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Everybody Loves YA Panel #nswwc

Myth

Everybody Loves YA Panel #nswwc

July 21, 2015 by Sheree 4 Comments

Speculative Fiction Festival,
NSW Writers Centre #LoveOzYA

It was quite a line up. The NSWWC Festival was a star-studded event with big names in Australian speculative fiction making up every panel. The Young Adult panel was a prime example as we were treated to the collective literary wisdom of Marianne de Pierres, Garth Nix, Richard Harland, Isobelle Carmody and Amie Kaufman.

Richard was the host and he began by introducing the panel and their impressive credentials. He posed a number of questions and each panel member responded. There was plenty to absorb, so what follows is an attempt to capture as much of the excellent advice and insight that poured forth in the session as possible. I’ve done a lot of paraphrasing and it’s not in strict chronological order, as I’ve tried to group similar topics together.

I’ve used the writers first names hereafter, for brevity and because I don’t want to sound like a British boarding school teacher by using just surnames. This isn’t the place for Harry Potter role play. Though… no, no, it’s not.

Everything that follows is gleaned from my notes and memory along with excellent tweets from numerous sources. I’ve also added links and comments, just because I can.

NSWWC YA3

Why is YA so popular, particularly with adults?

This question was thrown at Marianne first. Her response was that it allows those of us past adolescence to revisit that time in our lives, perhaps before life has become difficult or complex, to re-imagine our youth or what our lives could have been like if it had gone in a different direction. YA stories are often about identity, and so they appeal whether we’re in the process of finding our own identity or re-examining it. Young adults are also good bullshit detectors, so authenticity of voice is crucial, and that is inherently appealing in a story.

GN Story is kingYA has won the industry’s attention, said Garth, but we can overthink its popularity. He stressed that people shouldn’t get hung up on categories. Books put on YA shelves provide strong, clear stories with interesting characters, so naturally people other than teenagers are going to want to read them. “Story is king.” The best books always have multiple layers of meaning that can be appreciated at different stages, and can be revisited with a new perspective at a later age.

Richard RH Lit YCpointed out that literature has always been full of young characters going through change. (I  thought of Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, Tom Brown, Jane Eyre and Holden Caulfield.) “It’s an interesting time of life. Your impressions are stronger than at any other time.” The emphasis on YA in recent years is more about the way books are marketed. The writers came back to marketing a little further on.

“No wonder YA is so popular,” said Isobelle. “Who wants to be an adult when we see what adults have done to our world?” She told us of the 20 year old MP in the UK she watched on Youtube the previous night.

Mhairi Black’s maiden House of Commons speech

This young woman had made her think a lot about YA books. Adults have made such a mess of the world and those in positions of power are behaving in such juvenile ways that there is a yearning, in both young people and those older, to return to ideals that seem far from being lived out in the real world. We crave a clearer sense of values which YA provides, as its characters strive to work out who they are in the world.

Basic motivations are also something that drive Isobelle, striving to understand why people do what they do. She thinks about what famous people were like in their formative years. What was Martin Luther King, Jr. like in school? Was he different to the other kids? What about others who grow up to be shining examples or do horrific things? What formed them? YA resonates with adults because it holds the seeds of who you become.

IC Inside every ageIsobelle is drawn to adolescent POV because they are characters who are growing, changing, becoming, but the core within doesn’t leave the child’s perspective behind. “Inside you is every age you’ve ever been – they don’t die or go away!” If the writing is good enough, it will resurrect the 12 year old inside of you.

Amie reminded us that YA is the literature of transformation, “and we’re all going through transformations, all the time”. Everyone, can identify with YA stories. Good stories are about change, so YA stories are inherently appealing. She said that in her teens she was working out who she was, then in her twenties sAK tranformationhe felt like she was already supposed to have worked it out. She found YA stories still spoke strongly to her then, and perhaps the YA appeal is about exploring who we are no matter our age.

