My Thoughts Thursday: Raise Your Pinky Finger

On Tuesday, you guys got to see my thing about depth in literature, and how it's there if you have the courage to pick a book that has what you're looking for. But for my more ranty Thursday post, I'm talking about why those stereotypes about YA literature pervade.

I mean, even when I was looking up the picture for this post, all the posts had similar titles in it, as shown below:

Don't even get me started as to why these people consider Harry Potter young adult fiction. Just goes to show what a lot of people know. Fun fact: Catcher in the Rye, The Great Gatsby, and other beloved classics were published for the young adult audience. I mean, Jane Austen was pretty much considered a women's fiction writer and she wrote some of the most analytical and true-to-life stories of English society in that age. So why is it that these radically successful trilogies like Divergent are still being blasted as simple stories with a love triangle and hot boys and whatever else? Well, like all stereotypes, part of them are true. There are a lot of stories with love triangles - it's a simple plot device that takes up some time in the novel while other things occur to give different readers different focal points. It also taps into the more realistic fiction market, because most realistic fiction offers very simple plot devices built up with writer finesse, and YA has a very wide range of reading abilities, intelligences, and ages. Some YA readers simply aren't ready for something more complex. I've yet to see a twelve-year-old read a Joyce novel.

But there's also the stereotypes bleeding in from other areas. Who, predominantly, reads young adult fiction? Teenagers, for one. Already considered to be a 'good-for-nothing' age group consisting of rebels and Molotov cocktails of hormones, this time in a person's life is considered to be unsubstantial by adult standards. And furthermore, who of teenagers reads more often than any other group? Girls. Teenage girls. And the societal expectation of the teenage girl is clear - a boy band-swooning, vapid, materialistic Barbie doll. Not meant to really have big ideas, strong thoughts, or be interested in 'deep' topics. Can you tell these words are dripping with disdain? It's true, I'm a tad bitter about that one, because I was held to that standard. The reason that YA fiction is written off is because the people who read it are written off. That's why written-off characters like Tris are so easy to identify with, a good proportion of YA readers have been there, or are still there.

Does this mean that we can't change the perception of various genres? Of course not. The way to do it is with purchasing power. It's no coincidence that dystopian novels and trilogies are exploding, or that female protagonists are parts of very popular series. Teenagers want to read about the world going on around them, and for a lot of people, dystopians are the closest thing to reality. Teenage guy readers aren't swayed by gender like people want to think they are, and they're looking for stories. Everyone, everywhere is looking for a good story. The only problem is that stereotypes like we have deter some readers from picking up a book. There have been studies where 'girly' covers are glossed over by guys. We have to push back and fight for the stories to define their genre instead of society doing it for them. We can do this.


Clickies:

@themoorewriter talks #YAlit and why judging a book by its cover can hurt an entire industry [Tweet it!]

Underdogs make for the best stories because stories are read by underdogs: @themoorewriter on nixing genre stereotypes  [Tweet it!]

Viva,
Brie

Witty Wednesdays: Put On Your Sweatband

Today was originally going to be a review post in which I review Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis, but that's been moved to Friday because I feel that Wednesdays by default are the days in which you need much more motivation than the rest of the week - hence the sweatband reference.

I know that my last Witty Wednesday post was less than witty, considering its focus on religion, but I hope that today's is a little more light-hearted. As you may know, I am nearing the finish line on my first draft of The Artist (finally) and have been pushing the last two days to get it done. What you may not know is that I had a full day yesterday and spent at least half the time I spent writing trying to motivate myself to getting back to doing so. I mean, the Law of Inertia does have something right: objects in motion tend to stay in motion. Once I sit down to it and get my fingers going, it's easy to crank out a huge chunk of writing. Unfortunately, when you're a college freshman like myself that still has to buy dorm materials and you still live with your twin brother and parents there's really no way to just have several hours to yourself for writing.

So how do you keep yourself going even though there's a delicious chicken avocado quesadilla calling your name from the fridge or a twittersphere updating at the speed of light on the phone perched at your side? I got you.

1. Remove All Distractions

I know I've used this GIF before, but come on, seriously? It's perfect and goes with everything. But back to the tab at hand, don't give yourself an exit if you can. You'll know it's there, and the second something gets hard the overwhelming desire to abort mission and do something else is hard to fight. Eat before you sit down or graze as you go so that you're not forced to sate your grumbling stomach halfway through a scene that's going great. Keep your phone out of easy reach so that it's more of a chore to check it or go on twitter or my new vice, Houzz (like Pinterest but for pretty houses). Have a blanket and water nearby. If you have research or other notes, nest it around you. I do this for school work, too. I literally surround myself with what I need to do so it discourages me from getting up and lying on the floor in front of the TV or sleeping.

