Can contemporary YA ever be as good as SF/F YA?

StephLondon

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Since hanging out with my friends and talking to the people I talk to, it seems there's a general consensus that SF/F books are the Good Books and contemporary/romances are filler. Will there ever be a contemporary that can equate to a sprawling fantasy series or sci-fi duology, that can change lives the way they seem to? It's almost like the people in my real life don't even take a book seriously anymore if it's a contemporary (unless it's written by John Green or the like), they don't even count them as Read books on Goodreads. Only YA fantasy counts, with the occasional dystopian or sci-fi thrown in. Is this just how it is? Am I surrounded by weird people? Or do you feel the same?
 

Brightdreamer

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Contemporary, romance, SF/F, mystery... those are just genres. Story is what you're talking about here, and there's no reason in the world that a SF/F story would be inherently better or worse than a contemporary. Of course there are loved, life-changing books in all genres and categories - to the reader who loves them and read them at the right time, in the right head-space, to be changed by them.

That opinion that only SF/F is any good, IMHO, simply reflects the tastes and reading biases of those around you. Many groups would dismiss any SF/F as gimmicky trash or "too weird." Some groups figure romance is inherently cliche and soppy. Every group is going to have their own likes and dislikes and opinions on which genre is best, and confirmation bias will enforce it.

Try casting a wider net and exploring more on your own. Maybe you'll find a contemporary YA that knocks your socks off. Maybe your tastes just don't run that way.
 

Sage

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Some people prefer SFF. Some people prefer contemporary. "As good as" is subjective. Characters' lives are changed in contemporary YA (and readers' too). It's fine if that hasn't been your experience, nor your friends', but you shouldn't assume that's everyone's experience.

Not counting contemporary YA as a "read" book on Goodreads seems a little ridiculous to me, but to each their own. It's their Goodreads.

I'll keep this thread open for now, if folks want to discuss merits of different genres (or lack thereof), however, [mod hat] the rule, as always, is Respect Your Fellow Writer, and if this dissolves into disparaging any genre and authors of that genre, I'll be closing it.[/mod hat]
 
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StephLondon

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I think that's part of the issue. My group, the readers I talk with locally, dismiss romance so much that it's not a real genre to them. I like practically any genre, so long as the story's good, but because SFF is so popular, reading contemporary or romance novels is equal to not reading because there's nothing to discuss. Everyone wants to talk about SFF in my group, sometimes about the more complex contemporaries, but never anything else, which makes them feel... not real. Which makes writing them seem like a waste of time. If I can't succeed at writing SFF, am I a bad writer? If I write contemporaries, will I even be good enough in their eyes? Etc... I'm sure it's pointless to worry like this, but it sucks feeling like you're on the outside.
 

StephLondon

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Some people prefer SFF. Some people prefer contemporary. "As good as" is subjective. Characters' lives are changed in contemporary YA (and readers' too). It's fine if that hasn't been your experience, nor your friends', but you shouldn't assume that's everyone's experience.

Not counting contemporary YA as a "read" book on Goodreads seems a little ridiculous to me, but to each their own. It's their Goodreads.

I'll keep this thread open for now, if folks want to discuss merits of different genres (or lack thereof), however, [mod hat] the rule, as always, is Respect Your Fellow Writer, and if this dissolves into disparaging any genre and authors of that genre, I'll be closing it.[/mod hat]


I'm so sorry if this seems disrespectful, it wasn't intended that way at all (though intentions are meaningless). My apologies. I mean more along the lines of, will contemporary ever be as popular as SFF seems to be now? Or is it only in my group that it's largely ignored? Again, I am so sorry and I hope I didn't offend anyone. The book that most affected me as a teen was a contemporary.
 

frimble3

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It's not that you're surrounded by weird people, it's that you're surrounded by people who don't like fiction with contemporary, reality-based settings.
You'll also find pockets of people who think that contemporary/mundane fiction is superior, and that SF/F is either the work of the devil, or at least the entertainment of the foolish.
Then there was my father, who was of the opinion that all fiction was, if not lies, then made-up nonsense. Except what he liked, stories of sailing ships.
Brightdreamer has it right. Read around, until you find what you like, and leave others to their interests.
 
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CoffeeBeans

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This reads to me like "I asked a lot of people I know who talk about how much they love chocolate ice cream to tell me about their favorite strawberry ice cream, and they didn't like any of those."