Then Amie discussed how she has found it difficult being told someone doesn’t read fiction because they “don’t read something they can’t learn from”. After the gasps and incredulous laughter died down, from panel and audience alike, Amie said what we all know; in fiction we walk in others shoes, and learn so much about other people and the world that we could never understand from non-fiction.

Can Reading Fiction Improve Empathy? (PsychCentral)
Can Reading a Fictional Story Make You More Empathetic?
(Psychology Today, n
eurobiological emphasis)

Richard pointed out that imagination in itself it incredibly valuable. Einstein, for example, developed his theories of relativity through his ability to imagine. The stimulation of imagination is one of the most important things we can cultivate in our children and young people, and society in general.

Richard found the labelling of speculative fiction as ‘escapist’ fiction, using it as ‘dirty word’, offensive.

“The Life and Times of Harry Houdini,” muttered Garth. Pardon? Oh, escapist fiction. :)

Besides, Richard insisted, what’s wrong with escapism anyway? What’s wrong with games? We learn from games and ‘escapist’ things too. Play is essential for children. Adolescents and adults need to play too.

What Neil Gaiman was told when he asked why China is encouraging science fiction in its population.

Isobel also believes the craving for idealism and clearer values is also a driving factor in the popularity of speculative fiction.

The writers had varying responses to people who liked to tell them they “don’t like fantasy”. Garth: “I don’t like you, either.” (Most popular response.) All agreed that a lot of bias still exists about ‘genre’ fiction. Isobelle thinks many other writers would create great stories if they weren’t afraid of ‘genre’. Garth again re genre bias: “I don’t breathe often but when I do I choose air.”

Being categorized as YA

Story firstAll the writers agreed that the story came first, rather than writing to a category or age group. Richard reiterated that coming-of-age stories have been around for a very long time, but now they’re being collated and called YA for marketing purposes.

YA stands for “Yes, Awesome!” according to Garth. He considers, though, that age targets or genre categories aren’t inescapable ghettos but places booksellers and librarians situate a book that will be most likely to connect with its initial target audience, from which it will, hopefully, spread out to the rest of your potential readership. He quoted Schuster of Simon & Schuster, who said, “The most dangerous disease for a publisher is a hardening of the categories.” He also advised that writers of YA should make sure potential agents and publishers GN Yes Awesomeare interested in YA and have experience and expertise in it, as opposed to only being interested in its selling potential.

Don’t let categories determine what you write or what you read. Amie advises we should all read across genres & age groups as a matter of course, as we’ll learn from other genres, whether crime, romance, thriller, literary, or whatever. There will be aspects of all of them that will improve your own writing.

Sex, Drugs and Violence in YA

Concerning sex and drug use in one of Marianne’s books, she was told by an overseas publisher that “teenagers weren’t interested” in those things. (???)

Amie noted that when she was in high school, the John Marsden books in the library would always fall open at certain well-worn pages. (That makes more sense.)

GN Adult in YA“People forget the ‘adult’ in Young Adult,” Garth said in relation to gatekeeping in YA, and many don’t discern between Children’s and YA. These aren’t books for kids. If those things are part of your story, you should use them to tell the story.

One of the writers (Amie?) had an overseas editor ask about sex scenes in a book, and was concerned that one occurred. When she explained the scene was one of violence, there was no problem. All agreed how bizarre the value system is, to accept a scene of violent sex in preference over consensual, pleasurable sex.

Garth was proud when one of his books was banned due in the U.S. It was due to coarse language, strangely citing many words that didn’t occur in the book. He advises, though, that the forces who come out to bat for challenged books are usually more powerful than those who try to ban them.

He then advised that if you’re going use swearing in your book, don’t make it on the first page, as that seemed to be the trouble with his book. Amie helpfully informed us that it won’t be a problem if you can postpone it until after the first 50 pages. It seems the automated scanning for such things stops at page 50. I’m wondering if all authors start using this information, will the scanning algorithm be changed to random pages? There has to be a librarian joke in that, but I’d better not go there …

Isobelle: “I have to admit, one of my proudest moments was having one of my books burned.” It was a European town which she later visited. Ah, fandom.