2. Start Your Jam

Some people need music, some people can't stand it when they write with noise. Either way, get into your jam. If it's silence, close doors, open shutters but not the windows, and find a way to sit so that you cause minimal noise. Also with the eating thing, because stomach noises are the most annoying, especially when you hate noise. If you need some tunes to go along with your writing prowess, either create a playlist before you get your things together or play one on repeat. That way you're not stopping every so often when some random song that breaks the mood comes on and you have to change it. Whatever inspires you for a particular project works, but don't be throwing brand-spanking-new songs in there. The point is that you're only half-listening and really working. New songs you're relatively unfamiliar with pull you out of your writing because you're busy listening to them. I personally have Spotify lists and iTunes playlists for pretty much anything I need ever, so I don't have to listen to the same thing into oblivion. Apparently that method of mine has received recognition throughout the house. Oops.

3. Reward Yourself

Writing is hard work. Slightly like the Hobbits' journey to the fiery death that was Mount Doom, it requires going on when you don't want to and running from various creatures out to stop your mission. Theirs were Orcs and Ring Wraiths, yours are procrastination and fatigue. But even the Hobbits got some down time. Nothing can sustain working all the time - I learned that with my laptop battery and now turn my laptop off religiously - so don't freak out if you can't keep going for hours upon hours. Sometimes you can, and sometimes you can't. Build in some good time for yourself to go and do something else for awhile and let your brain relax. Read a book you have near you, maybe just sit back and listen to music, or take a quick walk. I'd say make them mini-rewards so that you're not away from your work too long, but sometimes a forty-five minute lesson on how to longboard is just what the doctor ordered. The road rash from learning wasn't so much part of the plan.

These may seem like really obvious steps, but the thing is, we don't always do what is good for us. Sometimes I watch two hours of TV because I've missed Perception for a couple weeks. Other times I eat full sleeves of Double Stuf Oreos. It's just part of being human. But if we just keep these steps in mind every time we sit down, there's going to be a better chance of someone getting something done than if you just flop down and try and crank out the next great masterpiece. Make it a habit, make it a routine, make it something that helps you achieve success. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a first draft to finish.

Climbing Mount Doom with the Ring of Power,
Brie

Maniacal Mondays: My Barnes & Noble Addiction.

It's true. Every time I go into Barnes & Noble it just reminds me of how little I can control myself in Barnes & Noble. Books everywhere. The scent of happiness. It's like letting an alcoholic tour a brewery. I probably shouldn't have used that comparison...oh well. Too late now.

Anyway, I was hanging with my partner-in-crime at B&N looking for 1984 and The Sound and the Fury for class when I stumbled upon the YA section. And today, my lovely readers, I found hope.

That hope is called Avalon by Mindee Arnett, and for the first time in years I actually want to buy the book off the shelf.

You heard me. No waiting for it at the library, no borrowing it from a friend, I wanna read this sucker. Just look at this beautiful cover.

Do you not just immediately want to read that? It's everything I like - star ships, galactic confederacies, teen rebels, male protagonists, did I mention star ships? It sounds like dystopian Star Trek and the main character's name is Jeth and if that doesn't make you want to read this thing I don't know what to tell you. Jeth comandeers a star ship with a band of teen rebels who all just want to be left alone by the Confederacy, and the story pushes his limits on how far he'll go for freedom. Oooh.

So that's my little spiel for Monday, which I have created a new blog post day - Maniacal Mondays, which will end up being sort of my personal blog day that will relate to something in my life that I'll then gush about (or rant about) to you guys.

Do any of you have a special place that makes you go nuts? Any books you're excited to read? Share! I'm going on Spring Break soon and those plane rides beg for reading material.

Trying to make Mondays a little brighter,

Brie

Think Tank Tuesday: Commercialism

"I lit up like a Christmas tree, Hazel Grace."

"Real or not real?"

"Always."

"May the odds be ever in your favor."

"And in that moment, I swear we are infinite."

I'm guessing you can probably tell me which book these quotes belong to, who said them, and why. And you would probably be right about all of them. They're on t shirts, fanmade goodies, and every gifset and photo collage of that book or its movie adaptation on tumblr. But what about these quotes make them special? 

