Minimalism in YA?

missesdash · Jul 30, 2011

I read a lot of minimalists authors but I know that YA, especially urban fiction and PNR tends to be somewhat flowery and heavy on description and dialogue.

Anyone know of any very minimalist YA authors? I guess the YA equivalent to a vonnegut, palahniuk or brett easton ellis.

Contemporary is fine, but I'm thinking more UF, fantasy and Paranormal.

MadSquirrel · Jul 30, 2011

Yeah, I'm wondering about this myself. I tend to be stark and get to the point, and on top of that I'm not big on lyrical, flowery prose that meanders around. If anyone knows, I'm curious, too!

LadyA · Jul 30, 2011

Courtney Summers. She gets across her settings, characters, plot and overall message with very 'stark' writing.
I probably do too much description - minimalist seems very hard to do, and to do well.

Becca_H · Jul 30, 2011

Susane Colasanti - When It Happens

Absolutely zero description. Very minimalist.

missesdash · Jul 30, 2011

LadyA said:
Courtney Summers. She gets across her settings, characters, plot and overall message with very 'stark' writing.
I probably do too much description - minimalist seems very hard to do, and to do well.

Thanks for this suggestion! It's exactly what I was looking for. She's great

The_Ink_Goddess · Jul 30, 2011

Courtney Summers seconded a million times over.
LIVING DEAD GIRL by Elizabeth Scott
SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson -- maybe? Obviously not dialogue-heavy, but very too-the-point about things like description.

You tend to find that most books are a mixture of this, but maaaaaybe?

APPLES by Richard Milward
PUSH by Sapphire
WHEN YOU REACH ME by Rebecca Stead

Also not YA *but* the most minimalistic books I've ever read are THE RED RIIDING QUARTET (1974, 1977, 1980, 1983) by David Peace.

Smish · Jul 30, 2011

Both contemporary writers, but I'd suggest Elizabeth Scott and Courtney Summers. They're both beautiful writers - and two of my favorites.

ETA: Ha! Cross-posted with The_Ink_Goddess.

missesdash · Jul 30, 2011

I'm starting to wonder if I'm fighting a losing battle using this style in anything but contemporary.

Smish · Jul 30, 2011

missesdash said:
I'm starting to wonder if I'm fighting a losing battle using this style in anything but contemporary.

Your style is your style. It's silly to try to write like other authors. You have to be you.

So, don't worry about it. Write your book. If your betas all point out that something's a problem, then work on correcting it. Until then, just write.

The_Ink_Goddess · Jul 30, 2011

missesdash said:
I'm starting to wonder if I'm fighting a losing battle using this style in anything but contemporary.

No!

Basically just what Smish said.

However, remember that stuff like paranormal does usually use minimalism simply because of the world-building required. If you can do that in this style, then do it! I personally would love to see it.

Miriel · Jul 30, 2011

Don't know if this is quite what you're looking for, but Janice Hardy's "The Shifter" is high fantasy, sparse on the description. Technically it's upper-MG, but she does a really nice job of world building through small, sprinkled details here and there. She never says "tropical," but it comes across anyway, without any pause-and-look-at-the-vista scenes.

If it hasn't really been done before, and you can do it well, that really seems more of a selling point than a bad thing.

chocowrites · Jul 30, 2011

Though I didn't much love either of these books, Sarah Zarr's STORY OF A GIRL and Jenny Downham's BEFORE I DIE both felt a bit minimalist to me.

YOU by Charles Benoit might also work for this.

I agree that Courtney Summers is the YA queen of minimalism.

eyeblink · Jul 31, 2011

I naturally go too far in this direction - not just minimalist but white-room syndrome if I'm not careful. Maybe it's because I'm a (published) short-fiction writer learning or relearning to write novels again.

