Saturday, April 24, 2010

Fat Vampires and Other YA Trends

Reading Publisher's Weekly makes me feel a little less than five minutes behind the times. Maybe more like two and a half. And I have to say, I love it when they post trend articles, like their most recent one about the future of teen reading. I love having that "inside" look as to what we may get to see coming out of the bull pen next.

For instance, they're saying that vampires will still be coming out; they just won't be glittering and emo and, well, traditional babe magnets. One of the books the article mentioned was Adam Rex's Fat Vampire, about a kid who inadvertently gets turned into a vampire and now has to suffer through eternity being a fat kid. (For all you BEA attendees, Adam will be signing ARCs (I think they're ARCs) of this on BEA Thursday. I'll see you in line!) Another title is called Blood Thirsty where a scrawny geek boy is rumored to be a vampire and it turned him into a chick magnet.

Personally, I think this is the revolt against the current stream of vampires a lot of us were/are hoping to see. Enough of this emo crap. Give me something that's purposely funny, not inadvertently. Then it's just sad.

Of course they talked about the dystopian trend with The Hunger Games and how the movie adaptation will fare. Hollywood's of the mindset that a movie about kids killing kids isn't going to do too well. Um . . . the book?

Graphic novels were also discussed and we'll be seeing more of those in the YA category in the near future. I'm halfway looking forward to those. While I'm a traditional reader by nature, I don't mind a good comic.

Lastly, and unfortunately, the publishers are still under pressure to get the next big Twilight signed and selling. I understanding that books like that are good for the accounting department but from the writing end, if you're querying and publishers (moreso than agents) don't think your book will sell huge, you might not get a contract. Poopy and I know the overall economic condition is playing into that as well but since no one's yet perfected the "blockbuster" equation, it's hard to tell what's going to be huge and what isn't. No one can predict that. All the promotion in the world can't help a book that isn't destined to be big and very little promotion might not affect the forward momentum of a sleeper hit.

What do you hope to see in the coming years for YA books?

6 comments:

MissA said...

Blood Thirsty and Fat Vampire both sound really good and funny! I want some hilarious paranormal reads. Honestly, I would love to see more mysteries that don't involve paranormal creatures. However, I realize that most people love paranormal and I'm in the minority here. I think some paranormal books on goblins, leperchauns (spelling?) and/or witches and wizards (is it just me or are there very few books about magic used by witches and wizards?). I think time travel could be fun to read about as well :)

I just want something different and original. I'm really really hoping Hollywood doesn't ruin the Hunger Games.

Donna (Bites) said...

I'm with you. While I love my fantasy and what's deemed as "paranormal" now, I've started branching out into more, I guess you would call them realistic novels for something different. I guess this overabundance of paranormal works has forced me to walk outside of my comfort zone which is a good thing. I'm discovering new titles that I probably wouldn't have otherwise. But I'm still hoping for some more diversity in the YA world.

JESSJORDAN said...

I think Fat Vampire and Blood Thirsty look genius. A few months back, I was talking to my hubby about how there were no fat vamps out there, which seemed unrealistic to me. And the other one looks really clever. Kudos for people finding a fresh take on a tired trend.

MissA said...

Yeah, I still love historical fiction and I enjoy realistic fiction, I'm going to try graphic novels soon. Going outside your comfort zone is always good :)

And of course, I want to see more POC in YA lit where race is no big deal, it just so happens that the mc is a poc.

LM Preston said...

I'd definately like a fresh new spin on vampires.

Rebecca Herman said...

I would love to see more historical fiction, fairy tale retellings (like Shannon Hale or Gail Carson Levine), and high fantasy (like Brightly Woven, Mistwood, or Shadow by Jenny Moss). I am probably in the minority but I am not a huge fan of vampires, or modern "urban" fantasy, and only read a few of those books.

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