As always Top Ten Tuesday is brought to you by my other blog, The Broke and the Bookish, and the letter X….because X marks the spot.
This week we are talking about trends in literature that we’d like to see more or less of. It seems to be I always want to see less of trends that start out as a fresh take and then end up with a million books trying to piggyback on the trend that everyone likes. I enjoy it at first but then I end up feeling like I can’t get away from it.
1. (Less) – Books trying to be like Twilight – I mentioned this in my bookish pet peeves vlog but I seriously hate when everyone sees a wildly popular series like that and then tries to emulate it. You can just tell when it’s not very original and they don’t have the passion behind the story but rather they are just trying to write a series to be marketed as the “next Twilight.”
2. (Less) – Book covers that look the same – It seems that I’m finding cover art trends to be boring lately. I keep seeing faces or beautiful girls in pretty dresses. Let’s be more creative. To me, the cover is like the eyes of a person…it’s the window in to the soul or the book.
3. (Less) Planned Series: WHY is everything a series in YA lit today? Firstly, I do love me a good standalone novel and secondly…my memory wants to ninja-kick me every time I try to make it remember all the various books that are in part of a series. Seriously, I have a hard time to remember all the loose ends and storylines from all the series that I am currently waiting on. I don’t even want to know the number of books I need to read sequels for.
4. (Less) Love Triangles: Why does it ALWAYS have to be soooo complicated? I’m just over love triangles. Overdone overdone overdone.
5. (More): College Aged Characters – I’m looking at both of you, YA lit and Adult lit. I have a hard time finding characters that are in their early to mid 20’s. I want to read about myself! This is why I think I read both YA and adult. I GET young adult perspective because I’ve been there and can relate…and I read adult lit to get a perspective that I guess I’m slowly growing into. But for the love of God, it seems like college aged characters are the black hole of literature. So come on, give us something that reflects our lives.
6. (More) Interesting Time Periods Explored in YA Lit: I find myself ok in this department when it comes to Adult Lit..I find a lot of time periods spoken for. However, I’d love to see more of a variety of explored in YA historical fiction. I was ecstatic about the recent trend of the stories set in the 20’s because I read a lot of adult fiction set in that time or from that time. I’d love to see more books take place in interesting periods throughout history. There are so many great historical events that could make intriguing backdrops for a story.
7. (More): Diverse Characters: I’d love to see more POC characters or gay characters naturally weaved in stories without it being an “issues” book. I’m so sick of being able to tell that they threw in the “token black student or the token gay friend.” I’d love to see more MCs with a different perspective than me or a different culture and have a book that isn’t just centered around the fact that they are “different”…does that make sense?
8. (More): Unique paranormal creatures: I love when I meet a unique creature. It makes it all so new and fresh…but don’t just use the Twilight model and make them a different creature.
9. (Less): Vampires — I don’t HATE vampires but I’ve just seen so much of them that I want to barf.
10. (More): Strong parental figures in books: Stop having the parents always disappear in YA literature. One thing that I loved in Lola, as I stated in my review, is her parents…they are in her life and have an important and normal role in her life. And seriously..that’s another thing..it’s really awesome that she has two dads!
And number 11, because I want to, MORE TRAVELOGUES. Seriously..I love me a good travelogue. So please give me more, oh book gods.
Oh and a number 12 — less bad boys and more nice guys. While a smoldering stare and a leather jacket is sexy, let’s not forget about the nice guys.
What are some trends in both YA and adult lit that you’d like to see die a slow death? What do you want to see more of? Did you agree/disagree with me on any of them?
S. Leighanne says
You have an awesome list. And I think I can agree with you 100% on everything. I'm so tired of vampires myself, and I'm even more tired of Vampire love stories. That's not what Vampires are supposed to be like!
Jamie says
I know, right? I'd prefer some badass, blood sucking vampires that don't care about human life right now over the vampire romance. lol
SweetestLittleBookworm says
Yes! The parents thing! I was talking with somebody about this a couple of days ago. Why are all of the parents either bad or not in the picture in YA lit? alskdjflkjflkjsd.
~Asheley
Lisa says
I agree that we need more college aged characters. There seems to be a huge age gap between YA fiction and Adult fiction.
lisa :) says
Love triangles!! I knew I forgot something! Definitely want to see less of those!
Jenni Elyse says
I completed agree with your take on covers and series. One of the reasons I love Stephanie Perkins is that her books are stand-alone. We need more of that.
Kiwi Ivashkov says
I like your list!! And i agree with almost all your points!! 😛 The parents thing is a new point I would not have thought of! Oo..you should read Populazzi by Elise Allen..(its a little mean girls types) but strong parent involvement!! Super Top Ten Tuesday!
Stop by mine
Emily @ Books and Threads says
I enjoyed your list! More college aged characters would be amazing. Interesting things happen in college, and life doesn't end at high school graduation, darnit. Have you read Pamela Dean's Tam Lin? It's set at a college AND there's parental involvement – it's a twofer!
Here's my Top Ten List
Mary says
Ooh, yes! I'm with you on all of those! Especially the no more vampires and more travelogues (or even just books set in foreign places).
Happy reading!
Mary @ Book Swarm
We Heart YA says
We totally agree with y'all on the college-aged lit and the parental figures.
Actually one of our group members (Kristan) wrote a web serial about 3 girls finding their way right after college, and it won a contest with St. Martin's Press. Since they liked it, she decided to publish it for ereaders, so you can get it on Amazon and BN.com (and others).
Another popular college-aged book is Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld.
And for strong parental figures, we really like If I Stay by Gayle Forman.
Lissa says
This is a great list – if only the publishing companies would take note of what readers really want instead of what they think readers want.
Amy says
Awsome list! I'm with ya on the whole vampire issue…enough is enough.
Peaceful Reader says
This is a great list and I think more involved parents, more gay and characters of color in non-issue related are great points. I loved the Mercy Falls books but the parents sucked. I'd like to see more eco-friendly characters myself.
Jessica Lawlor says
Yes, yes, yes to more college aged characters! I just wrote a post about that last week and was AMAZED by the amount of people who commented saying they wanted the very same thing. We all just want something we can relate to!
KThomas5 says
Such an awesome list!
Lauren B says
Agree about the unique paranormal creatures – we definitely need more of them.
Here's my Top Ten
L.L. says
I agree about the token black friend or gay friend – don't make an issue of how the characters are different just to show they are different! Just put them in there and let them be characters. Also agree about the college age books. I should be out of college by now but I'm not… and I wish I'd had more books to read about people in college for the last.. ahem… six years.
j. littlejohn says
agreed with a bunch of these comments, the gap between ya and adult is too large — need characters in that age in between
Bailey (The Window Seat Reader) says
i love your list! it's true that in books characters seem to be (not always) either high school students or moms in their 30s. where's the middle ground? also, good point about the good parents out there! they don't all have to be awful for there to be a good story. 🙂
busbedhe-v says
Yes yes to your list!!! especially less love triangles, less series and more college aged characters!!
I'm so glad I'm not the only one who wants this too.
Michelle says
Oh I love series fiction! I'd want more of that to your less. HOWEVER, I do think series shouldn't be created out of nothing. If a book should be stand alone it should stay that way. I'd be happy with bucking the new trend of extending out a standalone story into ten books. So, I guess, I'm pro-series as long as it's well done!