Welcome Back to YA Cafe, where book lovers can gather and chat about teen literature.  I’m your barista, along with Ghenet from All About Them Words.

Each Friday we pick from a menu of topics and share our thoughts on our respective blogs.  We’ve also got plans brewing for interviews, events and even some exciting giveaways, so stay tuned!  Join the discussion by responding in the comments, on your own blogs or on twitter using the hash tag #yacafe.

Today’s Special: “Why Do You Write YA” Blogfest!

Ghenet and I decided to do something a little different.  We’ve been doing all the talking so far and we thought it would be fun to hear from you, so we decided to host a blogfest!  Since so many of you write for teens, we want to know: Why do you write YA?  Post your response on your blog on June 10th.  Use the button on this post to sign up so we’ll know where to find you.  Then on June 10th, hop around using the list of links and find out why other writers write YA!

We whipped up this button to help you spread the word. 🙂
We hope you’ll join us!

 Why do you write YA?  Tell us on your blog on June 10th!

Welcome Back to YA Cafe, where book lovers can gather and chat about teen literature.  I’m your barista, along with Ghenet from All About Them Words.  Today we have a few guests joining us: the Editorial Staff from Verbal Pyrotechnics, an online magazine dedicated to publishing the best teen literature on the Internet.

Each Friday we pick from a menu of topics and share our thoughts on our respective blogs.  We’ve also got plans brewing for interviews, events and even some exciting giveaways, so stay tuned!  Join the discussion by responding in the comments, on your own blogs or on twitter using the hash tag #yacafe. 

Today’s Special: The Stigma of Reading and Writing YA

I think anyone who writes or loves to read YA has experienced the Stigma.  It’s happened to me more times than I can count.  For instance, I tried lending lawyer-hubby a YA book and he said “no” because he couldn’t read a teen book on the subway… what if he ran into his boss or someone from the firm?  They would think that he *gasp* liked reading YA.  I couldn’t see what the big deal was but I decided let this one slide, after all, lawyer-hubby doesn’t make me read his boring law books.

A more painful example, though, was when I was taking a writing class with students writing in various genres.  I was the only writer in the class working on YA and when my turn for critique came up, the teacher felt the need to preface it by telling the other students to take my piece just as seriously as any other, even though it was written for teens.  I didn’t know who I wanted to smack first, the students for needing the lecture or the teacher for giving it.

It’s moments like these that leave me feeling somehow inferior for loving and writing YA.  Yet, if you look at the facts, YA is actually one of the most exciting places to be both as a reader and writer.

Fact #1: The YA market is booming… other areas of fiction, not so much.  I moderated a panel on Reading and Technology last week and of course, one of the many topics that came up was YA.  According to a publisher on the panel, one trend that’s partially responsible for the boom in YA is that adults are reading YA, more so than ever before.  These phenomenon has made it so that while the rest of publishing is struggling, YA is doing well.

Fact #2: Today’s YA is not the same YA many of us grew up with.  In fact, it’s a whole lot better.  When I was a teen, YA books at the time didn’t do much for me so I just skipped YA altogether and started reading books for adults.  If I were a teen now, though, I’d never want to stop reading YA.  There’s a lot more risk-taking going on, and books are edgier and more sophisticated.  Frankly, YA has just gotten a whole lot better in the last ten-to-fifteen years.

Fact #3: YA fans are really into their books.  As a writer, it’s so great to be writing in a category that has such dedicated fans and such a vibrant literary community.  For an “lesser-genre” we sure have a lot of fans.Want proof?  Check out this blog list of all YA book blogs.  And let’s not forget The Story Siren, who is perhaps one of the most prolific and well-known book bloggers out there, she blogs about YA.  So there.

Fact #4: You can pull some stunts in YA you’d never be allowed to do in “regular” fiction.  From an anthology about Zombies vs. Unicorns, to a fairytale about a girl married to a polar bear, to a book about the struggles of a transsexual teen, YA lets you do as much or more than adult literature.  Maybe it’s because readers are more willing to read outside their comfort zones.  Maybe it’s because the writers are more willing to write outside their comfort zones.  I’m not sure.

Or maybe it’s because genres tend to meld together in YA.  Whereas in adult literature tends to be broken up according to category, teen literature is usually shelved together.  This might be because a lot of YA often tends to cross over genres.  In adult literature, you have fantasy in one category and romance in another.  YA often combines the two.  All I know is that as a writer, I feel like I can do things in YA that I wouldn’t be able to do if I were writing strictly for adults.

Fact #5: YA is awesome!*  It’s that simple.  YA is fun, it’s interesting, it speaks to me in a way that no other category does.  Other fiction is fine and I’ll read it from time to time, but frankly, I find it a bit dull.
*OK, so this one is an opinion but you get the idea.

Have you ever experienced the stigma of reading or writing YA?  Feel free to vent about it in the comments!

Want to hear more about the Stigma of YA?  Fellow barista, Ghenet shares her thoughts on her blog: All About Them Words and our guests Verbal Pyrotechnics discuss it on their site too!  Check it out, then tell us what you think!

Welcome Back to YA Cafe, where book lovers can gather and chat about teen literature.  I’m your barista, along with Ghenet from All About Them Words.

Each Friday we pick from a menu of topics and share our thoughts on our respective blogs.  We’ve also got plans brewing for interviews, events and even some exciting giveaways, so stay tuned!  Join the discussion by responding in the comments, on your own blogs or on twitter using the hash tag #yacafe.
 
Today’s Special: Larger-Than-Life Settings

In some books, setting is just a backdrop for the story but in others the setting becomes almost as important as the main characters.  What is it about these settings that makes them seem larger-than-life?  And how do we as writers create settings like this?

1.  Make setting central to the story.  Settings that come to life are often a central component to the story.  One book that is a perfect example is Love is the Higher Law by David Levithan, a story could only be told in New York City.  When the setting becomes a central component to the story, it often takes on a life of its own.  In Love is the Higher Law, the powerful scene where Claire relights the candles could only happen in Union Square, in New York City.  That image of a teenage girl in Union Square, relighting candles that have gone out in the rain, still stays with me. 

2.  Drop your reader in the middle of the world.  In Sarah Beth Durst’s Ice, the story opens in the middle of the Arctic pack ice, with Cassie chasing a polar bear.  We feel the ice on her face mask.  We see the crystals swirling in the air.  Right away we are engulfed by the world of the story. 

3. Details, details, details.  Take time to build details into your story and the setting will come to life.  in Love is the Higher Law we have that moving scene where Clair is looking for the railings near Ground Zero.  That detail of those railings makes the setting come to life.  Even for someone who doesn’t live in New York City, they can identify with some of the emotion that Claire feels when she realizes those railings survived.  Here is that moment:

“As I turn to walk south, I am sure in my bones that the railings won’t be there.  As I walk closer, I think it might be possible that they’ve survived.  As I turn and see the Financial Center’s plaza, hurt but still standing, I think it’s very possible, but still I can’t believe it.  Nearer and nearer.  I see part of it is blocked off.  Then I can see it.  Right there.  I am so happy and so sad at the same time.  I am exuberant and despondent and utterly, completely beside myself.  There they are,  And I know it’s ridiculous–with so many dead, so much destroyed that I can feel so much joy over a series of metal letters affixed to a metal railing.  Life ends, and life goes on.  Words disappear and words remain.”

Love is the Higher Law by David Levithan

Ultimately, it all comes down to this: Believe in your setting.  Your reader will believe in you.

Want to hear more about larger-than-life settings?  Fellow barista, Ghenet shares her thoughts on her blog: All About Them Words.  Check it out, then tell us what you think!