My quote award goes to Garth Nix, who provided so many succinct quotes over the day, for this:

GN Banned

Many thanks to Festival Director Cat Sparks for an excellent day, and the staff of the NSW Writers Centre for all their work. Thanks also to all the tweeters who captured so much of the wisdom of the day, especially Tehani Wessely who storified the day’s tweets, which you can find here.

If I’ve left things out or made any mistakes, please add them in the comments.

Links: Websites

Marianne de Pierres
Garth Nix
Richard Harland
Isobelle Carmody
Amie Kaufman
NSW Writers Centre

Posted in: Aussie books, Aussie setting, Dystopia, Fantasy, Science fiction, Writers Festival Book, Young Adult Tagged: #aussieauthor, Aussie setting, Books, Dystopia, Fantasy, Garth Nix, Myth, Paranormal, Science fiction, Young Adult

The Court of Thorns and Roses

June 4, 2015 by Sheree 1 Comment

When my Practical Bloke wanted gift suggestions this year (i.e. “What books do you want?”), Sarah J. Maas was at the top of the list – not her exactly, that would be illegal – but her Throne of Glass trilogy. I’d wanted to read it for ages, but he also bought me the first of her new series, The Court of Thorns and Roses.

ACOTARoriginalI was intrigued, and opened The Court first.

It begins with the young heroine, Feyre (Fay-ruh), hunting in a forest in deep winter. As she stalks a doe, a wolf also pursues her prey. It’s no ordinary wolf,  but one of the hated fae from over the northern border. She kills it with an arrow of ash wood then bring down the doe, relieved her father and older sisters won’t go hungry for a few days. The wolf is skinned to sell.

A day after returning home, she faces the consequences of the kill. A faerie lord arrives in the form of a great beast, declaring her life is forfeit for the crime of murdering one of the fae. But there is an alternative; the Treaty between humans and the faerie lords stipulates if she is not executed she must return to his lands in the north, never to see to her home or family again. Feyre is hauled off to the estate of the faerie lord, Tamsin.

When I opened this book I was soon chapters into it, though I’d intended to read the Throne of Glass trilogy first. Feyre is capable and resourceful, rising to the challenge of providing for her family since they fell on hard times. It’s refreshing that she is the youngest of the family, as usually in hardship stories it’s the oldest siblings that look after the younger ones. She’s no paragon, though, as she nurses a streak of resentment against her sisters for not shouldering their share of the burden, her father for losing their money, and even her dead mother for neglecting them.

The Court of Thorns and Roses has been described as a Beauty and the Beast tale, but it’s not as simple as that. It’s closer to a re-imagining of the Eros and Psyche story from Greek mythology, including the main character being the youngest of three sisters. It’s a fantasy love story, but is at its best in the sections where the romance is not the focus.

After Feyre settles into Tamsin’s estate, slowly letting go of her plots to return home and dealing with a growing attraction to Tamsin, I found the narrative gradually loses impetus. As it’s written in first person in Feyre’s viewpoint, we know there’s something bigger going on, but it’s so vague there’s a lack of real threat, no overarching goal or deadline to push the narrative forward. There’s a shadow, but no ticking clock. The growing romance didn’t really captivate me, perhaps because it seems to be the whole point at that stage, without a sense of where it’s all leading. Maybe the singular viewpoint in this case was a handicap, as if we saw the situation from Tamsin’s side the stakes and tension would flow naturally.

Feyre had caught me in the first few chapters, though, and it’s not too long until she’s back in action with grit and determination, ramped up to new levels. The rest was page-turning, with lethal threats, shifting alliances and inhuman determination.

ACOTAR

My page-turner rating through ‘The Court of Thorns and Roses’

I tend to be a visual thinker, so on the right is my graph of the page-turner rating level through The Court of Thorns and Roses (not exactly to scale). Obviously I liked the latter part of the book best. It bodes well for when I get to the Throne of Glass trilogy, because Sarah J. Maas can definitely write bad-ass women in action.

