After chatting with one of my readers on Facebook, I got to thinking.
What are some things that you look for in a YA book?
Do you like love triangles or loathe them?
Do you prefer 1st person (I) or third person (he/she) point of view?
Are there certain topics that you feel should be avoided?
As I embark on my second trilogy, I want to make sure that I am including the aspects that you are looking for 🙂
Amy Miles Books 
!Spoiler alert! If you did not yet, but intend to, read Hunger Games, do not continue. I am using that book as an example in my very long comment.
As indicated in my rant on Facebook, I am not too much into love triangles. Unless somebody can bring in a point of view we have not seen/read yet. Maybe having the main female character actually having to compete for the love of her male lead with another woman, instead of there always being two guys madly in love and one girl being a b.. to both.
On the 1st vs. 3rd person perspective, it’s hard to say. I like the characters to reveal their thoughts and explore their feelings. This, of course, is better from the “I” point of view. On the other hand, having everything told from one perspective limits the possibility to look into how the story affects others. One could try to use the 1st person view for each pivotal character and split their personalities into chapters but I don’t actually remember a book that successfully pulled this off. Usually all those characters end up having the same personality.
So, to wrap it up…it depends on what kind of story the author wishes to tell. Is it a novel about the character development of a young person in extreme circumstances or is it more about the events than the characters. If you take Hunger Games, it could have been a fantastic adventure book in 3rd person but Suzanne Collins wrote it from Katniss’s perspective and therefore made it a more character driven story. We will never find out what Peeta and Gale were really thinking and feeling this whole time but do we really care considering how much we are invested in Katniss’s?
OK, this is way longer than I intended it to be… haha
Anyway, you are the author, you do what feels right for you. Judging by your two books that I have read so far, it’s not bad at all!
Radka
PS The one thing I did not enjoy about Hunger Games was the fact that Gale could not be just the brother-like best friend and nothing more. I thought his character was interesting enough without him having to be in love with Katniss.
Hi Radka,
I’m so glad you commented on my blog, since you are the one who started all of this thoughts running rampant in my overstuffed brain 🙂
Love your comments. And I totally agree with almost everything you said haha!
Sounds like we are on the same page 🙂
Oh my, I hope I didn’t give you a headache :o))
It’s so great of you to want to hear from fans but don’t take us too seriously. We (and of course I mean myself mostly) have many opinions but could not sit down and actually write a book. So, write whatever YOU want to write. So far, it has worked perfectly for me!
No headache. I rather enjoyed it.
And of course I want to hear from all of you…you are the reason I am writing to begin with 🙂
I totally agree that a writer should write what they love. I’ve tried the other and it felt like rubbing sandpaper against your brain- gritty and unbelievably painful.
I write exactly what comes to me. Good, bad or incredibly sucky. At least for the rough draft haha. I can’t let you guys read ALL of my thoughts. You get enough of that on Facebook 🙂
First of all how many times do love triangles happen in real life? It seems like a lot of books go that direction and it really isn’t necessary. I think there are plenty of other ways to create drama and havoc within the characters lives without the love triangle aspect. It doesn’t mean I wouldn’t read a book with a love triangle, I just think it’s overused and not always necessary. But I do agree with the first response, I like the main female character having a boy friend who is like a brother and also protector when she’s having drama with her main squeeze. lol
It’s funny I used to prefer 1st person in books but I don’t mind 3rd person, it gives you more of the overall perspective vs. just what the main character is thinking. So to me that doesn’t matter, I think that is up to the author, what the story is about and how it is going to flow best.
The only topics I think truly need to be avoided are political ones. I read to escape my life and laugh, cry and yell at the main character because they are making the wrong decision (well in my mind anyhow). I don’t want to be annoyed at you because I think your trying to throw your political views my way, we get enough of that stress on TV or I can go get a book that is specifically for that cause. It irritates me that actors/singers do it, their jobs are to entertain not make me dislike them because they are trying to cram their views down my throat. Okay you get the point, lol.
I’m a little backwards in my response, but what I look for is romance (always) and the crazy journey with too many obstacles it takes to get there. I love the supernatural element and it’s probably more fun to write because you can make the unbelievable actually believable (it’s your story and your characters so you can take it to what level you feel necessary), I love stories that suck me in from the first page, I love strong female characters even if they don’t start out that way or exactly know that they are strong. I hope this helps.
The only other suggestion I have, which will never happen, but I’ll still throw it out there is a series that comes out start to finish and I don’t have to wait for the next book, ☺Ha!
Crissy,
I completely agree with you. Radka and I had this conversation on my FB page the other day about love triangles. I
think they do have a place in the “real world” but not in the way that they are normally portrayed in books. I don’t believe you can love two people with the same intensity needed to make many YA books believable.
In my upcoming book, Defiance Rising, there is a love triangle, but not in the sense that people would normally read.
I believe if you are going to do a love triangle you had best give your readers a darn good reason to believe it. Defiance Rising gives a new twist to the worn out theme because I don’t make it just about the girl’s heart and I sure as heck aren’t going to let her sleep around until she makes her decision.
Can’t tell you any more than that cause I don’t want to spoil anything 🙂
I agree with both of your views on the POV. 3rd person certainly gives you a much broader feel about the book, but I do feel that much of that can be pulled into a 1st person story through dialogue. But that takes some thought 🙂
And I whole heartily agree with you on the political thing. I have my own views about politics (I try to avoid them haha) and about religion (which I try not to discuss with my readers because I don’t want anyone to think that I am trying to force my beliefs on them) but I will not enter those into my books. Obviously, my moral makeup inherently filters into each book because there are some things that I simply can not write about. *insert major blushing on certain types of scenes*
But when it comes to out and out preaching any form of belief- political or otherwise- I avoid. Just as I do on FB. You guys don’t want to hear me rant and rave about my thoughts about our country, education system, health care and whatnot.
I write to entertain. I detest Non-Fiction cause I can’t escape. So I certainly don’t want to do that to you guys.
BUT I do try to add in tiny bits of history with my own personal flare to it 🙂
Thanks so much for your comments. Glad to know I am on the same page as I begin Defiance Rising
Lol, I have to say I am a fan of love triangles! I am working on my first series, and I’m so nervous but excited. I think that you have to write things with how you view/feel about them. If you like love triangles, but try to write to avoid them, your writing may suffer.
And as far as first person, that doesn’t usually matter to me. The benefit is that you identify with the main character a little more, because you have more insight to them overall. But, not writing first person gives you more insight to what is going on around that main character. So, either way, it works.
Ha! And no topics should be avoided! Write what you feel and it will be great!
Hi Lindsay,
I’m excited to hear more about your new series. Make sure to let me know when you are close to publishing 🙂
Thank you so much for commenting. I would respond, but I think I pretty much rambled on the other two posts haha
J&;9#3ai beaucoup pleuré en lisant ton post. Mon papa est parti le 3 juillet 2008 de la même façon, en tenant la main de ma maman.Je pense très fort à toi, à ta famille, à a ta maman, à tes neveux.