Getting Myself to Read?

Radhika

The Young Writer
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 30, 2010
Messages
117
Reaction score
5
Location
California
Writers read. To become a writer, you must have read first. When you're a writer, you want people to read your stuff!

I got a YA novel by Rick Riordan the other day (The Lost Hero, I'm sorry I'm not reading anyone on AW or any small writers, I still need that darned Kindle and I don't know how I'm going to get it with my darned parents, but... that's all different and not the point of this thread) and I'm hating the sight of it. It doesn't interest me, it annoys me with the reading style. It doesn't draw me in.

So, I find myself re-reading Gone With the Wind instead of YA, which is focus for my novel.

I feel like I can't open my mind to new things anymore. I'm picky and I only trust books that I've already ventured into. I'm halfway in The Lost Hero, don't say I judged the book. I have Great Expectations halfway done, but I know I'm going to read that.
I have a beta read that I hope to finish within the weekend, but it's YA and I'm afraid to read it. I don't know what to do.
 

Guardian

just the worst honestly
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 9, 2010
Messages
3,320
Reaction score
443
Age
31
Location
denial
Maybe YA just isn't your thing. I'm picky with books, too. Maybe you could tell us what your focus is for the book you want to write and we could recommend good YA reads?
 

Radhika

The Young Writer
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 30, 2010
Messages
117
Reaction score
5
Location
California
Maybe YA just isn't your thing. I'm picky with books, too. Maybe you could tell us what your focus is for the book you want to write and we could recommend good YA reads?

My book is a YA Supernatural novel, but I feel like it doesn't have the contemporary language of a YA with incomplete sentences that are just one-worded thoughts (except for the dialogue because that's how people talk. I can't have super educated characters speaking), which is I believe, the main reason why I am shying away from most YA novels. I want my novel to be directed towards YA, but still have that sense of education and class with proper rules of writing.

I suppose I'm looking for a YA with completion, with proper grammar and writing methods, and a bit of detail and thought put into the sentences.
I feel that lots of the novels I have picked up that are YA (which are usually by the big guys, cough cough) have had this and it annoys the life out of me.
 

Kitty Pryde

i luv you giant bear statue
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 7, 2008
Messages
9,090
Reaction score
2,165
Location
Lost Angeles
I read about 5 YA novels a week and I have failed to read any lacking "proper grammar" and "writing methods". Seriously. Oops, that was a sentence fragment--does my post lack a sense of class and education?

Yeah, if you loathe all YA, why the heck are you writing it and why are you reading it?
 

Guardian

just the worst honestly
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 9, 2010
Messages
3,320
Reaction score
443
Age
31
Location
denial
The Lovely Bones certainly had educated thought even though it was narrated by a 14 year old girl. There's no reason why you can't write properly. It's just that people don't tend to speak like Shakespeare, especially teenagers, so dialog should be a little looser (sometimes. Even that depends on the individual character.)

Kids are sometimes smarter than even I give them credit for, and I'm a teen. If you are finding YA books that have an annoying style and seem to reek of derp, then I can guarantee you that there are teens who feel the same way. If you can't find a YA to mimic, then blaze your own path.
 

AKyber36

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 9, 2011
Messages
231
Reaction score
14
Location
USA
YA I can recommend (the ones I'm reading now that I think are good):

Dragon Sword and Wind Child and Mirror Sword and Shadow Prince by Noriko Ogiwara.

The Giver by Lois Lowry (I think it should be YA. Some people knock it but I love this story. A great introduction to dystopian fiction before they graduate to classics like 1984 and Brave New World).
 

harmfulsweetz

He who laughs last thinks slowest
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 17, 2011
Messages
113
Reaction score
7
Location
UK
I'd recommend the Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold-it's not too YA to be annoying and appeals to all audiences. It's well-written, and very moving. IMO.

I enjoy YA fiction most of the time, except when you get a whole load of Twilight knock-offs. If you buy books then struggle to read them because of the style, maybe read a few pages in the store to find out what the style is before you spend money on it. That's what I do. There is so many good YA novels out there right now, such as Before I Die by Jenny Downham, etc. I'd really spend a bit of time in the store, looking at books similar to the one you're writing-paranormal/fantasy etc, and read a few pages to get a feel for it.

But, I do think that most YA fiction isn't going to be so educated etc because teens aren't always like that, they certainly don't want to appear like that.
 

Fade

The Captain of My Soul
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 1, 2009
Messages
597
Reaction score
73
Location
USA
My book is a YA Supernatural novel, but I feel like it doesn't have the contemporary language of a YA with incomplete sentences that are just one-worded thoughts (except for the dialogue because that's how people talk. I can't have super educated characters speaking), which is I believe, the main reason why I am shying away from most YA novels. I want my novel to be directed towards YA, but still have that sense of education and class with proper rules of writing.

Hmm. I normally excuse some things like that, especially when it's first person. I mean, face it, there are very few teenagers (or adults) who think in complete proper sentences. Obviously stories are that way most of the time, but I believe fragments or one-word sentences used sparringly can make the prose more powerful.

Anyway, YA books I enjoy a lot. The Summoning (and it's sequels) by Kelley Armstrong. Morganville Vampires by Rachel Cain before the seventh book, where the author ran out of plot. House of Scorpion by Nancy Farmer. And Unwind by Neil Shushterman (probably mispelled that).
 

Calla Lily

On hiatus
Staff member
Super Moderator
Moderator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
39,307
Reaction score
17,490
Location
Non carborundum illegitimi
Website
www.aliceloweecey.net
I read about 5 YA novels a week and I have failed to read any lacking "proper grammar" and "writing methods". Seriously. Oops, that was a sentence fragment--does my post lack a sense of class and education?

Yeah, if you loathe all YA, why the heck are you writing it and why are you reading it?

This. Read what you like and write what you like. It'll sound forced otherwise. And I'm an English major and a former teacher of English--and I use sentence fragments. All the time. :D

The Giver by Lois Lowry (I think it should be YA. Some people knock it but I love this story.

A thousand times, this. The Giver is awesome on toast.