[ SECRET POST #5457 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #5457 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


01.



__________________________________________________



02.



__________________________________________________



03.



__________________________________________________



04.



__________________________________________________



05.



__________________________________________________



06.
















Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 20 secrets from Secret Submission Post #781.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

Inspired by #1

[(Anonymous)]

Why do adults read YA books?

I understand that YA can be well-written, and that there are things YA readers want in their reading material that they feel they can reliably get from YA books and not from other genres. So I guess my question is really: what are those things that readers can only get from YA books? And why is it impossible to find those things in non-YA fiction, or simply make adult fiction that includes those things?

Re: Inspired by #1

[kaijinscendre]

Why do I occasionally read a YA book as a 30+ year old?

Sometimes I want to read an easy book that doesn't tackle heavy subjects. Or if it does tackle heavy subjects, it is in an easy to digest, not too dark way. Granted, I am very picky about the YA books I read and have not read one in a couple years.

YA books are like action movies. Something I can partially turn my brain off and enjoy.

Re: Inspired by #1

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, this. Sometimes I don't want an incredibly complex plot! I just want something entertaining that isn't super long and doesn't require a lot of thought to enjoy.

Re: Inspired by #1

[(Anonymous)]

THIS. When I'm tired and want to read something it's going to be either a silly fanfiction or a fantasy YA book.

Re: Inspired by #1

[(Anonymous)]

Chiming in to agree --- why sometimes I watch cooking competitions or HGTV as a guilty pleasure. I just want to turn off my brain and not work it to hard while enjoying something

Re: Inspired by #1

[(Anonymous)]

I spend a lot of time reading scientific papers, so I just want to read something where I don't have to think about what the author is trying to say. Lots of YA books are written at an easy reading level. I think both the Hunger Games and Paper Towns are at a fifth grade reading level.

This isn't to say that YA is bad because the writing is simple. Simple, like complex writing is neutral for me, it can be good or bad, depending on the story being told and the skill of the author.

Re: Inspired by #1

[(Anonymous)]

IMHO I think a lot of adult seek out YA books because a lot of them have more minority representation than most mainstream adult books. There are a lot of good adult books with diverse cast and stories revolving around LGBT or POC characters, but they are more difficult to find. A lot of people get books on recomendations or reading reviews on Goodread etc. and the people commenting there and making most of the noise online are on the younger side, hence it's harder finding people hyping adult books than generic YA books.

I don't think it's impossible to make adult books that includes themes that are in YA books, but some YA books have a certain type of charm. And people don't want to always read "serious" books. Sometimes people want some good old trash dystopian fantasy novel with a steamy love triangle or a book set in High School with LGBTQ characters. Nothing to be ashamed of. It's like people reading cafeteria or college AU fanfic.

I don't particularly seek out YA books at the moment, but I read a lot of children adventure books when I'm tired from life and want something light and fun, so I can 100% relate.

AYRT

[(Anonymous)]

There are a lot of good adult books with diverse cast and stories revolving around LGBT or POC characters, but they are more difficult to find. A lot of people get books on recomendations or reading reviews on Goodread etc. and the people commenting there and making most of the noise online are on the younger side, hence it's harder finding people hyping adult books than generic YA books.

This is a really interesting point. I don't think it's because YA fans are necessarily on the younger side but it does seem like this is a self-perpetuating thing, it's a network effect - people get into YA because it's relatively easy to find good YA books because there are existing networks of self-identified YA fans who go out and rec good YA books and give them word of mouth, and then after they get into YA, some of them join that network and make it even more powerful. And that's interesting because it's not really a quality of the books themselves or the genre itself, it's this whole social scene that exists outside of the books themselves, and it's obviously not something that publishers can just bootstrap for other genres.

And people don't want to always read "serious" books.

This is the part that confuses me. I mean, not the fact that people don't want to read "serious" books - that makes total sense and of course I agree it's nothing to be ashamed of. What confuses me is, why are simple, non-serious, brain-candy books associated with being written for, by and about people under 20? There's clearly a huge market for brain-candy books, and much of that market consists of adults. And publishing in YA seems to have a lot of cruft associated with it (have to be about characters under 20, have to set up sequel hooks even if there's not going to be a sequel, etc). So it just seems like there's this whole gap in the book market - trashy brain-candy books outside of YA (and, of course, a few other genres, like erotica/romance).

