Money Issues in YA vs Adult Books

I generally reserve this blog for reviews, links, and other "formal" bookish stuff. In my mind there are "blogs" and then there's stuff to put up on my LiveJournal. I'm going to try to redefine my idea of "blog" this summer and work more personal thoughts into this, instead of only reviews. Whenever I want to say something about a book or literature, I will say it. I'll still leave out spoilers, of course.


Generally, I believe that children's literature (including Young Adult) holds more positive qualities than adult literature does, but this isn't the case in all areas. The biggest thing for me, lately, is that in regards to money, adult books seem more realistic. There's a simple reason for this: adults worry about money more. Because they spend their lives working for that money, and they have to pay the bills for water, heat, electricity, medical, insurance, etc etc etc. Then they have to buy groceries and toilet paper and rubber bands. Whatever. The point is, adults are constantly aware of how much money is going in, and how much money is going out. This is reflected in book catered to the adult audience. We see many issues of money in this genre: characters needing to pay rent, or trying to get a raise, worrying about how they'll pay their medical bills whenever something goes wrong.

In children's books, you don't see this. First off, because children don't pay their own expenses, they rely on their parents. This doesn't mean that children don't worry about money. When do we get to read the stories about the child who hides in the bathroom for the first ten minutes of lunch period so they can be at the end of the food line so that no one is around to hear them when they tell the lunch lady they get a free lunch? The story of the kid who has to buy all their clothes at the second-hand store and purchase all their shoes a size or two larger because they can't afford new things all the time? The kid who doesn't go to birthday parties just so they don't have to show up without a gift because the family couldn't afford one?
We don't read these stories very often. I think the main reason of this is that children who are reading the books don't want to read about those problems all the time--especially if they're living them. They might just want to escape the problem, put themselves in place of the main character, and live like royalty for a few hours. That's totally understandable.

With YA however, I see it a little differently. Young adults are no longer children, but not yet adults. They're somewhere in the middle, age-wise, and in this issue as well. Or, at least, in my opinion, they should be. That doesn't mean that they are. This is the age, especially in the later teens, that one gets their first job and starts to pay some things on their own. Sure, these things may just be movie tickets or new cds (assuming they even buy hard copies anymore), but it's their own money, and they need to keep track of it. Even still, you don't see this as much as you would expect. Yes, in John Green's Looking For Alaska this issue is tackled through The Colonel, who is always having Pudge pay for his cigarettes because he can't afford them. We go to his trailer even. But the thing is, the Colonel, much as I love him, is not the main character here. He's not the narrator either. It's all Pudge, and Pudge has the money to pay for cigarettes for both of them, to pay for McDonald's, and his family can easily afford the private school. Generally, the main characters have money. This may also go back to how poverty-stricken children want to escape their money issues through literature, but it may just be a way to make things easier on the author. Things are so much easier to get going if the character can afford them.

Still, there are books that address these issues, I'm not saying there aren't. Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson is a great example. The family is having financial troubles and are barely keeping their head above water at the point where the story begins. The hotel is beginning to fall into disrepair and we see the ways this impacts the family members. It's great, and more than that, it's believable. It's something that some of us can relate to. So why aren't there more books out there like this one? Why do our main characters always have to be upper middle class with spare cash and cars (even if they're not new)? Will books featuring a few money issues (even small ones) become more popular in our current economic situation, or will we see rise to more books like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, where the poor boy finds the golden ticket--a way to rise above the current situation? I'd love to hear your thoughts on anything mentioned. Leave them in the comments.

Research help: Your Last Days?

I'm working really hard on one of my books right now & I need some help! So, if you could please leave comments here about what you would do if you found out you had only a few months left to live. What would you do? What sort of things would you want to see?

Things to keep in mind:
+ These things must be inexpensive
+ These things have to be able to happen in a small suburb. Which isn't that hard, just, not something that belongs in big cities.
+ The odder, the better. I like small town oddities.
+ My characters are all about 19 years old

Thanks in advance, this will really help my research. I'm planning on a lot of research trips with my writer friend Jessica (you may remember her from my NaNoWriMo 07 interviews) to really get a feel for this book. The first is a trip to the local forest preserve, which will play a part in the story, and serves the double purpose of getting my friend to see it as she's never been. Other crazier trips are in the planning stages, as well as looking into tattoos (though my character only ever thinks about it).

Rejection Letters + Question

First off, I got past the query letter and they read over my short story, but in the end I received a rejection letter. I have to say though, I don't mind. I didn't really expect anything big my first try. But I did gain a lot from this. First off, I've already written my first query letter, so the fear factor is gone and I'll have a chance to make that better next time. Secondly, a publisher read my work, which is a lot farther than I'd gotten before. And thirdly, they gave me a lot of great feedback and ways to fix it up, which is what I've been looking for all along. No offense to my creative writing teacher, she helped me out tremendously, but she was always afraid of giving me criticism. She would always talk about what I did really well or the parts she liked, but she never once mentioned something she didn't like or how I could make it better. I actually like getting criticism, it's constructive. Plus, it takes an awful lot to get under my skin, so no one should fear hurting me by saying they didn't like something. I know my work is not perfect, and it's strange but, I like hearing that every now and again because it helps me see what parts need fixing and how I can fix them.