People have tastes, and some books suit it. Lots of us get book recs from friends and fellow readers we know. That can help propagate a certain viewpoint too. "this person I thought I trusted recommended a strawberry ice cream to me, and it wasn't as good as the chocolate I usually eat, so all strawberry ice cream is bad."

Removing genre might help in picking out a contemporary closer to your/anyone's interest. SF/F usually has higher word count, maybe that's a draw. Do you rather a series to a stand alone? Funny or dark? etc, etc.

There's lots of great and not-as-great in all genres, but finding your stride in a genre might have more to do with looking at what you are drawn to excluding genre from the conversation.
 

KTC

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Well...that's offensive! Holy. This is not reflective of anything. Absolute bullshit, IMHO. Do you know THE HATE U GIVE? or SIMON VS THE HOMOSAPIEN AGENDA? or any number of other YAs that are not fantasy or sci-fi?

This is simply NOT true. It's all totally subjective. Whoever you're talking to favours one over the other. That's it. It's not representative of the facts.

Some people prefer SFF. Some people prefer contemporary. "As good as" is subjective. ~ Sage (upthread)
 

Hbooks

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It sounds like you have found a group with specific tastes that is acting pretty snooty. Personally, I would question whether this was a group I wanted to continue working with, especially if I had hopes of writing contemporary. Some people can be toxic to your writing process.
 

Melanii

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Am I surrounded by weird people?

Yes.

JUST KIDDING DON'T HURT ME.

So like, I used to think reading contemporary anything was a waste of time, boring, dumb, etc. All I cared about was fantasy or whatever was similar.

Then I started reading stuff outside my comfort zone and I even liked what I read.

Maybe one day they're realize that all books ARE books!

Either way, you do you.
 

Putputt

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I want to smack your group with a hardcover copy of The Hate U Give. :)
 

MaeZe

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As far as popularity, the NYT Bestseller list for this week tells a pretty compelling story of both genre and non-genre books being popular: https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/young-adult-hardcover/

[sidenote] That list is an argument against loglines for novels. The descriptions sound like TV guide program lists:
TV Guide random samples said:
The team travels to New Jersey where several people have been poisoned with LSD

NCIS Special Agent Jacqueline Sloane, a forensic psychologist, joins the team just as a horrific storm shuts down Washington, D.C.

Bull hires an eccentric attorney to represent him when a celebrity sues him after his advice regarding her custody case backfires

Phil and Claire assume their alter egos, Clive and Juliana, for another Valentine's Day rendezvous. Meanwhile, Jay's surprise for Gloria encounters one obstacle after another; and Cameron and Mitchell dispute an admirer's intentions...
[/sidenote]
 

RaggyCat

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It seems to me like all the books that are marketed as "quality" and "must reads" in YA are all contemporary at the moment - but perhaps this is based on my experience in the UK? Pretty much all of them too have romance that features heavily in the plot, so I don't think romance as a genre is panned, either. But then I say this as someone who rarely rads SF/Fantasy, so the information sources I'm reading are going to be fairly skewed.
 

xenylic

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Hate to diss my own genre of writing (SFF, that is), but there is a sort of buffer, or training wheels, for lack of a better term, for reading SFF. If the novel/characters bum you out, and you have a short attention span, the world can still draw you in with it's mystery intrigue of the speculative elements. It's not necessarily that SFF is better, but easier/noncommittal generally speaking. There's a reason it's a gateway genre for most people who hate reading universally. I admit, I don't read as much as I should of contemporary, or other genres out of my interest. I think it's easy SFF people to become completely quarantined from the rest of the world, because, as Sage was talking about with NYT bestseller stats, it's not anywhere close to a matter of supremacy.
 

RoseDG

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People tend to be friends with people with similar taste.

The Italian side of my family will swear up, down, and sideways that French food will never be as good as Italian food, but there are also plenty of people in this world who think of French food as more "gourmet."

I read both the fantasy YA (not big on dystopian) and the contemporaries, but I only write contemporary and historical fiction (and alternate history) because I just don't ENJOY writing fantasy. Sci-fi just doesn't do it for me, period. But that's my taste. And, not-so-shockingly, plenty of my friends also LOVE historical fiction. In some cases, we even became friends because of this shared love. I could easily ask myself why Sci-Fi "isn't as good as" historical fiction, but that isn't accurate either.