All posts in YA Lit

There is a fascinating discussion going on at Chasing Ray, regarding the lack of YA books involving, “African American, Native American, Jewish, Muslim, Asian American, Indian, LBGT and on and on.”

The blogger asks the question:

” [...] are their fewer teen books published with minority characters because publishers do not think they will sell or is the problem that writers capable of crafting such books from their own experience are uncommon?

In other words – are white writers (who are in the majority) afraid to write books with minority characters or are minority authors prevented from being published because the kids they write about don’t have the purchase power of the white kids?

[...'] Do you think that writers and publishers address this identity issue strongly enough and in a balanced matter in current teen fiction? Can authors write characters of different race/ethnicity or sexual preference from their own and beyond that, what special responsibility, if any, do authors of teen fiction have to represent as broad a swath of individuals as possible? “

Published authors have given wonderful and thought-provoking answers on the blog post and many interesting comments. I have to admit I’ve been a little afraid to be so honest on the topic, without coming across as complaining. Here are my thoughts I posted in the comments and what I’ve experienced writing multicultural YA:

This is a fascinating discussion. One as a published author I have been afraid to discuss so that I don’t come across as merely only rooting for the multicultural writer or publishers not supporting MC (multicultural) titles.

I’ve been writing MC characters for about ten years as I am multicultural. What I discovered when trying to sell my first adult novel a few years ago, editors were only interested in MC books if the books were about the cultural experience–an issue the MC character had to deal with then prevail. At the time, my first book was with a MC character but because she wasn’t dealing with a MC issue, the editors were not interested.

When I chose to write for teens, I wanted to write characters of mixed ethnicity. Characters who were of two cultures. Or maybe even more nationalities like myself, Mexican, Filipino, and Italian. I also wanted to write books teens wanted to read. When I was in school, it was extremely hard to enjoy the classics and wouldn’t it be great to write a book teens would want to read for school?

My two books Graffiti Girl and Invisible Touch have MC issues weaved through the stories and I’ve recently discussed with my agent that I’d like to write a story with MC characters where their conflict is not MC. We’ll have to see the feedback we receive from editors on the next submission. I’ve grown up with MC issues, but also issues teens of all colors have experienced, so why I cannot write a MC character with issues even Caucasian characters face?

With the MTV Books imprint I was published with there was only one other Latina writer on the list. I can’t believe that writers are not writing MC characters, but sadly my first thought is that publishers are buying few and the ones that are published are not receiving the publicity push that could help get the book to interested readers.

On the topic of MC authors writing MC characters, I do feel the instinct to write what I know. It would be difficult to write deeply about a cultural I do not know much about myself, but that’s only my feelings about my own writing. I have nothing against writers writing about other cultures that are not their own, in fact I encourage it.

Many teens who are MC have reviewed or written to me that they can relate to my characters–some not even Latina–and it makes me feel good. I’m not a bestseller, and I also have to admit I do not have a literary voice that resonates with adult YA readers, but it has with teen readers. It gives me some hope that I’m doing the right thing writing MC characters even though they are not selling in a big way, even knowing that readers who are not Latina won’t pick up my books because they may feel being raised in another cultural that they couldn’t relate to the story.

Thank you very much for this thought-provoking post.

I’m taking a break from RWA pics because my head is literally jerking back and forth from the aftermath of Stephenie Meyers’s Breaking Dawn, the last book in the Twilight series.

It’s #1 on Amazon in books, it released August 2nd, and already has over 1700 reviews. Over 1800 on B&N.

Owzers, some readers are not happy. I’ve only read Twilight but it seems there’s talk that the series has lost that Romance that pulled readers in with the first book and it’s gotten darker? Creepier? Not sure. Some readers are thrilled with it. It’s a book with controversy it seems.

But I was surprised to read author Alisa Valdes Rodriguez’s take on racism in Breaking Dawn. I am neither agreeing or disagreeing, because I have not read Breaking Dawn or researched the Mormon faith, but Alisa has apparently done her research and backed up her statements with evidence in this post and another.

And here we have Dear Author’s take on Alisa’s claim.

UPDATE: Stephanie Meyer speaks out about the backlash of Breaking Dawn on MTV news…

“You see the punch coming; that doesn’t mean it’s not gonna hurt when it hits,” Meyer told MTV News on Thursday. “There’s no way to make everybody happy. When I do one thing that a lot of people want, there’s always the opposite reaction.

“But how can you possibly meet up with the expectations that this book had?” she asked. “It just got so built up. There is no book in the world that could stand up to that. So I knew it was going to happen, but at the same time it hurts.”

So have you read the entire series? Do you like the darker turn? Do you have any idea what I’m talking about??

It just amazes me the impact some books can leave. Wow.