I stole this picture from somewhere, and I should feel bad but I'm way too irritated with my healing wounds to give a good golly for anyone else's rights.
Nice picture, though.
Anyway, for those of you who are worried about what I am going to write and that there will be spoilers:
There will be no spoilers.
Find your safe place, but stay with me, people. I won't be ruining anyone's good time.
Today.
Anyway, this is what I want to tell you:
I love Young Adult fiction. Always have. Always will.
I started reading YA when I was more of a YC (that's Young Child) and from what I can tell I've just never gotten over it. I truly heart this audience. I truly heart being in this audience. So why, people, why was it so hard for me to answer the ultimate question:
Is this book YA?
Because time and again, those who read my draft and had enough market savvy to ask, have indeed posed the question. And my answer was always "I don't think so." Even after I read "The Secret Life of Bees," which, for the record, really put me on the fence. Because it was the only book I'd read that really felt like it was speaking to the same audience as my own super-secret novel. Then Bookgirl told me it was crossover, and low and behold, I got it.
In my mind, my audience has always been me and my Nana. We are the people who are reading me. And when I say me and my Nana, I mean sixteen-year-old me, and my Nana at any age she has ever been because she was born an old soul with a young heart. I think I get that from her.
Anyway, reading "Twilight," and the Gemma Doyle series, and "Gone with the Wind" brought it all home for me. These books reminded me why I love fiction, why I read fiction, why fiction is way better than non-fiction (memoir aside, unless the author honored fact over truth). Fiction makes sense, it transports, it teaches, it has wings and it lets the reader borrow them. Fiction fits like so many pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and leave the reader over-the-moon entertained and educated and maybe even enlightened. Because every story is about every one of us, in some way shape, or form, if only because for a just a little while we get to live vicariously through the characters and gain the benefit of their experience without any of the lasting damage of their circumstances and choices.
Sweet Hank, I love a good read.
I also love a good write. I am so ready to pour myself a glass of wine and get to it. Good reading always means better writing. And if Stephenie Meyer can thank her husband and kids for sucking it up while she orders takeout so she can just finish, well, Mr. Poppins deserves some kind of pay off because frankly, people, he's got all of the takeout and none of the acknowledgment at the back of the wildly successful book(s).
And I can thank Stephenie Meyer (and Gemma's author, Libba Bray) for reminding me that I love a touch of fantasy with my fiction. I love Stephen King and Anne Rice, I love even the completely real magic of The Secret Garden and The Little Princess. I love all kinds of fairy dust and wicked witchery. I just freaking love it.
What else?
Oh, the PG-13-ness of YA. I am at my very heart a romantic. Not the ESFP kind of romantic, but the INTJ kind of romantic, where oneness focuses more on a meeting of the mind than a nearing of the nethers, although the latter certainly has its place. I like that YA lets so much hinge upon the first kiss.
I read a quote once that in American entertainment (as opposed to European and Foreign film and story), stories about adults are really stories about adolescents, but stories about children are actually stories about adults. I'm not sure that this is true, but it is what I want to write about: adolescents who are really adults, or who become adults by the time it is all said and done. I don't want my characters to make stupid choices or be willfully obtuse. I prefer that they struggle against circumstances beyond their control, their own naivety, and the overwhelming nature of hormonally driven emotions as yet untempered by real world experience.
Anyway, I'm am posting my review of the first book in the Twilight series next week. And then I'll post one a week thereafter until I'm through with Bella and Gemma and ready to read the last book in the Twilight series and then some girl who calls herself Sophie is in charge of my summer reading.
Wouldn't you know it? "Pride and Prejudice" is on Sophie's list. I already ordered it from amazon, although I have to say, The Dol gets credit if I love, love, love it.
And I plan on loving it.
oooo! Sophie's list does look fabulous! Can you put up a link somewhere so we can find it easily? I already ordered the Twilight books, so I'm not ready to place another order just yet.
Also, I must recommend two very fabulous books: Tallgrass, by Sandra Dallas, which I think is one of the crossovers you talk about; and A Plague of Doves, by Louise Erdrich (reading this one right now). Beautiful, beautiful, fabulous stories with characters that seemed truly alive. By the end of Tallgrass, I cried just because something about the mother in the story reminded me so much of my own mother. She was so courageous and generous. She seemed like a real person, as did all the characters in the book.
I do love a good read, Polly. Thanks for the brilliant post.
Posted by: The Dol | June 28, 2008 at 07:51 PM
Love the sidebar link to the "Who says kids make you happy" article. I just got Daniel Gilberts Stumbling On Happiness from the library, I've heard its fabulous.
Anyone with kids should read that article. and then go live on a farm so they can put their little brats to work and get happy!
Posted by: Liz | June 29, 2008 at 03:46 PM
Great post. Do any of us entirely grow out of adolescent fiction? I don't think I ever will. Keep up the writing!
Posted by: Diosa | June 30, 2008 at 06:11 AM
Could you share the link for the bra sizer? And yay 34C!!!!
Posted by: Bookgirl | June 30, 2008 at 02:30 PM
Bookgirl - TAG, YOUR IT!!!
Posted by: Diosa | June 30, 2008 at 06:15 PM
I put the link to the bra size calculator in Do Step In Time. Remember, the most important factor in whether or not a bra fits is whether or not it fits. The sizes range.
Posted by: Polly Poppins | June 30, 2008 at 08:28 PM
Trying that again sober - TAG YOU'RE IT!
Posted by: Diosa | July 01, 2008 at 06:58 AM
just a book recommendation that seems a propos- Innocence by Jane Mendelsohn, something I've read with pleasure more than once. Coming of age story, sex, blood, more blood. Like the book version of Tori Amos' cover of Slayer's "Raining Blood".
Posted by: Kit | July 01, 2008 at 10:25 AM
Kit, you know just how to raise my eyebrow...
Posted by: Polly Poppins | July 01, 2008 at 03:15 PM
Ok. I bought Twilight today. The goth girl behind the counter at Borders said "Oh, this is SO good," and asked me if I'd preordered the latest one. I don't know how long it'll take me to get through the ~500 pages though. Hopefully soon enough to join in the discussion.
I disagree with that bra size calculator. My underboob measurement is 32. It says my band should be 36. When I wear 36s, they ride up my back. Sometimes even 34s do that towards the end of the day. I think the overboob-measurement-as-band-size thing is hooey.
Posted by: The Model | July 02, 2008 at 04:16 PM
Model, the larger your breasts the more likely you're going to have to go with a smaller bra band size to keep it from riding up, but are you actually a 32 or are you a 31.5 or 31.75, because that would make a difference in the number you get. The upper band size matters because if you have a lot of fullness you won't need as much support as you do when they're, what'd you call them, 34 Longs.
Posted by: Polly Poppins | July 02, 2008 at 04:28 PM