I used to work in a library and got to watch close-up the same-sameness of the books we were getting in. It's not just a YA issue, it's a traditional publishing issue in general. Trad pub doesn't like to take risks with something 'new' and 'different.' Most of the time, it sticks to very formulaic books that have a history of marketability for them as being the 'safe bet' for selling, but then they dig themselves into a rut. This (along with the push of how much sex, language, and graphic/disturbing content an author could get away with) was one of the number one complaints I heard from adult readers at the library and why many of them had switched to reading mostly older Middle Grade and Young Adult books because they had more variety in them and weren't just reskinned versions of the same story. Then that same-sameness came to YA and trad pub tried (and failed) to make a New Adult category to push adult content in YA books, but it never quite took off (because libraries and bookstores only have so much space and, right now, aren't interested in rearranging everything to give NA its own spot) and they got lumped in with YA. All of this is a huge part of why I switched to reading predominantly indieauthors. There's still some stuff in there that follows along with what trad is doing, but there's so much more than that as authors have more freedom to just write whatever they want and not be held hostage to the trends of trad pub.
Ugh, yeah, then add to that the way the libraries have purged the old, good books to make room for the new, bad books. I imagine you saw it a lot closer than I have, and I'm just a casual, if burned-out reader.
Purging is usually based on circulation stats; if a book was old yet still getting checked out it stayed, but if it hadn't been checked out even once within the time frame that the library used for weeding (each library is probably different on that time frame, but, with us, it was usually something like over a year; can't remember the exact number of years though). But, yeah, it's a struggle because, between going through book donations for ones the library chose to keep and purchasing recently published books, new books were coming in at a faster rate then we could make room for. Plenty of new(ish) book got purged too though if the circulation stats weren't there anymore. Very much a lose-lose situation.
The last YA series I read that I enjoyed was The Lunar Chronicles and right after finishing that I read my first adult fantasy book and was blown away by how great it was. I slowly left YA behind and now I look at covers/titles of the books being published today and they all blur together. I'm so glad I got out when I did.
I saw screenshots from the tv shows Wheel of Time, Witcher, Rings of Power and Willow, and ALL the costumes look the same. If I didn't recognize the actors, I'd think they were from the same show.
People need to stop looking at what everyone else is doing and make original stories again.
I took a long break from YA around the Red Queen era. The protagonists were all Katniss without the things that made Katniss interesting.
Jaclyn Moriarty (sister of Liane Moriarty) has written some of my favorite YA novels of all time, with ensemble casts that live in your brain forever. Flawed, realistic teenagers going through realistic things. Unbeatable humor. I wish more people knew about her!
As a writer of YA fiction, I have to defend my own output by saying I couldn't write a derivative book if I tried. I love my characters too much to dress them in false clothing and have them simply walk through a templated plot like automatons.
But I suspect the sameyness in YA fiction is an issue common to all genre writing. Someone writes a successful novel and a whole lot of other people use that template as the springboard for their own work. That's just commerce: the publishing industry will happily sign up a writer producing derivative works that makes a profit. They're reluctant to sign up a writer who takes a risk and creates something brand new that is probably not going to sell at all.
The task for the reader has always been to sort the wheat from the chaff, and that process, sadly. involves a whole lot of chaff.
Yeah, indie authors were going to break the cycle of derivative slop, then they realized that that's how you make the big bucks. So now there's books like Chris Fox's How to Write to Market, where you go carefully look at the top sellers on Amazon and regurgitate whatever they're doing well. It's definitely not a recipe for innovation, that's for sure.
"50 Shades of Grey" is now the YA outline. Not always so much for sex, though there's plenty more than in the past and more than there should be for YA, but for the other elements you pointed out here. Featureless female protag who the reader can project into to become part of the story. Unrealistic male behaviors and thought patterns, especially "Alphas with Oneitis", and maybe several of them focused on the female protag.
I see this as many authors wanting to write Modern Romance, but the field is so oversaturated that they jump to other genres to use as a beard to avoid competing in the actual arena. It's why F&SF has become so bland. It's being taken over by Harlequin Romance stories with the trappings of Fantasy & Science Fiction stapled onto it in various places.
Yeah, I have some friends who judge a book contest every year. It's ostensibly for Christian fantasy, but what they always wind up getting is some panting bodice-ripping romance, only it's set in space, or in a fantasy world with dragons. Fifty Shades was only Twilight fanfic, and Twilight did the bland protagonist to the hilt ... but only because _that was how all YA wrote their protagonists_. I picked up the Paper Magician and it was the same, despite promises of a spunky heroine. Same for all the other nameless YA I read at the time. Bleh. It hasn't improved at all.
