Things you'd like to see more of?

- Characters who are gay but it doesn't matter
- Nice main characters (I get really bored of the bad-attitude sarcastic MC)
- More dystopian/post-apocalyptic
- Emotional abuse (that's dark of me, I know)

With love stories, I want to know that the reason for their love goes beyond an instant attraction. And I'd like to see more mysteries.

Niti Newtfinger said:

With love stories, I want to know that the reason for their love goes beyond an instant attraction. And I'd like to see more mysteries.

Click to expand...

I second all this. Mysteries are awesome!

Something I'd like to see that's a little harder to articulate... twists. Plot twists, twists on clichés... just something that packs a punch. Lately I've kind of been thinking "been there, read that" about a lot of books I've picked up, and I wish there were more books that turned genres on their heads and did something really original. Basically, I'm wishing authors would take more risks and do crazier shit instead of relying on tropes and old story structures to carry their stories.

- really out-there, WEIRD stories. think Bleeding Violet or Sideways Stories from Wayside School.

- more diverse main characters (as in non-white/hetero/able-bodied) where their difference is NOT the main focus of the story

- more college-age MCs. I know this is wishful thinking, and I know that they're practically impossible to sell, blahblah. too bad. I still want more of them.

- psychological thrillers/horror

- and I'll concur on the plot twist points. I want to NOT SEE THE END COMING A MILE AWAY. this is a big problem for me lately...

More books that take after Transmetropolitan.

What's Transmetropolitan?

Best. Comic. EVER.




TMP takes place in The City, a sprawling future metropolis in America, in a future that's been radically changed by the advent of nanotechnology. It's wonderful because it is a future where dystopia and utopia are not just next to one another: They're fucking eachother and having weird ass kids.

It's a future where you swallow a camera every five seconds and never notice.

It's a future where you can pirate not just computer programs, but pretty much anything you want and have it physically construct itself on your desk within seconds.

It's a future where a fast food chain sells cloned human flesh (with special sauce) and no one bats an eye.

It's a future where we've plated over mercury with solar panels and have it constantly beaming back energy.

It's a future where we have time travel, but it's only forward, and whenever we try, the people we send forward are kicked back with their memories erased and signs stuck to them in every language saying: Stop polluting.

It's a future where a new religion is born every second, proliferates over an afternoon, and vanishes never to be seen again before breakfast.

It's a future with designer cancer, autocanibalistic meme bombs, and bowel disruptor guns.

Basically, I'm just saying, move beyond dystopias and utopias. The real world is already far more complex than that. Why should the future be any different?

Also, BUY TRANSMETROPOLITAN!

things with families--particularly relationships with parents and multi-generational stuff (think The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta). So, like, the opposite of absent-parent syndrome.

jaxymack said:

- Characters who are gay but it doesn't matter

Click to expand...

This. Maybe that's why I write so much queer romance.

Shady Lane said:

things with families--particularly relationships with parents and multi-generational stuff (think The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta). So, like, the opposite of absent-parent syndrome.

Click to expand...

Yeeeesssss. Use the parents as real characters, with conflicts and emotional arcs of their own. There's a goldmine of writing material in parent-child relationships, use it!

I don't even care if the parents have a subplot or not, I would simply enjoy more positive relationships between parents/children.

I'd also like to see romances with disabled characters that aren't out of pity and actually contain some depth. C'mon, there's so much conflict there, says the disabled single girl.

Arianna Sterling said:

This. Maybe that's why I write so much queer romance.

Click to expand...

I third the LBGT characters.

Everything I write has at least one same-sex pairing.

I write queer characters almost exclusively XD

I agree entirely with having parents (and siblings) who seem like real people.

Other things I would like to see more of include main characters who actually have interests and hobbies (as opposed to teenage girls who seem to exist in a personality limbo until the love interest shows up), and kids who actually live under a set of rules imposed by the parents mentioned above. Like curfews, not having free and clear access to a car 24 hours a day, that kind of thing. I'd also like to see more diverse settings beyond the typical American high school experience.

missesdash said:

"mom can you give me a ride to save the world?" just isn't as interesting imo

Click to expand...

That could be hilarious! That could be a great way to bring parents into the story more. What if the MC really had to get a ride from her mom to the location where the climax of the book was taking place?

egoodlett said:

- more college-age MCs. I know this is wishful thinking, and I know that they're practically impossible to sell, blahblah. too bad. I still want more of them.

