Two questions about contemporary from a newbie to the genre

The Second Moon

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So I am writing a contemporary YA novel after years of writing MG Sci-fi. I have two question (in bold below) about contemporary (preferably about YA contemporary).

Why do you like to write Contemporary (preferably YA Contemporary)

This questions isn't just for fun. I really want to know so I can benefit myself.

How can I be creative well writing Contemporary?

I love being creative which is why I was so drawn to MG sci-fi. How can I be creative well writing Contemporary? I'm not saying contemporary writers or their work lack creativity. It's just a different type of creative that I want to be able to master.

BONUS QUESTION!!!

Is there an abbreviation for contemporary?

I misspelled "contemporary" every time I tried to write it while making this post.
 

Chris P

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I don't write YA, and don't read much of it, but contemporary is my thing both for reading and writing. I'm drawn to it because it's either "like real life, only more so," or "people I might know living lives I might lead." I don't see how that's more or less true for YA than for adult contemporary. I liked the YA titles "Will Grayson, Will Grayson" and "The Hate U Give" in that way as much as I liked "Less" by Andrew Sean Greer (which had a YA feel to it), or Orhan Pamuk's "Snow", or going back in time to "Bonfire of the Vanities," "Rabbit, Run," or even Sinclair Lewis's "Main Street." Contemporary remains contemporary even if it was written 100 years ago, just as horror remains horror, mystery remains mystery, etc. At least I think so.

How to be more creative? Because I am familiar with this world, I can play around with it and make the writing say what I want. With my few forays into historical writing, I feel too constrained by getting the historical stuff right--did Civil War soldiers use the word "sniper" or "sharpshooter"? Stuff like that. With contemporary, I don't have to worry so much. Another appeal is I can turn those "I wish I woulda" moments into "What if I hadda?" Perhaps it's wish fulfillment; I hadn't considered that before. I take events (news, happenings, stuff I witness) and turn them 90 or 270 degrees or tweak this part or that and let the events play out in different ways. Maybe I can make my characters (and therefore my readers) come to conclusions I find meaningful by playing on what they already know, and find comfortable. In any case, I feel much more in control of the narrative and can experiment more. Tough question! Thanks for asking it.
 

starrystorm

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I don't write contemporary (maybe contemp?)I read YA, but when I read contemporary it was mainly in middle school. The main thing that drew me in was: This could be me. This could have happened to someone I know. All of this stuff is plausible and the characters feel so real. In fact, most of the books I remember and loved from my middle school days were contemporary.
 

Kat M

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Why do you like to write Contemporary (preferably YA Contemporary)

Contemporary adult here. Like Chris P, I like how there's fewer research constraints. Now, that said, if you want to write about something outside your expertise, you still have to research. But there's more you automatically know. I like that.

I also prefer to read contemporary. I don't like to be sucked into a different world so much as a world that I recognize and can think about in new ways. My favorite subgenre right now is outdoorsy stories from the PNW. Since I can't get into my car and drive out to the wilderness, I can read about it.

How can I be creative well writing Contemporary?

My favorite contemporaries are stories that highlight subsections of life I don't think about. One of my favorite authors ever wrote about modern-day (at the time) Hasidic communities. My favorite MG contemp (which is also about a million years old) is about a classical violinist, which is outside of my experience. What areas of life do you have special knowledge about? What unique problems would characters face in that milieu? You can write something bursting with authenticity using that setting or that idea and it will be creative.

BONUS QUESTION!!!

Is there an abbreviation for contemporary?

Contemp., I think.
 

Pastelnudes

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I write contemporary YA, partly because I like the combination of naivity and seriousness. You really can say anything in YA. Don't attempt to write it until you've read lots is my advice, as some people do misunderstand (not people here).
 
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Kalyke

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I may as well jump in -- but I am a dissapointing person in general-- so sorry in advance. I think that the Age bracketing leads to some misinterpretation here. I would say-- for instance in books I have read that might appeal to younger readers (YA, MS) they are not necessarily what would be considered contemporary litereature. It is like Literature is "all writing" but also, it is a specific type of writing that does not follow the rules of genres. So anything can be both YA and also Contemporary literature. I took a YA literature class books among those included were:

The Life of Pi -- Yann Martel
The House on Mango Street-- Sandra Cisneros
The Bluest Eye-- Toni Morrison
The Curious Incedent of the dog in the Night-time-- Mark Haddon

All of the writers were adults. (It seems to me that even the youngest taught creative writing at Cambridge, so they have their acedemic diplomas). The topics the books dealt with were the same that adult books deal with.Things that young people (usually teenagers) deal with. Love, sex, in-crouds, bullying, racism, gangs, horrible people, war-- everything.

But the young age of a protagonist is not a signal that the book is YA. I am writing a book now with a character who is split in two time-wise, one is a 16-year-old, and the other is in his 30's.

The main thing about being literature and being genre fiction is that literature is "artistic" writing-- character-driven, so the personal dreams, desires and so on of the character are the driving force. Sometimes it feels as though some is "plotless." The point is to go through a mental journey. The plot is really secondary, and often the plot is minimal. Someone's living room, a park, another place, a mountain valley. It has to be strong writing-- timeless.

So I think you need to wonder, am I writing literature, or is it a genre that I just don't know the name of?
 
