Genre is a simple concept. Non-fic, fiction, YAF, biography, mystery, fantasy, science fiction, graphic novels, self help, classical, westerns, romance. The list goes on and on, with a million other options in blending and combining any of them.
So, the quandry comes when readers insist upon not using common sense while reading. I often come across review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and generally across the web that, while valuable, often forget exceedingly important details about genre.
Take YAFF, or Young Adult Fantasy Fiction. If we break this down it is part YAF and part fantasy. If you break it down further, look at Fantasy. Fantasy is seeped in magic, paranormal, and supernatural. So why is it that so many readers never seem to remember that fantasy is just that, fantasy?
Therefore, here is a checklist, straight up, as reminders on what fantasy combined with YAF is:
1. Magic. If you have any problem with a plot that uses magic as a BIG HUGE plot device, then all I can tell you is: BACK AWAY FROM THE FANTASY BOOK!
2. Supernatural/paranormal. Don't like ghosts, witches, trolls, and made up alternate realities? Then step away from the fantasy section.
3. If you think that there is anything weird about alternate realities that lead to other alternate realities or iridencent rocks that hold people's souls, colors that don't exist (in our world, at least) or words that are "made up", then you should probably just go back to something more straight edged.
As for the young adult fiction part of this...well, that is another post for another time!
XOXO, Happy Reading!
So, the quandry comes when readers insist upon not using common sense while reading. I often come across review on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and generally across the web that, while valuable, often forget exceedingly important details about genre.
Take YAFF, or Young Adult Fantasy Fiction. If we break this down it is part YAF and part fantasy. If you break it down further, look at Fantasy. Fantasy is seeped in magic, paranormal, and supernatural. So why is it that so many readers never seem to remember that fantasy is just that, fantasy?
Therefore, here is a checklist, straight up, as reminders on what fantasy combined with YAF is:
1. Magic. If you have any problem with a plot that uses magic as a BIG HUGE plot device, then all I can tell you is: BACK AWAY FROM THE FANTASY BOOK!
2. Supernatural/paranormal. Don't like ghosts, witches, trolls, and made up alternate realities? Then step away from the fantasy section.
3. If you think that there is anything weird about alternate realities that lead to other alternate realities or iridencent rocks that hold people's souls, colors that don't exist (in our world, at least) or words that are "made up", then you should probably just go back to something more straight edged.
As for the young adult fiction part of this...well, that is another post for another time!
XOXO, Happy Reading!
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