Links: Sarah J. Maas website

Posted in: Fairy tales, Fantasy, Folklore, Romance, Young Adult Tagged: Book review, Faery, Fantasy, Folklore, Myth, Romance, Sarah J. Maas, Young Adult

Shadowfell – in the Dark: Juliet Marillier

April 28, 2015 by Sheree 1 Comment

What do we take for granted?

Like others, my house had no electricity for four days after recent storms across New South Wales, and we had to get creative about the basics like lights and meals. (Internet? Hah!). In the middle of those four days, we had a plumbing emergency. Not pretty. Fortunately for us, we were able to get a plumber and it was fixed the same day.

15709129Those four days, I thought a lot about how many people in the world live without power and plumbing. I also spent a lot of time reading, much of it by candlelight. One book I read was Raven Flight, the second book in Juliet Marillier’s Shadowfell trilogy. Already being in a thoughtful frame of mind, this book had me thinking along disquieting lines.

The first book of the series, Shadowfell, follows Neryn, alone and hiding from the agents of the tyrannical king of Alban. Her young life has been one of tragedy, but her one hope is to find the rumoured base of a rebellion, Shadowfell. Her affinity with the Good Folk, the fey of the land, would mark her for death or enslavement at the hands of the king’s elite troops, but the Folk also prophesy of her importance to the land. She receives aid from a stranger, but the question is, can she trust him?

The second boo17847892k, Raven Flight, continues Neryn’s story after she arrives at Shadowfell. First she must become stronger in body, and then in order to truly help the rebellion she needs to be trained to use her gift. Eventually she sets out with one companion to find the Guardians who can teach her.

I have to make a disclosure. I love Juliet Marillier’s books, so I was well disposed towards this series at the outset. Her writing combines strong stories based on elements of history and folklore woven with romance. This is her first series written for a young adult audience, but I’ve never let the YA tag put me off. I’d miss out on too many good books that way.

So far I’ve found that, while still having a strong romantic element at the core, there is less emphasis on the romantic relationship in the Shadowfell books than in most of her others. The protagonist, Neryn, is a strong character – not physically, as she is weak and unwell for a significant part of the first book, but she has courage and strength of will in the face of danger and hardship. She spends a much of the first book traveling alone or in the company of the fey, so while there is sufficient time for the romance to develop, the focus is on her endurance and spirit. The main issue in the relationship between Neryn and her love interest, Flint, is the same as the main question of the book: Do I trust, and risk being vulnerable?

In the second book, Raven Flight, though Flint is often in Neryn’s thoughts they are only together for a short time. The emphasis in this book is on sacrifice for the greater good. They both have crucial roles to play in the coming rebellion which necessitate not only that they be separated, but also that they be willing to give the other up. Flint’s actions when worried about her threaten his position, and thus the rebellion. The question is asked again and again in this book: What will you give up for the cause, for the greater good?

Candlesbook60It was this question which had me thinking as I read by candlelight. I read a fantasy book set in a land with a despotic king, who ruthlessly cut down anyone who dared to breathe the slightest opposition. The sad part is that such things are not confined to fantasy, and we don’t have to look far to find examples either in history or in today’s world.

In Australia and other democracies we take so much for granted, just like our electricity supply. There are problems here, certainly, and there have been changes to legislation in the past twenty years, especially recently, which have been unhealthy and curbed freedoms. Perhaps it has happened with little outcry because we have taken so much for granted. I wondered while reading by candlelight: What would I give up for the greater good?

I wonder what questions the third book of the trilogy, The Caller, will ask?

Links: Juliet Marilliers Webpage

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Aussie Author Challenge 2015

 

 

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Australian Women Writers Challenge

 

Posted in: Aussie books, Australian Women Writers, Fantasy, Folklore, Young Adult Tagged: #aussieauthor, #aww2015, Book review, Faery, Fantasy, Folklore, Juliet Marillier, Myth, Romance, Young Adult

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