So yes, I was rejected. But I now have a tiny bit of experience, which is good.


Secondly, I need some feedback on something completely unrelated to my writing. Just let me know what you think.
My dad is currently living with his girlfriend & her 3 kids and they've been together a few months now. My question to you is: do my siblings & I have to buy Christmas presents for his girlfriend and/or her kids? I know we're getting presents that are from my dad and his girlfriend together, so does that obligate us to give them presents too?

Query Letters

I just sent off my first real query letter to Quake, which is the new YA branch of Echelon Press. It's for my short story, You Always Knew, which I have had published previously in my high school's literary magazine and in my creative writing group's collection.
My writer friend Norm Cowie suggested this to me, which I am quite thankful for. Wish me luck on getting published!

But I'm really new to this whole process, so I'm not sure if I wrote the query letter right. So, for future use, do any of you have anything to say on the process of sending query letters? What exactly should I include? Any tips?



In other news...

This past weekend I cut off 15" of my hair and donated it to Locks of Love. I really like my new hairstyle, but I am really not used to it yet, it's so different than anything I have ever had before. I have always had really long hair and I just went from waist-length to above my shoulder 0.0 I admit that I have walked past mirrors and not recognized myself at first. But I am glad that I did it, because I know that somewhere out there someone will be very thankful for that hair.

I will not be participating in NaNoWriMo this year, no matter how much I want to. I really need to finish up The Conqueror and I can't do that if I take off a month to work on something completely new. I will definately be cheering on all of those who will be participating and I am here for moral support when you reach weeks 3 and 4 (or even week 1 should you need it). I have the utmost faith in all of you and I know you'll do fantastically!

Authors Answer: Favorite Characters

About two weeks ago I emailed a bunch of authors and asked them two to three simple questions (depending on their answers) about their characters, two of them emailed me back so far. If any reply after this (because some got sent late because of full inboxes and other problems) I will continue to post their answers. Here's what I've received so far though.

Justine Larbalestier
Who was your favorite character in your books and why?
That is an unanswerable question. I love them all! Even the villians.
Honest. Except for when I hate them all.

Who was your favorite character to *write* and why?
Usually whichever is the one I'm finding easiest, which varies. Right
now it would be the protag of the novel I'm working on right now. But
who knows who it'll be in a few weeks?


Norm Cowie
Who was your favorite character in your books and why?
Tough question. That's why I wrote a sequel. I loved the characters. The word play between Knob (the elf wannabe) and Thurman (the sorcerer) comes from both characters. And then they both gang up on Guy, with the Warrior keeping a fond 'parental' eye over their squabbling, making it dialogue rich and fun at the same time. But if you pinned me down, ... I'd bleed, maybe sue for assault... but in the end, I'd have to admit that Knob is my favorite. He's clueless, learned, innocent, sensitive, ferociously protective and creative at the same time.

Who was your favorite character to *write* and why?
The Warrior might ... just might ... be my favorite. Again, it's tough, because they are all a hoot. But writing her battle cries ("I earned these spider veins!" and "Ketchup is too a food group!") and creatively reaching to try and write a believeable woman character was a fun test of my imagination. She's vulnerable, but can kick your butt at the same time.

If these are different, why?
I think for the reasons I gave. One was fun to create because I'm so far removed from being a lady warrior. But the other is, well, a guy, and I have some experience there, and the truth just had to be told.


Thank you very much to Norm & Justine for replying to me! Hopefully I can get some late replies too. :) And if you're a fellow writer, you don't need to be emailed to answer these, I would love if you sent me your answers too! lyokofans at yahoo dot com

Also, all blogging is going to be put off for awhile while I write. I made a few major breakthroughs over the past few days (one which woke me up and kept me awake for an hour while I made notes, haha) and I really need to write them out before I loose all the details.

Odd Fact & Question

Just two more things, then I swear I'll stop bombarding you with lots of posts all at once. I just get into a posting mood and have a hard time stopping, sorry about that.

Odd Fact: Humans cannot sneeze while sleeping. I was wondering about this a few nights ago and looked it up and it turns out you can cough, snore, and talk while asleep, but you can't sneeze. Weird, eh? Just wanted to let you know that in case you ever wondered, or maybe to stop you from wondering.

Question: what makes one a secret identity and the other just an identity? Can someone have two secret identities? More?

I am prepared for one argument, I like to be complicated like that.

Karina: The one that is secret is the one that you assumed second. If you assume more than one identity, then, yes, you can have two. Or more.
Jez: But doesn't Superman keep Clark Kent a secret, just like Clark Kent keeps Superman a secret? Wouldn't that make them both secret identities?