The Next Big Thing in YA Literature

As much as I love young adult and children fantasy/sci-fi/dystopia, I am tiring of it. Everything is starting to feel derivative. I just read Divergent by Veronica Roth, which actually is derivative, but I may have been more forgiving of its lapses a year ago. (I should point out, though, that the book's penchant for sensationalism still had me reading to the end non-stop.)

But I still love what makes these fantastic genres so appealing: the emphasis on action, imagination, and the presence of a hero figure. I love a well-plotted story with significant character development – action with lots of heart.

I still want all this but now I want it in a story that is in touch with the real. Harry Potter was contemporary while still feeling traditional, and the Percy Jackson series sets its demi-god heroes in the present as well. These books are still very heavy in world-building, though, and this distracts from the "real." I am yearning for a book that pushes against reality, while still having that special something that sets it apart from pure contemporary fiction.

For example, I loved Ransom Riggs’ Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children because of how concerned it is with human history: although the plot of the book doesn’t directly revolve around the Holocaust and World War II, these events shape the lives of our characters and the events of the story. But Riggs’ novel isn’t contemporary fiction or realistic; it’s gothic, horror, sci-fi (a hodgepodge that makes the work innovative). But what’s really satisfying is how the novel grapples with rather than parodies real human events.

I bet I am not the only one who is starting to (or will start to) feel a bit tired of a market that’s so removed from historic or real events. It makes me think that the next big thing in YA & children is going to be fiction that bridges reality with everything that makes fantasy and related genres great -- Hunger Games has paved the way toward that (but the Hunger Games series is set in another reality altogether). I am really excited, for example, for The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker (Release Date: June 2012). The book sounds like another dystopia, but from the description in The Guardian and the way Lynn Henry (Publishing Director, Doubleday Canada) raves about it, the book seems prescient and deeply affected by the world today.

This thoughtful piece on magical realism and YA seems to be in line with my instinct that the market is going to become tired of fantasy that's removed from contemporary (and I suppose I should say political) realities. YA is so new, though, it could splinter into many directions all at once. The genre is still discovering itself -- and I am excited about its potential to not only inspire the imagination, but also our intellect. 

Reading, Reading, Reading

A while back, I wrote a passionate post about my lifelong book pledge and how I was excited to participate in The 50 Book Pledge. Well. Since then, I have relocated to a different city, started a new job, and overall done a remarkable upheaval of my life, and barely read anything worth mentioning. During that time, oddly enough, my Kindle has been my best friend, and my number of purchases has skyrocketed, even though I continue to read e-books with a certain reluctance and unwillingness to completely accept the medium.

Anyway. Now that things are calming down a bit, I am getting back into reading, and here's a quick update on where I stand in terms of the challenge, with only three months and a couple of weeks left to fulfill my mission.

So, not including the books I re-read (ahem, Harry Potter)...

...

...

...I have read a whopping 16 books this year.

O_O

YIKES.

It probably doesn't help that right now I am re-reading another childhood favorite, the Song of the Lioness series by Tamora Pierce, which are as excellent as I remember them to be. (If I did include the books I re-read, the number above would be 24.)

Even more frustrating is that I am in a reading lull and feel uninspired by the books I have come across.

Regardless, I am not backing away from this challenge. I have 23 weeks left to read 34 books. That's do-able, right???

The Busy Bees of Business

I often talk about writing, poetry, editing, and all things creative and wonderful, but I also have an obsessive interest in the business side of book publishing. I love reading about the wholesale model vs. the agency model (here's a useful run-down), and I am following the lawsuit against Apple and five major publishers with interest. We are living in a time when we are re-assessing our business models, and we are witnessing the way business models have a trickle-down effect on consumers and culture on a larger scale. (Or maybe this has always been the case of business, but it's so new to me, everything feels fresh and full of adventure.)