The answer: Their commercial value. 

These phrases aren't just any old string of words strapped together. They are great one-liners for t-shirts, good quotes to spout as you hug that beloved book to your chest. They're enormous money makers. Publishing houses love them, movie producers want them, and authors provide them.

Or...they try to.

You can see it especially in YA writing where an author is trying - really, really trying - to make that magical phrase happen. They repeat it. They try to put some sort of infinite wisdom in there, pack it with meaning. But it just doesn't work. As much as authors will tell you they write to tell a story,  the reality is that we're also trying to make money. Sure, we clearly aren't as money-hungry as other professions (if you're in it for money, writing is not for you.), but we gotta eat. So appealing to the commercial aspect of books should play a role. But that role has started to cause a deterioration of the writing it sells. How many times have you been reading a book you love, and suddenly there's a plot twist, ooh! And it's a complete sellout, clearly meant to propel the love triangle. Or a character says something ridiculously out of character for the sake of a quotable piece on their Goodreads page. It's like someone had taken a hatchet to their manuscript and filled in the slits with little commercialized bits to catch a publisher's eye. 

Do we need to acknowledge the necessity of a commercially valid piece? Yes. But we can't let it destroy our ideas and hold them captive. A good piece of literature should stand alone, be able to be good outside the industry. You're putting your name on this, don't you want it to be good?

So for the writers: keep doing what you're doing. Write. Revise. Edit. Query. Fight for your story, and don't sacrifice it for commercial success.

For the readers: venture outside the newcomer shelves. Look on Goodreads, ask an associate of Barnes and Noble, take charge of what you read. Read something. If you love it, tell others. I've said it before and I'll say it again: you're the consumer. You hold the power. Take it.

Viva la Revolución,

Brie

The Next Aristotle

Hi guys! I meant to post this and start off your weekend with a post that's not me flailing and just having crazy feelings, but Special Needs Prom, an event that my Key Club hosts for special needs kids around our area every year, swallowed up most of my time.

Anyway, my topic for this post is, as you might have guessed, philosophy.

And no, I'm not going to talk about whether I like Aristotle or Socrates better. That's what Philosophy courses are for and for you to decide. That's why it's philosophy, there's no right answer.

I mean the philosophy of characters, and those ever-coveted, quotable lines that characters seem to randomly spout that the book's fans will quote until the movie adaptation comes out. These tend to be the most memorable lines from a character or long bits of dialogue during one character's drawn-out monologue to make a point. You can find them all over tumblr, reddit, and even Facebook nowadays.

A few examples:

"Not all those who wander are lost." ~J.R.R. Tolkien in the Lord of the Rings series.

"My thoughts are stars I cannot fathom into constellations." ~Aristotle, NOT Augustus Waters from John Green's The Fault in Our Stars, said this.

"You cannot change your journey if you are unwilling to move at all." ~From the book Reached, part of the Matched trilogy by Ally Condie.

(You also have what are more like 'trademark sayings' by characters, such as Severus Snape's famous "Always", but we'll get to those another time.)

These kinds of ideas are wonderful to put in books, because they give books substance. Anyone can write a book about wizards and witches battling an evil master wizard trying to take over the world. It's been done and done again.

What makes Harry Potter different? J.K. Rowling's philosophy. She very casually slips in deeper meanings in the book, generally from Dumbledore or one of the other adults, while they're still alive. They're comments given when they're comforting Harry, or explaining why he's the Chosen One. You read them and then sit back and think, "Oh."

J.K. Rowling is a great example of good philosophy writing. However, there are many, many more authors who aren't so graceful. In fact, it's getting to be more of a problem in YA fiction, because it seems like the authors are trying too hard. Not everyone in a story is going to be wise and able to say these things.

For the sake of my argument, we'll take some characters from The Artist as an example.

As much as I love my characters, and believe me, I do, many of them aren't really qualified to be saying such deep things. A character with experiences, generally older or at the very least someone tried and tested, is a good character for this kind of writing. Therefore, someone young and inexperienced, like Razzo or Eoin's sister, Eire, are probably not good candidates.

We'll take Rowe, Collins' oldest brother, for example. He is twenty-four years old and a miner. In a normal case, he'd be considered rather young. However, he and his siblings were orphaned when he was eleven, when he was forced to become the head of house and try to provide for all his younger siblings, all of whom are ten or younger. He's been forced to do things he isn't proud of, face imprisonment and beg for food to provide for his siblings. He has had an extremely difficult run at life, and so him saying something to Collins would make sense.

