Comments on: Genre schmenre

By: Justine

Justine — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 04:29:06 +0000

People who won’t let evidence get in the way of their wrong-headed notions are a wee bit of a problem . . .

By: Tera Lynn Childs

Tera Lynn Childs — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 03:30:11 +0000

Thanks Justine! I actually pulled the Judy Blume card on her the other day and she threw it back in my face as “an example of the extreme.” Sigh. Suffice it to say she’s not that close of a friend. The world has enough narrow-minded people. No need to encourage more of them. =)

By: Justine

Justine — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 03:18:06 +0000

Tera Lynn Childs: I hate to speak ill of your friend, but she full of it! There be sex in many of them there YA books. Why there’s some in books I writ myself. Not to mention Judy Blume, Holly Black, John Green, Melvin Burgess, Coe Booth, etc. etc. etc.

Tell her to stick to speaking of that which she knows.

Sash: And I think that it would be just and fair for you to be in trouble. Because starting sentence with “and” or “because” is evil and wrong.

By: Sash

Sash — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 02:31:07 +0000

my seven year old was doing his home reading last night and announced ‘this is SO wrong. you never start a sentence with AND.’ I told him it was okay, you just have to know that it’s wrong to start with AND, and then you can start with AND.

i expect i will be in trouble with the grade three teacher at some stage.

By: rebecca

rebecca — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 20:23:26 +0000

i get that bug sometimes, but mostly people don’t tell me what not to write b/c they’re too busy telling me what i should write.

what usually happens to me is that i’ll be left feeling unfulfilled by something (book, movie, whatever), so i’ll go write a story that satisfies whatever the book/movie/whatev didn’t. i’m bothered by all the conventions and rules and when people say OMG THIS IS SUCH A GREAT SHOW or something, and then i watch it and think, “this is utter crap.” so maybe it’s kind of a similar thing.

By: Tera Lynn Childs

Tera Lynn Childs — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 20:16:20 +0000

I had a similar experience the other day. A friend asked me about the YA market and I explained how amazing it is because there are no rules, really. You can write anything. She decided to tell me that you can’t write about sex in a YA.

“Um, yes you can,” I said.

“No, you can’t,” she insisted.

The funniest part? She’s an adult urban fantasy author. So she obviously knows everything about YA!

Great post!
Hugs,
TLC

By: Dess

Dess — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:27:24 +0000

head hopping? correct me if i’m wrong, but that’s with multiple protags right? like in scott’s midnighters trilogy? personally, i love books like that if each character is distinct and believable.

By: Mary Elizabeth S.

Mary Elizabeth S. — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:17:43 +0000

You can’t tell through the computer, but I am raising my glass (well, okay, it’s a mug) to you in salute. Here here!!!

~Mary

By: Justine

Justine — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 17:04:57 +0000

Eric: They will follow!

Veejane: I dunno. Are you telling me I have to write ‘em or that I’m not allowed?

By: veejane

veejane — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 17:03:34 +0000

…But what are your thoughts on elf-pirates?

By: Eric Luper

Eric Luper — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 16:55:36 +0000

Yes, they are all YA, for sure. And they are all gritty, but the big question is will a fan of BIG SLICK be attracted to BUG BOY simply because it’s by the same author? Time will tell!

By: Justine

Justine — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 16:50:42 +0000

dragonfly: Secret. Not telling.

Micole: Excellent! That’s exactly what I intended. Zombies are all mine!

Eric: But they’re all YA, right? Surely that helps?

By: Eric Luper

Eric Luper — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:57:39 +0000

I have a tendency to want to write something that I’ve never written before. It’s strange because after the great reviews I got with my edgy contemporary novel, I jumped right into historical fiction. My third novel is something completely different. This is trouble as far as a career goes because I won’t fit into any sort of tidy niche (for branding purposes), but I go where my heart tells me to go and I trust good things will result.

By: Micole

Micole — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:56:06 +0000

Now I will NEVER add zombies. In fact, I will subtract zombies. There will be zombie-shaped holes in all my zombie stories. They will be unzombies, anti-zombies, counter-zombies, un-undead.

Serves you right.

P.S. Vampires: still played out.

By: dragonfly

dragonfly — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:44:49 +0000

are you really writing a vampire story?

and anyway, i agree…write whatever you want to write, however you want to write it!!