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mccardey

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I may as well jump in -- but I am a dissapointing person in general-- so sorry in advance. I think that the Age bracketing leads to some misinterpretation here. I would say-- for instance in books I have read that might appeal to younger readers (YA, MS) they are not necessarily what would be considered contemporary litereature. It is like Literature is "all writing" but also, it is a specific type of writing that does not follow the rules of genres. So anything can be both YA and also Contemporary literature. I took a YA literature class books among those included were:

The Life of Pi -- Yann Martel
The House on Mango Street-- Sandra Cisneros
The Bluest Eye-- Toni Morrison
The Curious Incedent of the dog in the Night-time-- Mark Haddon

All of the writers were adults. (It seems to me that even the youngest taught creative writing at Cambridge, so they have their acedemic diplomas). The topics the books dealt with were the same that adult books deal with.Things that young people (usually teenagers) deal with. Love, sex, in-crouds, bullying, racism, gangs, horrible people, war-- everything.

But the young age of a protagonist is not a signal that the book is YA. I am writing a book now with a character who is split in two time-wise, one is a 16-year-old, and the other is in his 30's.

The main thing about being literature and being genre fiction is that literature is "artistic" writing-- character-driven, so the personal dreams, desires and so on of the character are the driving force. Sometimes it feels as though some is "plotless." The point is to go through a mental journey. The plot is really secondary, and often the plot is minimal. Someone's living room, a park, another place, a mountain valley. It has to be strong writing-- timeless.

So I think you need to wonder, am I writing literature, or is it a genre that I just don't know the name of?

Is it possible that you're conflating literature and literary writing? Because all literature may be literary (I have no idea, but someone will know) but all literary writing is not necessarily Literature.
 
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Ari Meermans

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I may as well jump in -- but I am a dissapointing person in general-- so sorry in advance. I think that the Age bracketing leads to some misinterpretation here. I would say-- for instance in books I have read that might appeal to younger readers (YA, MS) they are not necessarily what would be considered contemporary litereature. It is like Literature is "all writing" but also, it is a specific type of writing that does not follow the rules of genres. So anything can be both YA and also Contemporary literature. I took a YA literature class books among those included were:

The Life of Pi -- Yann Martel
The House on Mango Street-- Sandra Cisneros
The Bluest Eye-- Toni Morrison
The Curious Incedent of the dog in the Night-time-- Mark Haddon

All of the writers were adults. (It seems to me that even the youngest taught creative writing at Cambridge, so they have their acedemic diplomas). The topics the books dealt with were the same that adult books deal with.Things that young people (usually teenagers) deal with. Love, sex, in-crouds, bullying, racism, gangs, horrible people, war-- everything.

But the young age of a protagonist is not a signal that the book is YA. I am writing a book now with a character who is split in two time-wise, one is a 16-year-old, and the other is in his 30's.

The main thing about being literature and being genre fiction is that literature is "artistic" writing-- character-driven, so the personal dreams, desires and so on of the character are the driving force. Sometimes it feels as though some is "plotless." The point is to go through a mental journey. The plot is really secondary, and often the plot is minimal. Someone's living room, a park, another place, a mountain valley. It has to be strong writing-- timeless.

So I think you need to wonder, am I writing literature, or is it a genre that I just don't know the name of?
Is it possible that you're conflating literature and literary writing? Because all literature may be literary (I have no idea, but someone will know) but all literary writing is not necessarily Literature.

The word "literature" is a noun the simple meaning of which is written prose or poetry. The kind of literature meant is defined within context.

To make a categorical distinction between "literature" and "genre fiction" is not only improper, it is also incorrect.

As an added note and I want everyone to be clear on this: When the topic is literary works, entire genres are not to be held here as having no literary merit. Great literary works exist in all genres.
 
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Kalyke

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I know, I know. Everything I say is wrong. All writing even letters, reports to superiors and such are studied as literature. I had to take a few crazy classes. But that is the problem in defining it. Literature is an umbrella term as well as a specific category in the book store (which would not include some things studied as literature). The whole "what is literature" question is posed in a huge body of relevant literary criticism. One consensus is sort of "you know it when you see it," in other words it is a bit better than your average genre, and yet, it can be a genre, or not. In the intro of the Norton Anthology, the editors state" Literature represents life: it holds up, as it were, a mirror to nature and is thus "mimentic." Other theories look through different lenses. The idea of mirroring can be of the writer's external world, the internal world... it is compatible with expressive theory, and was formerly called "Poetics."

What I was talking about in relation to being "better written" was a short way of saying that literature contains "literariness. " Unlike newspapers, and technical manuals, it foregrounds poetic techniques. Literariness is also called poeticity, and the literature that is written in such a way is considered distinctive and special in comparison to run of the mill genre pieces.

People may argue which books are worthy of being called literary. What is more literary than some other piece. That is how genre is connected to literariness or works of literature. The other books are genre books (novels etc). Whether they are literary or just books depends on how they are written according to the actual definition in Norton.

So, sorry if I got it wrong.
 
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Ari Meermans

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The possibility of a perception of having "got it wrong" exists, I think, in making authoritative blanket statements. We, even as writers, don't all come in with the same thoughts, knowledge, or understanding so imagine what it might be like for our readers; that's why precision in word choice within context matters so very much. It can be a struggle because writers tend to have highly active minds and our thoughts often bifurcate in the oddest places* which in turn often makes it difficult to translate those thoughts to the page in a way that is both universally understood and economical in language.

*This short post has now taken me roughly 17 minutes to compose and it still doesn't fully convey what I want it to. Yes, the struggle is real—yet so very necessary.
 
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mccardey

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I know, I know. Everything I say is wrong.

No, no - I'm not saying everything you say is wrong. Just that it sounds to me as though in this post you're describing literary writing rather than literature. A quick scroll through these forums will show that everyone has ideas about literary writing and they're not at all the same thing, whereas one can, I imagine, make fairly didactic statements about literature being this or that - as long,as you say, that it's understood that the definition doesn't necessarily apply to the word literature in all its other uses, eg: The Medical Literature.