Re: AYRT

[(Anonymous)]

Airport novels?

Re: AYRT

[(Anonymous)]

This is Dan Brown's entire oeuvre. His books all have cliffhanger chapters and they're easy reads.

I know he isn't a "great" writer, but he's sold millions of books based on his formula.

Re: AYRT

[(Anonymous)]

AYART
>>What confuses me is, why are simple, non-serious, brain-candy books associated with being written for, by and about people under 20? There's clearly a huge market for brain-candy books, and much of that market consists of adults.

I think you're focusing too much on what is popular online, which is YA books. As other anons above me mentioned: Dan Brown is one of the best selling author of all the time EVERYWHERE in the world. There are also Airport novel and so many trashy romance novel that I don't even know where to start with that.
A lot of those books are tailored for an average audience so fandom space, where a lot of discourse is on LGBT or diversity, usually ignores them. They exist and the market is huge (depending also where you live), but conversation online lacks so you probably don't see people reading them so much.
It's also easier to start a conversation around YA books because there will be a lot of people talking about the last hyped series online. Try starting a FUN engaging conversation around Tolstoj or Dostoevskij online and see where it leads... Or also try talking about a Dan Brown book! A lot of readers hate him because he doesn't write "well written books". YA books usually attract over enthusiast teenagers hyping YA series everywhere online so even people in their 30s hanging out in fandom spaces see them easily and want to see what's the fuss about.

Re: Inspired by #1

[malurette]

This!

Re: Inspired by #1

[(Anonymous)]

I dunno - I can't get on with YA - but there are definitely times I read a summary and think, that sounds great but I bet it's YA. Something about a particular exploration of character, perhaps? It certainly feels like a subgenre of its own for reasons other than writing level.

Re: Inspired by #1

[(Anonymous)]

They are easier to read than proper "adult" books, and often have simpler and more idealistic themes. A lot of adults aren't actually reading at an adult level anyway, and those that are want something that doesn't use up all their attention and spoons. Or they want to recapture the fresh youthful spirits of their own youth via a younger and less complicated protagonist.

Re: Inspired by #1

[(Anonymous)]

It's a combination of things tbh. I find rape-as-a-plot to be deeply offensive. It's generally less prevalent and/or more obvious in marketing if rape-as-a-plot is present in YA. I read a lot of fantasy and I find that a lot of adult fantasy novels go all-in on making thing grimdark, which I don't care for. I'm not against a serious story but it genuinely distresses me when I read a book and at no point, ever, is there a single joke in it. Even when things are terrible, people make jokes. They might be dark jokes or inappropriate or out of place, but people make them. So when A Super Serious Book is nothing but Super Serious, I find it... off-putting.

I'm also not interested in pages and pages of spoon-fed world building. I want the world building to come as the story unfolds. Even if the author knows every detail of, say, how the wool trade works in their world, unless something about the wool trade matters to the story, then it shouldn't be a thing we're told. Like, extraneous details are fun when used sparingly but when you have more extraneous details than plot progression, it's a problem because it bogs down the story.

Unlikable characters. I don't want to read a story where everyone is a jackass. I want heroes. I want *good people*. Perhaps because of the grimdark tendency, but a lot of times the protags of adult fantasy just... aren't people whose heads I want to be stuck in. I want to be able to root for the main character. I don't want to loathe and despise them.

IDEK. These things aren't impossible to find in adult fantasy. They're just harder. Reading YA is like taking the easy route to find the stuff that appeals to me.

Re: Inspired by #1

[(Anonymous)]

All of this. I want to read fun interesting adventures about likable heroes (who can still be flawed! But they don't have to be assholes to be flawed) and it feels like every adult fantasy book I pick up is about dour people dealing with Serious Issues and a lot of rape and gratuitous violence on top and I just... can't bring myself to care. Honestly I feel like a lot of adult fantasy gives me the feeling of, say, adult cartoons where the characters swear every other word -- like it's trying so hard to show how *adult* it is that it feels forced.