However, Razzo is different. He was forced into exile around the time he was fourteen, and then has lived in Haven ever since. Haven sheltered the artists, including Razzo, from the outside world, allowing them to live almost like children. Therefore, Razzo probably wouldn't have many worldly things to say.

So, who would say, "Claro...It’s like he’s sticking his head into the beehive and is too distracted by the honey to see the bees." More than likely someone older, and who has seen that kind of behavior before.

Who would say, "Tough as nails, are we? I always thought there was something in the water over there."? Probably someone more immature, light-hearted, someone who is still pretty young.

So make sure that you're not giving someone like Razzo big, beautiful, deep-thinking lines. Wisdom comes from experience. Just because you want your love interest to be philosophical doesn't mean that he can say things like that if they're nothing more than a rich kid from old money at a prep school. Give them something they would know best about, and that's their source of wisdom. We can't all be Dumbledore, unfortunately.

Wishing you a most excellent adventure,
Brie

Something Wicked This Way Comes.

Well, I guess it's not really wicked. It's just one of a writer's longest and craziest holidays of the year. It's like an enormous Holiday party with all of your favorite people with all of their favorite characters. There's dancing, drinking, general partying, and the always-amazing after party.

I, of course, am referring to NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, which comes in ten days. I'm quaking with excitement just by typing this. Or maybe it's the caffeine.

NaNoWriMo isn't really a party, in fact most of it is spent with you and your laptop. But there is drinking and dancing, by which I mean fingers dancing over keys as you strive to make your 1,667 word benchmark every day and drinking a blur of caffeine-laced sodas, coffees, and nameless energy drinks to keep yourself awake to continue writing until your fingers go numb. The aforementioned parties come on the first of December, where you celebrate the word count you finish with, 50,000 or not, and the after party of meeting up again with your real-life author friends and talking about your crazy month-long writefest.

Not to mention a great prize: Those who complete 50,000 words receive five free copies of their books published, just like real manuscripts. I've already started a list of who my five copies go to. I can't wait.

But for those of you who don't write, NaNo isn't a straight month of being cooped up in the house writing by yourself in the dead of night. It really is a great time. I have a bunch of friends doing it: Hannah, Frankie, Meg, and a bunch of others. There are write-ins where NaNo authors come to a place and write together, like in Paneras and my 'writing home', Thurber House, the house of author and cartoonist James Thurber. It's an old Victorian home full of old pianos, even older couches, and a resident ghost. It's a writer's paradise.

So if you see people hurrying around with bags under their eyes, their fingers twitching as they clamp a Starbucks cup, know that those are probably some of my fellow authors who are working to accomplish a full-length novel manuscript in a month. Give them a nod, or even a cup of coffee if you're feeling generous. Who knows, they might be in the process of creating the next big thing.

Falling leaves and black cats,
Brie

So I walked into my library's teen fiction section today...

I'm not ashamed to say I died inside a little. Are we serious right now, YA publishing industry? You want to tell me what good is a bunch of different series with the same plot structure? I was hopeful I could find something relatively good or original, but after getting from A to the twelve or thirteen various copies of The Hunger Games and its sequels, I gave up.

Why are books getting so repetitive? Yes, people appreciate having a familiar aspect in a story, but am I the only one that wants to read something different when I take the time out of my busy schedule to read? This isn't even attributed to a small selection of books, my hometown library is ranked in the top five in the country. I don't think it's due to lack of resources.

Literally, almost 75% of the books I picked up had this plot structure:

1) The protagonist (always a girl, by the way) has some sort of problem, whether it's mental or physical, and is sent somewhere new, whether it's a new type of school, town, or even a new section of town.

2) Said protagonist meets a mysterious boy who just *happens* to be attractive.

3) Knowing/loving this boy puts the protagonist in danger.

Now, I don't mind reading something like that every once in awhile, but I can't believe that a good portion of my library's teen section is just that. It's like walking into a clothing store and seeing the same shirt in different colors. If it's just a plain shirt, the colors are the only thing you're looking at. And a lot of the colors of the books aren't that original, either. They'd be grays, muted purples, and blues.

So for those of us who read and write, do me this one favor. Stop buying these books. Look for something new, original. Because the only reason they publish these books is because people will buy them. Demand something new from the industry when you buy or read books.

Turning pages and stroking bindings,
Brie