Mumut · Jul 31, 2011

I don't describe people or scenes beyond what is absolutely necessary. And I spend lot of time trimming excess from my writing. My theory is that it gives the reader some ownership of the story. If they add the sort of person they think of as a hero for your MC, it helps them enjoy your story. When I was young I thought a red heaired person with green eyes was so alien I couldn't accept the hero of the story. I stopped reading.

chocowrites · Jan 24, 2012

HER AND ME AND YOU by Lauren Strasnick.

(I am sorry for bumping le zombie thread--I don't usually. But I'm hoping someone will have more recs, since I don't feel like I've read enough YA minimalism.)

maybegenius · Jan 24, 2012

I'm sure they exist, but I can't think of any off the top of my head. Maybe the WAKE series by Lisa McMann?

I say go for it. I'm a fan of well-done minimalist writing that can evoke a strong sense of world without all the flowery description. You mentioned Vonnegut, who was great at writing speculative in that style. I think you should roll with it.

missesdash · Jan 24, 2012

Yaaay, I totally rolled with it and now I have an agent etc etc. This board is the greatest, I made so many important decisions based on feedback from AW'ers.

I think there might even be a bit of a trend towards minimalism? Not a huge trend, but I see it more than I used to. Maybe it's more about a wider range of styles becoming acceptable in YA as it grows.

maybegenius · Jan 24, 2012

LOL oh jeez I didn't realize this was a months-old thread. Yay agent!

I think the breadth of accepted styles in YA is definitely getting bigger. We're still such a "young" (hurr hurr hurr) section of the bookstore that the category is still being defined. Exciting!

chocowrites · Jan 25, 2012

I would love to see more YA minimalist books, I really would. *hopes that a trend will develop*

(I have this huge reading craving for clean stark prose, haha.)

OpheliaRevived · Jan 25, 2012

I think this style would be fantastic in UF. (My fave genre to write and read.) I'd like too see more of it, especially in a truly dark ya uf. I think the style has to match the story. IMHO there are stories that just can't be told in this style, and also stories that should be "sparse".

I love reading that word. I love saying it. Out loud. To my confused 3 year old daughter. >

Kats · Jan 25, 2012

This thread makes me happy - my natural writing style is minimalist and I'm always concerned about adding more to be more like other authors out there, but I should just go with it and worry about if it's too sparse when I finish my novel and get feedback.

Windcutter · Jan 25, 2012

Lisa McMann. She writes paranormal thrillers, ghost stories bordering on horror, this kind of stuff. No high fantasy, but not contemporary, either. Her books are also very short, I think most of them are barely longer than 50k.

>> wrote this before I noticed the date in the first post. xd

missesdash said:
I think there might even be a bit of a trend towards minimalism? Not a huge trend, but I see it more than I used to. Maybe it's more about a wider range of styles becoming acceptable in YA as it grows.

Maybe it also has something to do with the change of genres: dystopia pushing paranormal out. Futuristic and tech-related genres often lean towards a more minimalist or functional style.

A random thought: there might be a reason why it is still more popular in contemporary--it's much easier to show stuff while keeping it sparse if you don't need to describe or explain too many unfamiliar details. Or maybe I'm projecting my own issue on this, lol. I used to have a rather sparse style, a bit noir-ish, and I often got criticized for underexplaining things and giving away too little of MC's thought process.

missesdash · Jan 25, 2012

@windcutter

You're right on the mark. The same people who praise my sparseness and ability to show emotions in very few words are generally dismayed by the similar approach I take to world building. Finding a balance has been the hard part. So writing minimally in a fantasy based genre is a special kind of challenge.

Windcutter · Jan 25, 2012

Oh I know what you mean. So much. One of my wips, Project H, which was set aside for extra super special Project A, was being written in that way. Urban fantasy with some thriller elements, first person, present tense, an unreliable protagonist--and a minimalist style. Well, minimalist when compared with my other current stuff. Quite a lot of people seemed to dislike it.

Carissa · Jan 30, 2012

Hmm really love this idea. I'll have to get my hands on some of the books mentioned here. I think I tend toward the too flowery in my writing. I'd love to experiment with trying to be more minimalistic.

Minimalism in YA?

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