and the Boy Next Door, Born Wicked (the sisters), Once a Witch, Article 5, the Drake Chronicles, the Mortal Instruments... these all feature families/parents that are cool and/or solid, and they make the books even more interesting than the start.

    Asher

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    1. Oh I agree with you Asher, I mean in the sense that the parents come in and like, solve everything or are overbearing/controlling/a huge part of the plot. I like the family in Once a Witch because they're seen as a bit of a pain sometimes, though supportive, but more in the background. Same with TMI really. The Drake Chronicles works because it's not a traditional family unit. So the families in those DO work.

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  11. Glad you got that off your chest? LOL. I really enjoyed this post. I know what you mean by 'realistic', some stories just take it too far.

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    1. Yes! Sometimes you just gotta have a rant...

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  12. This is a great post. The whole Zombie Unicorns from outer space thing had me cracking up!! I get you though. You can make stuff up without it being all crazy and over the top. And the bad writing thing really bothers me. It can be the best book in the world, but if there are tons of mistakes, I will dock it a star just for that.

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  13. Oh man, I agree with so much. Badly used cliches & bad writing especially. But even worse, when the story is TOLD in clichey terms. Or not cliches, but when the same phrases are recycled over and over, if you know what I mean. Like "his smouldering eyes" every five pages and "her trembling hands" and "her heart skipped a beat" and other similar things. Every time I read "the kiss deepened" in a book, I want to bash my head against a wall. Every single kiss in every single kiss scene in every single book has "the kiss deepened". I mean, I can take it if it's only used once, but to describe EVERY SCENE? Bah! Please!

    Families, I do like them. I do think having them present is a lot more realistic, and I like them as background characters, but the really obsessive and controlling types annoy me, especially when they're not even supposed to be obsessive and controlling, or when that isn't supposed to be a main issue.

    [/rant]

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  14. Great list and I completely agree especially with the Cookie Cutter characters and the bad writing.

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  15. OMG. CAIT. I WILL BUY A HUNDRED COPIES OF YOUR NOVEL IF YOU WRITE ABOUT ZOMBIE UNICORNS FROM OUTER SPACE. Who come to find LOVE! Awwww! <333

    But YES, even though (most people SAY) Hogwarts can never be real, Rowling makes you BELIEVE it can be. It feels realistic. And I love when fantasy/paranormal authors make you believe in the impossible.

    And you make good point about families, although I DO like seeing strong family bonds in some books, especially sibling ones. I just grumble when the kids can just do WHATEVER they like at all hours of the night and the parents aren't even factored into it. No curfews or punishment for the crazy crap they get up to. I just can't help but wonder 'how did they not notice you're doing this and that?' 'Why are they NEVER home?" Yet at the same time, I don't want them to interfere, because hello, it's the super hot paranormal guy I want to read about :P

    Excellent post!

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  16. Ah yes series that never end now that's something I want to see less of! I personally think the perfect number of books in a series is three with a trilogy you get a beginning book a middle book and an end book. I hate series that have like 10 books to them especially when only one comes out every year I don't want to have to wait 10 years to find out what happens to these characters in the end y'know?

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  17. I definitely agree with a lot of these. And that Hogwarts comment... Haha, well, I know I'm still waiting for my acceptance letter. The only one that I might disagree with is the parents in YA. I have a big pet peeve in books when things are not believable. And always absent parents who never wonder why their children are running around with dark and brooding, dangerous looking characters? Unbelievable. Sometimes. I'm not saying parents need to be always looking over the shoulder of the MC, but sometimes I like to have even the smallest detail about why the parents are totally absent. Lola's dads in Lola and the Boy Next Door are probably my favourite parents in YA!

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  18. Interesting post. I agree with a lot of what you said, especially about bad writing. Ugh. I see so much of that and I'm a total word snob, too, so I get SUPER annoyed by clunky sentence structure, tired cliches and flat-as-a-pancake characters.

    Then there's the parent thing. Like Chloe, I get more annoyed when there AREN'T parents in a YA novel. I'm the parent of a teen and I absolutely know where he is all (okay MOST) of the time. If he's not home when he's supposed to be, I worry, and you better believe I call around until I find him. I think most parents are like that. Of course, concerned parents are very inconvenient in YA novels where heroes and heroines need to be able to move around in the middle of the night or between other worlds or whatever, so I understand why most parents in YA books are alcoholics or drug addicts or absent in some other way, but I still think it's important for characters to have home lives because even if it's boring, it's realistic.

    Thanks for making me think!

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