The next big thing

jmlee · Dec 3, 2011

Re: Circus theme - I kind of thought THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS was going to be a bigger hit here, and it only appeared in the Oscars once...

I'd read circus. I'd read circus up and down and backwards.

I was just thinking about sub-genres I loved when I was a wee one... And I realized almost all of my favorite books were stranded-teen-surviving-in-the-wild books. HATCHET, JULIE OF THE WOLVES, ISLAND OF THE BLUE DOLPHINS, etc. Will these make a huge comeback? Doubt it. Unless there's werewolves in it.

...I also fantasized about running away and living in the boundary waters with wild animals, though, so maybe it was just me.

strandedhero · Dec 3, 2011

Oh, I'd love circus books. To read that is, not sure I could write one. I'm pretty much a contemporary writer so I continue to have high hopes for the genre, which I also love to read. From what I can tell though there is also a tint towards magical realism and mystery/suspense.

AlishaS · Dec 3, 2011

Thanks Cyia, I was drawing a complete blank, meant no disrespect

I also did know she was a member.

And I think circus themed novels are on the rise for sure.

KateSmash · Dec 4, 2011

jmlee said:
Re: Circus theme - I kind of thought THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS was going to be a bigger hit here, and it only appeared in the Oscars once... I'd read circus. I'd read circus up and down and backwards.

Agreed on all fronts. That was such a wonderful movie, and Terry Gilliam is a wonderful director and storyteller (when he gets his stuff done and puts out a movie), and I'm infinitely sad when neither do well in the US.

On circuses - it'd be a great theme with wide range. I can see someone going all out dark like CARNIVALE (and it doesn't really get much darker), realistic, or straight up fantasy.

Belle_91 · Dec 4, 2011

I also just want to say that I think YA in general is up-and-coming. I feel like a lot more agents are representing it more, and the market has thousands of new readers thanks to popular books.

kaitlin008 · Dec 4, 2011

jmlee said:
I was just thinking about sub-genres I loved when I was a wee one... And I realized almost all of my favorite books were stranded-teen-surviving-in-the-wild books. HATCHET, JULIE OF THE WOLVES, ISLAND OF THE BLUE DOLPHINS, etc. Will these make a huge comeback? Doubt it. Unless there's werewolves in it.

Those are MG, though, right? It's been a while, but I read HATCHET, ISLAND OF THE BLUE DOLPHINS and other similar books in middle school. I don't remember the ages of the characters, so I might be wrong. My mom still teaches HATCHET to her fifth grade students.

jmlee · Dec 4, 2011

kaitlin008 said:
Those are MG, though, right? It's been a while, but I read HATCHET, ISLAND OF THE BLUE DOLPHINS and other similar books in middle school. I don't remember the ages of the characters, so I might be wrong. My mom still teaches HATCHET to her fifth grade students.

You know, you're right. I just looked it up! HATCHET was about a 13 year old. ISLAND appears to have Karana at about 12-13 too. But the sequel, ZIA, is about a 14 year old. Julie is 13 as well. Aaand MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN has a 13 year old MC. So maybe boderline MG/YA? Also back then there wasn't as much of a range between "kids books" and "grown up books" (Thanks Rowling)

Maybe the next thing will be 2 YEARS LATER - WILDERNESS SURVIVAL CHILDREN ALL STARS - BATTLE ROYALE!!! ...oh wait

cherita · Dec 4, 2011

KateSmash said:
On circuses - it'd be a great theme with wide range. I can see someone going all out dark like CARNIVALE (and it doesn't really get much darker), realistic, or straight up fantasy.

It's not YA, but Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti was dark and awesome, kind of like a clockpunk Carnivale. I'd love more books like that -- YA or not.

Belle_91 · Dec 4, 2011

Lynn said:
Belle 91- I know some editors are still open to fairy tales. My agent is currently submitting my contemporary YA. She's passed along a few editor rejections to me (depressing, let me tell ya). One editor specifically wrote that she was currently looking for a "dark, twisted fairy tale retelling." My agent commented that editors seem to be looking for YA storylines that are "dark" and "shocking/agonizing/over the top."

Unfortunately, I'm not that writer. When I read or write YA with serious or tough subject matter, I prefer it to have some element of hope in it. It's just a personal thing with me because I know so many teens who are already struggling with depression and anxiety.

I agree. I'm not that type either. Are there any editors/agents looking for new versions of fairytales that aren't dark?

jmlee · Dec 4, 2011

Belle_91 said:
I agree. I'm not that type either. Are there any editors/agents looking for new versions of fairytales that aren't dark?

