Today I read an article in the Mormon Times about the "surge" of LDS women writers on the young adult fantasy market. (http://mormontimes.com/arts_entertainment/news/?id=8045) The author sounds like a fantastic person, and I'm sure I'll be checking her book out in the very near future. However, it made me think about a few conversations I've had about my poor little agent-less book over the last year or so when I've had people make comments like, "Yeah, that's really popular right now" (in a just short of thoroughly dismissive tone) and "Just like Stephenie Meyer, huh?"
Don't get me wrong I love the Twilight books (as previous posts will attest) but when I hear stuff like this is makes me feel like grumbling. The first draft of my book was done before I'd even heard of Stephenie Meyer. While her success is inspriring, and I look at her and Shannon Hale as proof it can be done, it does make me feel aggravated that people assume that my books are simply an attempt to copy that success. It sometimes makes me want to stick Rell in a drawer for ten years and see if the craze passes. I swear I can hear the agents reading my fantasy query letter, looking at my Utah address, and rolling their eyes while muttering, "Just what I need, another Mormon chick who thinks she's Stephenie Meyer."
Now I think there's a good, uplifting reason that there are a whole bunch of us LDS writer girls from the same generation who have grown up to write these kinds of stories. (Besides the fact that we all seem to adore Robin Mckinley) As the mainstream market, especially for adults, begins to revel more and more in sex and violence, the young adult fantasy market seems like one of the few places where a person with high standards can find a place.
However, my rant today was inspired by my need to shout "I WROTE THIS STORY BECAUSE I LIKE IT AND NOT BECAUSE I WANT TO BE LIKE EVERYONE ELSE!!!"
Ok, sorry. I'm done now.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment