Beyond the marketing and hype, is it because there is still somewhat of a child-like wonder in teens, in us all?
BQ: If you are writing a novel, what is your genre and why?
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Why Do You Think Ya Novels With Fantasy And Science-fiction Sub Genres Trend So Well?
Posted on April 27, 2013.
I suspect it’s something of a flash in the pan, YA fantasy. I’ve seen many writing trends come and go. I miss some of them a lot (like realistic limited-disaster books like The Glass Inferno or Airport or Jaws that don’t include The Fate of The Whole World or Civilization Dying, or the gothic novel, which you can still find but not in the numbers you once could). In ten years, this trend will have largely played out and some other kind of novel will be hot. And so on, until the end of time.
I think that there is something to your idea of younger people being more interested in fantasy. I suppose that as children, we like to think we’re special and above quotidian work and responsibilities, that we must have superpowers or surely we’ll end up on a spaceship or kick the World Cup winning goal or do other amazing things and we’ll be on TV and everyone will applaud us and *then* they’ll see. Many teens are starting to think maybe this won’t be their future, but others still hang on to such thoughts. But then adulthood comes, and the bills have to be paid and laundry must be done, and we begin to understand how difficult it is to succeed in even the small ways our parents did, and that success certainly does not come from a wizard or secret space agent popping up and saying, “average Joe, without making any effort whatsoever, you are The One” That appeals to children; mature adults with their real-world experience find it impossible to suspend that much disbelief.
BQ: outdoor adventure/thriller. I like realistic survival problems: a bus gets stuck in a blizzard or the small plane crashes in a remote locale. Such a challenge illuminates human nature and provide me plenty of excitement. Not many such books get published, so if I want to read some, I’d better write them.
I think a big part of it is the escapism aspect of science fiction and fantasy. When you’re reading sci-fi/fantasy, you’re immersing yourself in a world that is often very different from our own and yet the protagonists are also very relatable in many ways. I know when I was in high school I would much rather read the Song of the Lioness books by Tamora Pierce than any book about kids in high school and I think a big part of that is being able to experience another world. I didn’t want to read about something that I was experiencing in my normal every day life, especially if that something wasn’t a great experience anyway.
BQ: I’m writing a fantasy novel right now. I write a lot of fantasy because that’s mostly what I read as a kid and as a teenager, even now in my twenties I still read a pretty healthy amount of it.
because speculative fiction is the best and Young Adult mean it is more likely to be work and family safe. Childlike wonder in us all is so much more poetic than my first thought of because it is cool.
But I think Romance still outsells all other genre but to include a larger male audience you can have romance in a book but not usually as a book.
Marketing and hype…period. It doesn’t even matter if it’s written terribly. But if it’s on the news, T.V.,
yahoo questions a thousand times a day, movies, ect, it will sell. It’s a business, where millions are spent on advertising. You and me could write the “best” book in the world, and the sheep wouldn’t give it the time of day because “big bro” didn’t tell them it was the “in” book to read.
We’re raised on it, now. At one time, (the 1970’s), sci-fi & fantasy were on TV, but rather bland. TV was mostly three networks, and not much else. Now there’s so many different choices, so many channels, so many shows made in the last 15-20 years.
I’m writing a drama with some action in it, humor, psychology, and almost no fantasy, except for the MC’s dead aunt, who refuses to stay dead.
i think it’s because its fun to imagine a whole different world where everything is action and adventure and fantasy, and it all ends up perfect. this is especially nice when your current reality totally sucks and you want to “get away” from your problems for a while. at least that’s how it is for me and some people i know
Because scifi movies are now the dominant movie form.
and by scifi, I mean the cheesy kind.