Scott Bergstrom has a great book deal. Good for him. There
is always a rush of excitement when an author does well. But in this case,
everyone is upset over certain comments from a Publishers Weekly article.
The comment is this: “The
morality of the book is more complicated than a lot of YA so I wanted to try
doing it on my own,” Bergstrom said. “In a lot of YA, the conflict takes place
inside a walled garden, set up by outside adult forces. If you think of those
stories as a metaphor for high school, they start to make a lot more sense, but
that was one thing I wanted to depart from.”
This isn’t the first time an author has criticized YA novels
as being dumbed down. Back in 2012, author Isaac Marion was criticized for
Tweeting his opinions on teen fiction.
“I don’t know who
started the idea that it’s a YA book but it drives me crazy. There’s one
character n the entire story who’s younger than 20 (Julie,19) the writing is
not simplified for a young reading level at all, containing lots of big ‘ol
fancy words like “loquacious” and “sepulchral”, and there’s nothing
teen-specific about its themes.”
Why is it that authors sometimes feel the need to insult
Young Adult fiction? Why does the stigma exist that YA isn’t complicated and
that’s it simplified writing?
Thankfully the hashtag MorallyComplicatedYA has been
trending all across the board today. Many authors, bookstores, and readers have
come to the defense, giving examples of YA books that are indeed complicated.
They’ve chosen novels that are absolutely not simplified in context and writing
style. And there are a lot of them. Hundreds.
When is this going to stop? You don’t see this with other
genres. You rarely see people complaining that crime novels are dumbed down or
that fantasy novels don’t deal with anything other than unicorns and wizards? I
don’t see people hiding their copies of The Girl on the Train in fear of people
thinking they’re reading a stupid book.
As authors, we write the books that appeal to us. We should
never be ashamed or try and claim that our books are better than anything else
on the market. And we should be supporting each other, not bashing. We’re all
in this together.
I love writing YA.
Not once have I ever considered that I need to simplify things in order for my
readers to understand. No, my characters have made decisions that could cripple
some adults. Why? Because teenagers are capable of doing anything.
And teenagers are smart. They know a cop-out when they see
one. If you try simplifying something to a teenager, they’re gonna call you out
on it.