I know a couple who had it listed... The one that comes to mind is Bernadette Baker (Victoria Sanders), who sold a light-fairy-tale themed Neverland book a few years ago (can't remember the name... or find it...) and recently picked up/sold a Greek mythology fairy-tale type of thing (ARTEMIS RISING) and was actively seeking related-type not necessarily dark stuff.

but that's just one...

It will be interesting to see how the two Snow White movies do against each other.

cherita · Dec 4, 2011

jmlee said:
It will be interesting to see how the two Snow White movies do against each other.

Sort of like Grimm vs. Once Upon a Time...

Amarie · Dec 4, 2011

jmlee said:
I was just thinking about sub-genres I loved when I was a wee one... And I realized almost all of my favorite books were stranded-teen-surviving-in-the-wild books. HATCHET, JULIE OF THE WOLVES, ISLAND OF THE BLUE DOLPHINS, etc. Will these make a huge comeback? Doubt it. Unless there's werewolves in it.

...I also fantasized about running away and living in the boundary waters with wild animals, though, so maybe it was just me.

kaitlin008 said:
Those are MG, though, right? It's been a while, but I read HATCHET, ISLAND OF THE BLUE DOLPHINS and other similar books in middle school. I don't remember the ages of the characters, so I might be wrong. My mom still teaches HATCHET to her fifth grade students.

There's a brand-new YA by Shelli Johannes called UNTRACEABLE that is wilderness-themed. She had an agent who had trouble placing it, so Shelli self-pubbed it. It looks really good and is in my TBR pile. My two wilderness books are upper MG, as is the one I just signed with an agent for (it's sci fi, but with a strong wilderness survival subplot). It would be great if there was more YA wilderness books.

Kaitlin,
If your mom is interested, I'd be thrilled to send her a copy of Wildfire Run. The School Library Journal review compared it to Hatchet.

VictoriaWrites · Dec 4, 2011

Belle_91 said:
I didn't read anyone's posts, but I have to wonder if new versions of classic fairytales might be the next thing. I know there was a lot of success with Beastly by Alex Flinn and Little Red Riding Hood. Both of these were just made into movies, so I don't know if book sells were up before they decided to release the movies.

I think the next book that I work on will be a retelling of Beauty and the Beast...so I'm hoping my prediction is true.

Speaking as a fan of fairy tale retellings, I think the problem is that Beastly and Little Red Riding Hood aren't the only fairy tales retellings. They're just some of the most hyped.

There's the Once Upon a Time series, which has retold every fairy tale I have ever heard of.

There's A Tale Dark and Grim, which may not count since it's MG, but it retells a series of the Grimm Brothers' tales with Hansel and Gretel as protagonists.

There's Ella Enchanted, Just Ella, Princess of Glass, Princess of the Midnight Ball, Fairest, Beauty, Rose Daughter, East and Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow.

And those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

missesdash · Dec 4, 2011

I am so so stoked for K. Stew and Charlize Theron in Snow White. But how the two Snow White movies perform should definitely give us an idea of the current mood.

Opal · Dec 4, 2011

Usually the most prominent fairy tale re-tellings I can find are for Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella. I tried looking for some Red Riding Hood ones not too long ago and could only find two. I actually like re-tellings so long as they have their own unique twist. I think there may be a new revival of it. A large number of movies and shows are starting to come out based on fairy tales and it has me wondering if they may inspire some new books.

Anyways, I'm hoping for the contemporary route. I've only recently started to expand my reading list to include things outside of fantasy and I'm getting more and more into contemporary books.

VictoriaWrites · Dec 4, 2011

Opal said:
Usually the most prominent fairy tale re-tellings I can find are for Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella. I tried looking for some Red Riding Hood ones not too long ago and could only find two. I actually like re-tellings so long as they have their own unique twist. I think there may be a new revival of it. A large number of movies and shows are starting to come out based on fairy tales and it has me wondering if they may inspire some new books.

Anyways, I'm hoping for the contemporary route. I've only recently started to expand my reading list to include things outside of fantasy and I'm getting more and more into contemporary books.

I think if someone wants to write a fairy tale retelling, they need to go outside the box. There are some little known tales that would be awesome as fully fleshed-out retellings- Shannon Hale's The Goose Girl and Book of A Thousand Days are both based on lesser-known Grimm tales.

Back on topic, I'm not a big fan of trends. I think it makes it harder to find the really good stuff, and the market gets cluttered with mediocre stuff. Like I've heard great things about Divergent, but I've read some really bad dystopian books, and I keep putting off reading it.

Or maybe I'm weird. :Shrug:

strandedhero · Dec 4, 2011

VictoriaWrites said:
Back on topic, I'm not a big fan of trends. I think it makes it harder to find the really good stuff, and the market gets cluttered with mediocre stuff. Like I've heard great things about Divergent, but I've read some really bad dystopian books, and I keep putting off reading it.

