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Nov. 18th, 2005 02:02 pmYoung Adult books keep invading my week. Some writers can write them (Kaaren Sutcliffe, Garth Nix, Felicity Pulman locally, William Mayne, Susan Cooper, Neil Gaiman, Jane Yolen, Peter Dickinson less locally); some writers can't (not going to give names, sorry).
Why do certain writers (the ones not named above) assume that teens require a slightly patronising tone? Why do others assume that teens need lesser narrative or intellectual values? When they bring these values to their YA fiction, I read the books and mourn. You can still see the wonderful writers you read in the adult incarnation, but their talent is obscured and made miserable by the false assumptions. And poor editing. For some reason bad YA novels go hand in hand with the a lack of red pen. It is as if some editors are complicit in stupid assumptions about what teens will acccept in their reading.
My suspicion of YA fantasy has always been that it is the toughest variety to write. It needs all the good narrative values of adult work, plus it mostly has to be shorter. (Rowling and Tolkein prove that 'shorter' doesn't universally aply, which is a relief, but YA novels are still on average shorter.) The best YA novels are the best novels of any variety and I have always sorrowed that they are not considered for most major prizes.
And I am in a rantish mood. I want to start an article on YA novels with "They were the best of books; they were the worst of books." Except it would make an awful opening. Bad misquotes are only handy if they are humourous. And beides, I dislike Dickens.
Why do certain writers (the ones not named above) assume that teens require a slightly patronising tone? Why do others assume that teens need lesser narrative or intellectual values? When they bring these values to their YA fiction, I read the books and mourn. You can still see the wonderful writers you read in the adult incarnation, but their talent is obscured and made miserable by the false assumptions. And poor editing. For some reason bad YA novels go hand in hand with the a lack of red pen. It is as if some editors are complicit in stupid assumptions about what teens will acccept in their reading.
My suspicion of YA fantasy has always been that it is the toughest variety to write. It needs all the good narrative values of adult work, plus it mostly has to be shorter. (Rowling and Tolkein prove that 'shorter' doesn't universally aply, which is a relief, but YA novels are still on average shorter.) The best YA novels are the best novels of any variety and I have always sorrowed that they are not considered for most major prizes.
And I am in a rantish mood. I want to start an article on YA novels with "They were the best of books; they were the worst of books." Except it would make an awful opening. Bad misquotes are only handy if they are humourous. And beides, I dislike Dickens.