Know Thyself: or How I Realised I’m Not a YA Fiction Writer & Can Write in More Than One Genre

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Last week, I committed myself to providing consistent content, which will come in either one of two forms:

1. Regular musings of moi;
2. Book reviews.

I also committed to publishing said content on a biweekly basis, or every other week. As such—after careful consideration of my current schedule and what could or could not alter it in the year ahead—I have made the executive decision that these two types of posts will rotate on a biweekly schedule. Better translation: I’ll be publishing one post a week, alternating on content each week.

Thus, that would mean this week, I would technically be posting a book review.

Except after even further deliberation, for those of you who do recall my “What’s on my Shelf” [WOMS] book review posts—I felt I should warn you of some changes and update you accordingly instead.

Meaning, in my time away from writing said reviews, I’ve begun to shift from primarily teen fantasy fiction to another genre entirely. While I don’t necessarily need to explain myself since we are all entitled to our own tastes and opinions, and their fluctuations, I feel I owe it to you who have read my reviews in the past should there be any questions (especially if you’re like me and primarily read YA fantasy; hence why you’re here).

And also because it allows me to discuss my latest project simultaneously.

The Inkling

To first contextualize, I am of the firm position that you can only be as good writer as you are a reader. Thus, most of what I have read in the past was as much due to my study of the current publishing market trends with the intent to gain either representation or publication of my high fantasy manuscript as it was to be entertained. As I indicated in my more recent post regarding what I’ve been up to these past two-ish years, allow me to repeat that I have come to the realisation said manuscript is extremely niche, which makes acquiring either representation or publication difficult should I choose to continue pursuing the more traditional, and even independent, methods of publishing. That said, to somewhat cleanse my palate, as it were, I’ve begun writing an entirely different story than that of my secondary world fantasy.

This shift came about because I began reading what I would call a genre-crossover book of both fantasy and mystery: Theodora Goss’s The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter.

I don’t think I fell in love with a book faster.

I’m of the age I was almost a teenager when the film The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen with the indominable Sir Sean Connery was released and I loved…parts of it. (No, I have never read the graphic novel, and probably should.) Goss’s Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club series was the exact story I needed to satisfy my years long distaste with the League, giving me my ultimate crossover of all these gothic classics I adore whilst also a thrilling mystery to solve as I followed these monstrous women on their adventures. (Have I ever mentioned I had a near Victorian goth phase?)

After reading that series, the seed of desire to find more was planted until it came bursting forth as I read Genevieve Cogman’s The Invisible Library series.

Her first installment gripped me as easily as Goss’s, and I was enamoured. A brilliant first chapter, too. I soon started searching for similar crossover fiction, and eventually gave up all pretenses and read outright mystery novels again. I say again because I grew up on Doyle’s Sherlock, The Hardy Boys, and Nancy Drew. Both my parents—my father in particular, who claims Sherlock’s adventures were the only stories he could ever read beyond his comics—love mysteries, so I grew up in a house where they were frequently read, watched, played, and discussed over the dinner table.

Despite exclusively reading fantasy for so long, I’ve never stopped watching classic murder mysteries on British telly (and if you must know, my favourites beyond the modern Sherlock with Cumberwumbles are Endeavour, Father Brown, Miss Scarlet & the Duke, and the [American] honourable mention, Pushing Daisies, which I still haven’t recovered from its cancellation). I didn’t feel like I was particularly missing out, until I read my first true murder mystery after a long dry-spell: Deanna Raybourn’s Veronica Speedwell series’ A Curious Beginning. Reading that felt like coming home in a small way.

Even now, I somewhat hate admitting it because I feel as if by doing so, I am being disloyal to my “first love” that is fantasy. Obviously I’m quirky and a bit obtuse, but in my defence, it’s only because I’m loyal to a fault, even when it doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things since I’m allowed to like both fantasy and mystery. As I said, I’m quirky; a textbook INFJ. You should know this by now.

Obviously both Goss’s Athena Club and Cogman’s Invisible Library were wonderful springboards to get me to dive back in, but these past few months, I’ve been simultaneously reading teen fantasy amongst my historical or crossover mysteries. Eventually, I started noticing how I would read my mysteries faster, more frequently, than I would my YA fantasy. I’m actually still in the middle of a final installment for a popular YA fantasy series, but I just can’t bring myself to finish it.

That’s when I asked myself that enduring question: why?

Admittedly, I answered, it’s because the characters and their decision making are annoying.

Now this can obviously be because of a difference in genres, not age groups, especially when your characters have to deliberate over who the murderer is in mystery. However, I was only able to answer my own question because months prior, whilst researching potential agents to query, I took a one step further back to ask myself, “Is my fantasy manuscript teen or…adult?” The main reason literature is either YA or adult, I’ve learned, is not only because of what age your characters are—though often that is the easiest way to discern where it fits—but also how your characters make decisions.

Not only are my characters too old to be considered true YA fiction, but they’re too decisive and not impulsive enough. Learning that distinction helped me better identify not only my own writing and its potential age-appropriate readership, but also how my own tastes have evolved.

The primary reason I attribute to this evolution is that back when I picked up my first YA fantasy novel after years of not reading any, I was single. Before you get out your pitchforks and torches because you think I’m making another judgemental comment, let me explain.