Or maybe I'm weird.

I have read plenty of bad dystopia so I was skeptical of DIVERGENT too, but read the first 100 pages online at Harper Teen, not sure if you still can, but I was dying waiting for my copy to arrive in the mail after that, it had me so hooked. I completely 100% recommend it though, that BLOOD RED ROAD by Moira Young and DELIRIUM by Lauren Oliver, are definitely my favourite dystopias of the year.

HistorySleuth · Dec 5, 2011

Peter Pan is another one that keeps getting remade. There is a two parter Neverland on now (SiFy channel I think?) so fairy tale type stories with a new twist always seem to come around again in both books and movies.

VictoriaWrites · Dec 5, 2011

HistorySleuth said:
Peter Pan is another one that keeps getting remade. There is a two parter Neverland on now (SiFy channel I think?) so fairy tale type stories with a new twist always seem to come around again in both books and movies.

I see a lot of Peter Pan movie remakes, but not books. Am I missing something? That would be a cool concept (done right, of course).

strandedhero said:
I have read plenty of bad dystopia so I was skeptical of DIVERGENT too, but read the first 100 pages online at Harper Teen, not sure if you still can, but I was dying waiting for my copy to arrive in the mail after that, it had me so hooked. I completely 100% recommend it though, that BLOOD RED ROAD by Moira Young and DELIRIUM by Lauren Oliver, are definitely my favourite dystopias of the year.

Delirium is another one on my TBR list.

Cyia · Dec 5, 2011

Peter Pan is a special case. The copyright on the book will never run out, as it was given in perpetuity to a children's hospital in England by special order of Parliament. You can't simply make a new Pan book, but Disney, as a rights' holder has used it for all the mileage it can wring out of it.

Alexandra Little · Dec 5, 2011

Kriven said:
Eragon kind of made fantasy a thing for a little while before the vampires moved in.

It wasn't a very big thing, though. Eragon was big, carried mainly on the fact that it was written when Paolini was a teen, but it didn't make high fantasy very big.

I have my fingers crossed that high fantasy will get big again (but not before I've got a publisher *wink*).

Becca C. · Dec 5, 2011

jmlee said:
I know a couple who had it listed... The one that comes to mind is Bernadette Baker (Victoria Sanders), who sold a light-fairy-tale themed Neverland book a few years ago (can't remember the name... or find it...) and recently picked up/sold a Greek mythology fairy-tale type of thing (ARTEMIS RISING) and was actively seeking related-type not necessarily dark stuff.

VictoriaWrites said:
I see a lot of Peter Pan movie remakes, but not books. Am I missing something? That would be a cool concept (done right, of course).

Delirium is another one on my TBR list.

Cyia said:
Peter Pan is a special case. The copyright on the book will never run out, as it was given in perpetuity to a children's hospital in England by special order of Parliament. You can't simply make a new Pan book, but Disney, as a rights' holder has used it for all the mileage it can wring out of it.

The book jmlee mentioned is Never After by Dan Elconin, who was a teen when he wrote it. It's a Peter Pan book... but Peter is the villain. Dum dum dummm...

VictoriaWrites · Dec 5, 2011

Cyia said:
Peter Pan is a special case. The copyright on the book will never run out, as it was given in perpetuity to a children's hospital in England by special order of Parliament. You can't simply make a new Pan book, but Disney, as a rights' holder has used it for all the mileage it can wring out of it.

Now that you mention that, I remember hearing it. Darn it.

cherita · Dec 6, 2011

VictoriaWrites said:
I see a lot of Peter Pan movie remakes, but not books. Am I missing something? That would be a cool concept (done right, of course).

The Child Thief by Brom is a (twisted and dark) Peter Pan retelling.

jmlee · Dec 6, 2011

Cyia said:
Peter Pan is a special case. The copyright on the book will never run out, as it was given in perpetuity to a children's hospital in England by special order of Parliament. You can't simply make a new Pan book, but Disney, as a rights' holder has used it for all the mileage it can wring out of it.

Yesss... how do the Starcatcher books figure into this? I'm not a huge Neverland/Peter Pan fan so I haven't read them but I liked... their cover design... ha

The next big thing

MIA

Is swimming with creativity frogs

this was a triumph

With her nose stuck in a book

Seeing newness all the time

MIA

With her nose stuck in a book

MIA

carpe libri

Typing away...

You can't sit with us!

The Designated No-Stress Friend

Typing away...

Researching History's Mysteries

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Rewriting My Destiny

What a desolation.

Typing away...

MIA