What Genres Are You Sick Of Seeing?

Posted by: Allison Helps Cats on: November 12, 2014

• In: Administrative | Teasers
• Leave a Comment

Sound off! A month ago, Adventures in Publishing put out a call to all bloggers. First, they asked interested bloggers to respond to a monthly question about books. In turn, they would post a monthly Question of the Month. Second, they invited interested bloggers to post about what’s on their mind. In turn, they would post a monthly What’s on Readers’ Minds? Neither requires a regular commitment, but does provide increased exposure for bloggers, and so I accepted the offer.

The first Question of the Month asked: “What genres/tropes are you sick of seeing? What are you dying to see more of or something new altogether?”

I responded:

This past year, under my Request A Review guidelines, I stated that I would no longer read any more paranormal novels. This is how tired I am of that genre.

It’s sad because I grew up a lover of anything that fell under fantasy. Yet now I actually avoid the whole genre like the plague, because mostly the genre puts out paranormal offerings. The market is so saturated with paranormal that reading anything in the field now feels like eating sugar when I have a bad tooth.

I would like to see more realistic novels. Right now, John Green is quite popular. Matthew Quick is an author to watch. Laura Halse Anderson and Sara Zarr have been around for a time but always have quality work. Actually, I’m ready for more social problem novels too.

It would be nice to see just more genres represented in general. Body in the Woods by April Henry makes for a good murder mystery. What about crime stories and thrillers? In the middle school titles, I’m reading lots of humor and small press historical fiction. Are those genres truly only popular in those grades? What about science fiction and horror? Do they exist but are just being overshadowed by the glut of fantasy titles? In the nonfiction spectrum, the company Zest puts out moving true stories written by teens themselves. I’d love to see Offerings like these in greater abundance.

To see other responses, check out the November Question of the Month.

The first What’s on Reader’s Mind resulted in opinions being posted about reading slumps, chapter samples, and the real target audience of young adult books. Of the topics posted, Reading Teen most made me think. This blogger wrote about the question: What do you think is the responsibility of authors? She focused on Scott Westerfeld’s popular Afterworlds and focused specifically on the issue of how much responsibility does an author have to be respectful of religion, or race, or sexism or a myriad of other issues. It’s a complex dilemma. Just because we CAN write anything we want, does that mean we SHOULD To see all the posts, check out the November What’s on Readers’ Minds?

Tags: Adventures in Publishing, Allison's Book Bag, Question of the Month, reviews of books for young people, What's on Readers' Minds?