Click to expand...

Yes, yes, yes, and yes!
...*cough*

missesdash said:

I just feel like it would be less fun to write a supernatural or fantasy oriented YA with things like curfews and parents haha.

Contemporary, okay. But people read fantasy for escapism. "mom can you give me a ride to save the world?" just isn't as interesting imo

Click to expand...

I'm sure a lot of teens fantasize of having their parents missing in action. But I see the lack of attentive parents in YA UF and paranormal romance as a missing opportunity for more conflict.

I'd also like to see more sibling interaction. Too many MCs in YA are the only child, or their siblings are ignored.

I also want college-aged protagonists. Not that the MC necessarily has to be in college. I just think that most people come of age when they are trying to make it on their own and not in highschool.

missesdash said:

Contemporary, okay. But people read fantasy for escapism. "mom can you give me a ride to save the world?" just isn't as interesting imo

Click to expand...

True, but I personally can't enjoy the fun of a good escapist story if I have to suspend disbelief about everything. Even if a book involves fantastical creatures, if it is set in our contemporary reality I expect it to follow the rules of our reality (even the inconvenient ones) other than the rules the author deliberately decides to break. And except in very extreme cases, I think most people have parents who at least try to keep an eye on their kids.

Also, I think getting a ride from mom to go save the world could be pretty awesome! Kind of like when Buffy's mom found out that she was the Slayer.

missesdash said:

Contemporary, okay. But people read fantasy for escapism. "mom can you give me a ride to save the world?" just isn't as interesting imo

Click to expand...

... that could actually be kind of hilarious, I think? ;D

egoodlett said:

- more diverse main characters (as in non-white/hetero/able-bodied) where their difference is NOT the main focus of the story

- and I'll concur on the plot twist points. I want to NOT SEE THE END COMING A MILE AWAY. this is a big problem for me lately...

Click to expand...

These are the two things I came in to say. I really wish I could find a novel (especially in the genres I love to read like fantasy) where the MC is Black or Hispanic and that's not at all the main focus of the story or the source of all the conflict.

And I'd love to see a few more twists. I don't necessarily mean cliffhangers, but for a little surprise at the end of it all. Not coming from nowhere, but with enough hints I missed during my first read that when I go back I can go 'Oh!'

First off, parents. Most real teenagers have to deal with them, and just imagine the angst if you got grounded the night you were supposed to save the world... or the contemp equivalent.

More guy protags, who actually act like guys.

Drug addiction and drinking problems are great, but how about some character balancing using more normal teen problems, like super insecurity, or shyness, or being an ass and not realizing it. I feel like the teenage emotional palette is not being capitalized on in many books. You can be a nice guy/girl, and still act like an ass sometimes.

More near-future SF. Being a teen is changing all the time, so it would be cool to see an author's attempt at being ahead of the curve.

UF/PNR not involving superhuman boyfriends/girlfriends.

More siblings. Siblings are awesome and horrible at the same time, and they have an enormous influence on each other.

Siblings closer in age. There's nothing wrong with having an 8-year-old brother, but how about one who's crap you have to deal with in school?

College aged protags. Plenty of people I knew in high school worried all the time about college. Having your idependence for the first time is just as much a coming of age aspect as working towards it.

Life existing outside of your little town and high school. Real high school students have friends, boyfriends/girlfriends in college. People who come back for prom, or hang out over the summer, etc.

Long distance relationships. We've had the internet for a long time. it is not uncommon for teens to have friends and significant others who do not live within driving distance. Maybe they moved away, or they met them online, or they met them on vacation or at an event like a con. Could throw some interesting dynamics in there.

There's lots of other stuff, but that's a good start.

I think he means PNR where the MC is the supernatural creature, not the boyfriend/girlfriend.

I'd rather have character who act true to themselves than to stereotypes or stereotypically "guyish" or "girlish". I have enough "maning" or "girling" up at my house.

More college aged MCs would be really nice. I've always thought that young adults were actually 18-25. What fourteen-year-old is really a young adult?

Agreeing with the college-aged MC thing.

Not only my finished novel, but also my WIP and just-started project all have 18/19 y.o MCs. It'd be pretty badass if there was a market for books like that . . .