In my singleness, I read and enjoyed YA fantasy because I was vicariously living through the characters, as we do as readers. That said, I’ve since dated and married my best friend. Thus, my experience has changed. One of the things we also do as readers is relate to the characters. I found I couldn’t relate to the characters in YA fantasy any longer because I had “grown-up” and gotten married. Though there is that weird crossover age group some people call “New Adult,” and even though I have enjoyed some either adult or YA fantasy works in that awkward age group, I’m also no longer in my twenties, which makes relating to the characters a bit more difficult.

Before moving on, let me clarify by saying I’m not implying once you’re married or older you can no longer read teen fiction. That’s 100% not true. Teen fiction is for any and everyone. I will still read teen fiction because I will want to read about that time in life when you can be impulsive and you don’t have to sit and contemplate whatever choice lies before you. There is an inherit, whimsical freedom I think we associate with adolescence, and I do miss it. And I do still enjoy YA fantasy, just not as much as I did. I’ve just realized that I’ve somehow matured, I guess, and teenagers really annoy me, so why would I want to only read books about teenagers when I should be reading for fun?

I’m Sorry, but Teens are Annoying

I know saying teens are annoying will offend some, and it is probably one of the more pretentious things I’ve said on this blog, but I think we can all agree they are, right? I mean, I’m no longer in my twenties (don’t get me started), so I feel as if I’ve earned the right to say so. I did my time in pubescence. We all did. Thus, I think we can collectively agree teenagers are annoying because we were all once annoying teens.

And for those few teens who might actually be reading this: it’s not your fault.

Okay, maybe a little, but you can’t really help it. You’re going through so many changes and trying to figure out what the heck you’re going to do with your life and the parents are nagging you about responsibility and all you want is to just fit in and belong. I get it because I’ve been there, and frankly, you’re version of high school terrifies me more than my actual experience of high school. I hear stories from my friends with teenagers, and I have no idea how y’all endure it.

So repeat after me: I might be annoying, but only because I remind adults of themselves and that life is fleeting.

Everything is going to be okay. I promise.

That said, your impulsivity is what annoys me, especially with the way we adults write it in current YA fiction. To be fair, though, I think it’s misleading because not all teens are that way. Some of you are calculating, deliberate, responsible, and wise. You might also be as rare as a purple dragon, which is why adults characterise you the way they do in fiction.

That means it’s really adults who are the annoying ones…?

Regardless, as a post-twenty-something-adult, now, I’ve grown bored with YA fantasy. It just isn’t for me anymore. While I could easily switch to adult fantasy, I’m also just as annoyed with that age group as YA because too many adult fantasy authors I read, particularly high fantasy, are dull. It’s like they’re trying too hard to be elusive and ethereal to me, and often overcomplicate their prose when they need to just get to the point. (Think Dickens.) Maybe I’m just reading the wrong books, so if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know in the comments! I would love to finally sink my teeth into something as lush as The Lord of the Rings again, and while there might be a handful of books I’ve read in the past few years which come close, I still feel as if there’s a giant lack. Again—probably just haven’t read enough of the right authors, so please give me your suggestions.

This boredom is what led me to start picking up more than the random, odd mystery novel. I’m now exclusively reading mystery, and it’s as much to study the genre as it is for my own entertainment. My husband doesn’t understand why I love mystery so much. He thinks it’s always the same plot, the same story, repeating itself. Someone dies, and now you have to figure out how and why and who. So boring! Except that’s exactly why I love it. The thrill of trying to solve the puzzle is indeed exhilarating, which is probably why Sherlock loves it so much. Though there will always be your usual players and tropes, I find there is so much possibility in the details which go into solving the puzzle, that’s when I realised I could—maybe—write mystery, too?

Fear is Liar; I CAN Write Mystery

Truth be told, I’ve been sitting on an idea for a mystery novel for a while now. A few years back, my shul hosted a murder mystery Purim masquerade party. It was a fun as it sounds. I helped plan the event, orchestrating the staging, and one of my collaborating friends found a basic template we could use for creating our own murder mystery party. To give it a Purim flare, she researched all she could about Queen Esther, and along the way discovered this medieval society which persecuted Jews. Weaving it all together, she came up with a basis for our event, and I’ve been wanting to write it into a novel ever since.

In my boredom, both of reading and writing fantasy, I asked her if I could use some of the elements she researched to write said novel, and with her permission, I began it last year for NaNoWriMo.

I’m only about 12,000 words in still, but that’s 12,000 more than I had last year. I’ve obviously changed a lot of the story’s details—including setting, characters, etc.—but the three elements of our Purim murder mystery party are still there in its core. As mentioned in a previous post, it takes place in the 1920s, leading up to the rise of Nazi Germany. I say this because the main character will be somewhat like a Jewish female version of Indiana Jones, fighting an anti-Semitic secret society along the way, who may or may not have something to do with the rise of Nazism in Germany. The events all happen in the span of a single night at a masquerade ball, and that’s all I’m going to tell you for now because hopefully one day you’ll get to read the rest as a book instead.

I’ve never sought out to write mystery before because I feared I wasn’t intelligent enough to write it. Seriously. I did [do] not think I had the same prowess as Doyle or Christie or Woolfe or even Moffat and Gatiss to write mystery at all. I’m not clever in that way as they are, but I do know drama, I do know intrigue, I know how to build tension. (Or I might be fooling myself?) That said, I decided there’s no way to know for sure if I can write mystery or not than to just try.

So I am.

Do you like mystery? Or do you prefer fantasy? Or both? Which story in either genre is your favourite? Are there any you would recommend for me to read and review here? Let me know in the comments below!

Want to know what I’ve been reading while I’ve been away? Follow me on Goodreads to see more!