Why Do You Love YA?

As many of you know from our previous article early on this week, we decided to ask people why they love YA fantasy in response to an unnamed speaker who essentially said fantasy is for bums. Yesterday, we were tabling in Champlain College's student center, and many students asked about the magazine and took some of the wonderful bookmarks that were made for us. We asked those who weren't in a hurry to get to class, why the love YA fantasy, and here is what they said:

"YA has first loves, not love affairs!"

"Because YA is cool."

"It has all the teen angst, but with magic, instead of trips to Hot Topic."

"'Cause adult life is all about taxes and mortgages and mean bosses. YA has DRAGONS!"

"Because the adventures have the possibilities of being interesting, and adult fiction is boring."

All of these students bring up some valid points, and we'd like to throw in our two cents, "We love YA fantasy because it sparks imagination and leads people to do brilliant and crazy things. YA fantasy gives us the hope that if there's greatness and beauty in this fictitious world, then there must be some in ours, too."

As we've heard before, but not quite in these words, YA fantasy isn't just about dragons, it's about being able to tame or slay the dragon. If your favorite character can tame the dragon, you can succeed in the projects you work on.

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Image from: http://bit.ly/15FmM7G

Reacting to People who Dis YA Fantasy

Art from coolwallpapers.com. 

Travelers of the Realms,

At some point in your lives, you've probably come across that person, or maybe even multiple people, who disrespect YA fantasy, or YA as a whole, and sometimes, even the entire fantasy genre. Yesterday, we overheard a certain unnamed adult say to a group of writers (half of whom are fantasy writers) that when we interview professionals, we want to appear professional, and not some unshaven fantasy writer with a hoodie and stained jeans. This person basically insinuated that we lovers of fantasy (writers and readers alike) are nothing but bums. WHAT?!

We were shocked this person even dared to make that comparison. Half the room glared daggers at the speaker and, quite frankly, we were surprised the speaker wasn't incinerated on the spot from dirty looks alone. The other half of the room laughed nervously on our behalf, clearly as incredulous as we were.

So let's examine this bizarre perspective, shall we? After all, we know tons of YA fantasy readers and writers who carry themselves professionally on a day-to-day basis. And this speaker was stabbing more than just the appearance of fantasy writers, but also the genre itself. More often than not, people who dis fantasy just don't "get it." This is our nice way of putting it. Generally, these fantasy haters believe the genre is silly and does not present important lessons, information, or stories. They think it's all fun and pointless. They think, in much the same way that some people call anime "cartoons," that fantasy stories are for children.

News Flash: they aren't. But you, travelers, already knew that. Some of the greatest writers of our time are fantasy writers, like George R. R. Martin, J. K. Rowling, Tamora Pierce, Anne Rice, and stretching a bit further back, J. R. R. Tolkien, just to name a mere few. Fantasy often teaches endurance, loyalty, giving everything your best shot, knowing your friends from your enemies, and above all, hope that anything is possible with the right amount of effort and enthusiasm. Though it may not necessarily teach us real-life topics, fantasy examines the human condition and reflects it in an entirely unique way. Fantasy inspires readers to be creative and shapes us into the people we become.

This article is more like a preface to a new post we'll have up this weekend, which will be called, "Why Do You Love YA?" That article will, hopefully, supply you with articulate comebacks to the next person in your path who disses YA fantasy.

As Albert Einstein once said, "If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales."

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