I used to work in a library and got to watch close-up the same-sameness of the books we were getting in. It's not just a YA issue, it's a traditional publishing issue in general. Trad pub doesn't like to take risks with something 'new' and 'different.' Most of the time, it sticks to very formulaic books that have a history of marketability for them as being the 'safe bet' for selling, but then they dig themselves into a rut. This (along with the push of how much sex, language, and graphic/disturbing content an author could get away with) was one of the number one complaints I heard from adult readers at the library and why many of them had switched to reading mostly older Middle Grade and Young Adult books because they had more variety in them and weren't just reskinned versions of the same story. Then that same-sameness came to YA and trad pub tried (and failed) to make a New Adult category to push adult content in YA books, but it never quite took off (because libraries and bookstores only have so much space and, right now, aren't interested in rearranging everything to give NA its own spot) and they got lumped in with YA. All of this is a huge part of why I switched to reading predominantly indieauthors. There's still some stuff in there that follows along with what trad is doing, but there's so much more than that as authors have more freedom to just write whatever they want and not be held hostage to the trends of trad pub.
Ugh, yeah, then add to that the way the libraries have purged the old, good books to make room for the new, bad books. I imagine you saw it a lot closer than I have, and I'm just a casual, if burned-out reader.
Purging is usually based on circulation stats; if a book was old yet still getting checked out it stayed, but if it hadn't been checked out even once within the time frame that the library used for weeding (each library is probably different on that time frame, but, with us, it was usually something like over a year; can't remember the exact number of years though). But, yeah, it's a struggle because, between going through book donations for ones the library chose to keep and purchasing recently published books, new books were coming in at a faster rate then we could make room for. Plenty of new(ish) book got purged too though if the circulation stats weren't there anymore. Very much a lose-lose situation.
The last YA series I read that I enjoyed was The Lunar Chronicles and right after finishing that I read my first adult fantasy book and was blown away by how great it was. I slowly left YA behind and now I look at covers/titles of the books being published today and they all blur together. I'm so glad I got out when I did.
I saw screenshots from the tv shows Wheel of Time, Witcher, Rings of Power and Willow, and ALL the costumes look the same. If I didn't recognize the actors, I'd think they were from the same show.
People need to stop looking at what everyone else is doing and make original stories again.
I took a long break from YA around the Red Queen era. The protagonists were all Katniss without the things that made Katniss interesting.
Jaclyn Moriarty (sister of Liane Moriarty) has written some of my favorite YA novels of all time, with ensemble casts that live in your brain forever. Flawed, realistic teenagers going through realistic things. Unbeatable humor. I wish more people knew about her!
As a writer of YA fiction, I have to defend my own output by saying I couldn't write a derivative book if I tried. I love my characters too much to dress them in false clothing and have them simply walk through a templated plot like automatons.
But I suspect the sameyness in YA fiction is an issue common to all genre writing. Someone writes a successful novel and a whole lot of other people use that template as the springboard for their own work. That's just commerce: the publishing industry will happily sign up a writer producing derivative works that makes a profit. They're reluctant to sign up a writer who takes a risk and creates something brand new that is probably not going to sell at all.
The task for the reader has always been to sort the wheat from the chaff, and that process, sadly. involves a whole lot of chaff.
Yeah, indie authors were going to break the cycle of derivative slop, then they realized that that's how you make the big bucks. So now there's books like Chris Fox's How to Write to Market, where you go carefully look at the top sellers on Amazon and regurgitate whatever they're doing well. It's definitely not a recipe for innovation, that's for sure.
"50 Shades of Grey" is now the YA outline. Not always so much for sex, though there's plenty more than in the past and more than there should be for YA, but for the other elements you pointed out here. Featureless female protag who the reader can project into to become part of the story. Unrealistic male behaviors and thought patterns, especially "Alphas with Oneitis", and maybe several of them focused on the female protag.
I see this as many authors wanting to write Modern Romance, but the field is so oversaturated that they jump to other genres to use as a beard to avoid competing in the actual arena. It's why F&SF has become so bland. It's being taken over by Harlequin Romance stories with the trappings of Fantasy & Science Fiction stapled onto it in various places.
Yeah, I have some friends who judge a book contest every year. It's ostensibly for Christian fantasy, but what they always wind up getting is some panting bodice-ripping romance, only it's set in space, or in a fantasy world with dragons. Fifty Shades was only Twilight fanfic, and Twilight did the bland protagonist to the hilt ... but only because _that was how all YA wrote their protagonists_. I picked up the Paper Magician and it was the same, despite promises of a spunky heroine. Same for all the other nameless YA I read at the time. Bleh. It hasn't improved at all.