Also my really stupid nitpick but even separate from the rape issue: I just don't really like reading about sex. I'm occasionally fine with it in fanfic because I'm already attached to these characters but I'm actually not all that interested in it from a canon standpoint and I'm tired of fantasy novels that stop dead for long sex scenes that aren't necessary to the plot. YA at least fades to black.

Re: Inspired by #1

[(Anonymous)]

AYRT tbh I'm not a huge fan of gratuitous sex scenes either, in anything. If there's sex I either want it to fade to black OR serve the plot in some way.

Re: Inspired by #1

[(Anonymous)]

(Cozy Werewolf Anon)

This pretty much.

I picked up a UF book the other day that had been recced to me. And I read it and it had everything I hated about adult UF and like the entire reason I write my Adult UF (with scifi) the way I do. I got to the end and I was just "The worldbuilding would be great if it wasn't exposition heavy. Why is this a genre CHECKLIST. I refuse to read the next book b/c the main character just is your basic UF female mc. Boring."

But when I queried my book, no one wanted to rep it. So. I had to go indie and there's no WORD OF MOUTH for indie. I'm so tired of grim dark UF full of violence against women with "not like other girls" and it's just so frustrating I had to write my own to get it. I am a slice of life writer though. Slice of life is kind of the plot or setting up future plots. And I get that's not everyone's thing.

Re: Inspired by #1

[(Anonymous)]

I do not read YA books mostly because I have been having trouble reading for a long time. But I see a lot of YA books in queer-themed rec lists. Also adult queer books seems to be about some troubled romance and I am even less into it, I am sure I am not alone

Re: Inspired by #1

[(Anonymous)]

There's a lot more LGBTQ YA books now then there were when I was really young and didn't have access to any - and I guess it depends on the stories because although I occasionally read the real-life stuff if the summary is interesting enough; I usually go for the sci-fi or fantasy ones.

Also sometimes if I don't read for a while I find it harder to jump back into my usual book choices, so some YA styles of writing eases me back into the habit of reading again (also I like the shorter chapters so I can trick my brain into getting happy about reading so many chapters in a go lol).

Re: Inspired by #1

[(Anonymous)]

I don't read a lot of YA, but when I do, it's usually something about the plot that appeals to me and because they're relatively short. Adult fantasy is still on this Game of Thrones trend, and I don't have the attention span for that right now. Often I just want something simple and creative, and YA seems like it's more experimental and varied than adult fantasy without getting way bogged down in huge plots.

Re: Inspired by #1

[(Anonymous)]

I feel like a lot of it comes down to advertisement. YA just seems to be more heavily marketed online, especially on social media. All of the libraries I've been to have their YA shelves built closer to the building's entrance as well - kinda similar to how grocery stores put out sugary snacks near the cash register.

Re: Inspired by #1

[(Anonymous)]

YA is my favorite genre and there are a few reasons why I like it so much, but the main one is that it's usually idealistic and that really appeals to me. I love romantic stories and it's pretty easy to find a YA book with a cute romance that doesn't ever lead to sex. Plus I'm more likely to find characters like me in YA books who don't have horrible backstories or who are just there for the MC to learn a Very Important Lesson about racism/sexism/homophobia/ect.

Re: Inspired by #1

[(Anonymous)]

Some of the adults I know who read YA books do so because they also write YA books, which is fair... but a big thing is that if a genre book isn't by a straight white man, the odds of it being mislabeled as YA are high, and sometimes you wind up digging through a lot of YA to find the things that are actually books for grown-ups that the publishers screwed over.

Re: Inspired by #1

[(Anonymous)]

Adult books in the genres I like (science fiction and fantasy) tend to be long, dense, and take themselves very seriously in a way that's boring as hell. I've liked the story of a lot of the adult books I've read but the execution made them a drag to get through. There are YA books with length and boring exposition problems too, and I do avoid those as well, but it's not as prevalent as with adult books.

Another reason is very shallow on the surface, but YA books tend to have cooler and prettier covers, and an enticing cover is what will make me want to look to see what a book is actually about. So if I'm browsing books on my own, the ones I gravitate to will end up being YA. Most of the adult books I read now are recs from friends who know my taste.