These effects, though, aren't always linear, and the financial landscape is confusing and challenging. The world isn't black & white (just because something doesn't sell in large numbers doesn't mean it's not quality), but on the business side of things, numbers speak loudly. HP's announcement that it wants to do away with its PC side of the business doesn't just interest me on a business level, it forces me to re-evaluate the kind of world I am living in. As a 23-year-old, I grew up alongside the PC, and the portend of its death (or, at least, diminishment) will mean a change in the way we communicate, access information, and relate to each other in public spaces (smart phones & tablets, along with MP3 players, create distance in public spaces).

Not many months ago, my local Blockbuster was closing its doors; that's old news, but I remember something my friend said: we are the last generation to witness and experience the rise and death of movie rental culture. The PC will continue to  be important for many years to come, especially in the workplace, but it's departure from the consumer-driven mainstream makes me think a lot about what mainstream means in book publishing, and the way things are driven so quickly out of popularity. In the previous season of Project Runway, the judges, torn between two very talented designers, selected the one they thought was looking forward to the next big thing, rather than the one who fit better with what's "hot" right now.

This is the first time I (we) have truly experienced in such a large scale how quickly things can be driven out and replaced in a consumer culture. It's not something every generation is necessarily privileged to experience, and it is impressive how something so popular and so lucrative as the PC could suddenly be driven out. The paperback revolution (and in Canada) was many decades ago, but the rise of brick-and-mortar booksellers was not that long ago. Things change quickly, especially in a culture that thrives and capitalizes on change, and in order to keep up, we need to be forward-thinking -- and creative.

The Book Camp London Experience

I love working in kids' books because you can't fool kids. If a story's there, the kid will be there. It's not like adult fiction, where taste can get muddled by social expectations and fancy words. I love adult fiction, but we have to admit -- it's not very down-to-earth sometimes.

Which is why I am a liiittle nervous. On Friday, I am going to join the kids at Book Camp London and give a chat about editing. What's awesome is that the kids who attend love books. The book camp introduces the kids to the world of writing, bringing in illustrators, storytellers, writers, etc., all of whom speak from a variety of perspectives. I am lucky enough to be sharing my experience as an editor...but I am also nervous because I've never actually presented to kids before!

Still, I am both delighted for and envious of this opportunity the kids have to hear from real-life writers, editors, etc. I would have loved that as a kid, though I did have a pretty awesome public library with an amazing children's books and teen section. Still, I kind of wish I could stay for the whole book camp, sneak into all the presentations and activities. Maybe no one will notice a stowaway in the back...

Speaking of stowaways, I have to share that I am currently reading Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld, Book 2 in his Leviathan series (Leviathan is the title of the first book). This is the first series I've read by Westerfeld...and also the first time I've read steampunk. Steampunk is rooted in Victorian culture and steam engine technology, but what Westerfeld has done is so much more chimeric -- a mash-up of Steampunk and Biopunk (genetics/DNA). The time periods and cultures from which these emerged are so different, but Westerfeld manages to hold these together... I've never read a young adult book so committed to science fiction and history. It's really cool!

Book Camp Toronto

Today I attended the pub night for Book Camp Toronto! I am really excited about this event, which will be one of my first "extracurricular" forays into the publishing industry in Toronto, which is still a whole new (and exciting) world. Book Camp Toronto is described as an "unconference," where sessions are less about being talked at by a presenter and more about exchanging ideas, concerns, etc.

I am loving the session ideas: I am particularly excited about the panels on (of course) children's books, agenting, women in publishing, publishing's next top business models, genre in Canada...okay, I might actually be interested in everything. The only downside is that so many of the awesome sessions will be happening around the same time, since the one-day event starts at noon and ends at 5pm (leaving enough time for afterparties).

The meet-up today was pretty cool, and also made me realize first hand the far-reaching influence of Twitter. It turns out that someone I had followed on Twitter but hadn't actually ever met in person was at the event too -- what a small world, eh?

Book Camp Toronto is on August 20th, and registration just opened up today. The event is free and there are a limited number of spots -- if you are in the town (or even if you're not) I suggest making it to this one!