I went ahead and got back to work again this week. So now I can say for certain that this was it -- I took four months off after completing my last book (finished at the end of December) and just let things happen for a while.
So here we go again.
Okay, so I've been thinking about this Los Angeles Times Festival of Books panel that I'm speaking on this coming Saturday. If you remember from yesterday, the topic is Boys Will Be Boys: Guys Talk YA. So I started worrying about what "guys" are going to say about YA.
What if I say something -- you know -- like the truth?
If so, that could be pretty ugly. I'm afraid the moderator may scowl at me. That would frighten me.
What if I say that a lot of YA dumbs-down and marginalizes young people (girls and boys) and is written from out-of-touch, condescending perspectives by writers who project their own shallow, two-dimensional, obsessive preoccupations into characters that make me want to throw books against walls (which I have done, at times)?
What if I say that a lot of teachers and librarians "get it" -- that YA endorses an anti-male mindset, advanced by many authors, publishers, and booksellers -- that the "culture of YA" is blueprinted to turn boys away from literacy?
Maybe since the panel is "guys," and we're talking about YA, we should just stick to the basics and tell fart jokes.
I think I should just go back to work.
6 comments:
You know, I know some people who would completely disagree with you, and others who would dub you genius. :)
Me? I'm somewhere in the middle. :)
I agree that there's YA books out there that are dumbed down and preach the author's own mindset rather than exploring what's true to both the character and the intended audience. That drives me crazy. And don't even get me started on the 'bad boy' books that teenage girls swoon over...
I also agree the YA market doesn't cater to boys, which bothers me to no end because I have boys (and I want them to read when they become teenagers).
I also think there's some brilliant YA books out there. Some don't get the attention they deserve, and that annoys me. I wish I could hear a panel of guys talking honestly about YA, because you'd have a completely different perspective that I'd love to hear.
It's always a balancing act between blurting out the truth and not offending so many people that your career is ruined.
I think you and I are on the same page, Tabitha. And, Michael, I have a hard time equating telling the truth with offending people. To be honest, I have a great fear of offending people because I think it's a willful infliction of harm. Sure, there are lots of people who posture the righteous indignation and pretend to be offended when we talk about much (but NOT all) of YA marginalizing, objectifying, or dumbing teens (boys and girls) down, or that it contains an anti-male bias -- from the writers to the marketers. But I am convinced, as I said, that the vast majority of teachers and librarians really do "get it," and I've seen some amazing things being done to address the lag in male literacy that's been widening since the 1970s. I'm happy about that, but the handful of us "guys" who write YA should feel some kind of obligation, I think, to talk the talk -- so that when it comes to sitting on panels like this and having an audience, that we take the opportunity to build a more lasting bridge to the other "guys" out there who are looking for something to connect to, that may give them a more optimistic glimpse at a future with words in it.
All of publishing is geared toward girls and women. Because girls and women buy books. It's not just YA.
And maybe instead of talking about telling the truth, folks like you should just . . . tell the truth. People get offended all the time, right? Who cares.
And I agree that a lot of YA is pretentious and didactic. But I kind of feel the same way about this post. Sorry. Just telling the truth.
"Just telling the truth," signed Anonymous.
I love, love, love it.
And an apology ("Sorry.") preceded by a paragraph asking the rhetorical Who cares?
Go blog about it, poser.
-anonymous
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