Wait--so all YA dystopias *are* the same, or they might as well be the same? That's what I don't understand. If you keep selling A as B, you do risk a backlash.
Well, we may not have parted on the best of terms. I realize certain words were exchanged. Also, certain... bullets. But that's air through the engine. It's past. We're business people.
Mal ,'Serenity'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
§ ita § - Jul 15, 2013 2:42:08 pm PDT #21075 of 28370
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Amy - Jul 15, 2013 2:46:19 pm PDT #21076 of 28370
Because books.
The target marget (i.e. teens) doesn't seem to care about the finer distinctions at this point.
§ ita § - Jul 15, 2013 2:49:58 pm PDT #21077 of 28370
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
But is that because it's effectively correct (at the scale at which they're talking), or it's wrong but they don't care?
I know nothing other than skimming one article, so I'm not arguing a point--I'm asking you guys for an interpretation of the facts, such as they are.
Polter-Cow - Jul 15, 2013 2:51:42 pm PDT #21078 of 28370
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
What Amy said. I'm sure they all have their differences, but it's practically become a genre unto itself like paranormal romance. There's The Maze Runner, which is also being made into a movie, and Matched, which I think is also optioned, and it sure seems like a lot of them are about a teenage girl choosing between two guys. I think Incarceron was also set up to be a successor, but I haven't heard too much about it.
But is that because it's effectively correct (at the scale at which they're talking), or it's wrong but they don't care?
Little of Column A, little of Column B, from what I can tell. Many of them do sound similar, but despite all the different premises, they start to run together.
Jesse - Jul 15, 2013 2:54:41 pm PDT #21079 of 28370
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
I respond well to marketing of the "If you like X, you'll love Y" variety, even though I don't always love Y. If I generally like things in the style of X, I'm always looking for more.
Amy - Jul 15, 2013 2:55:52 pm PDT #21080 of 28370
Because books.
Publishers don't care (and all of these were books first). If saying something is like Twilight or The Hunger Games will effectively sell it, who cares what the story is really about?
They're not always that purposely oblivious, but the end goal is selling books (and movie rights). And I can't see that the movie industry is much different.
Amy - Jul 15, 2013 2:57:20 pm PDT #21081 of 28370
Because books.
they start to run together.
Exactly. What they're usually marketing is more opportunities to see a girl kicking ass and saving the world (or her part of it), and getting an awesome boyfriend out of it, to boot.
§ ita § - Jul 15, 2013 3:00:29 pm PDT #21082 of 28370
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
What they're usually marketing is more opportunities to see a girl kicking ass and saving the world (or her part of it), and getting an awesome boyfriend out of it, to boot.
Katniss being .3 for 2 in this regard...
I respond well to marketing of the "If you like X, you'll love Y" variety, even though I don't always love Y. If I generally like things in the style of X, I'm always looking for more
You know that's not what that is, though, right? Or not much the time, anyway--it's often "the people who like A tend to like B--we make no correlation between the content of A and B because we are an algorithm whose result wasn't sanity checked by a human". Or there's, as I'm assuming Divergent might as well be, a YA book that's not set in the past and there's a chick in a big fight.
Amy - Jul 15, 2013 3:04:43 pm PDT #21083 of 28370
Because books.
Katniss still had two guys in love with her throughout the series (more or less), which counts.
Jesse - Jul 15, 2013 3:07:13 pm PDT #21084 of 28370
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
Or not much the time, anyway--it's often "the people who like A tend to like B--we make no correlation between the content of A and B because we are an algorithm whose result wasn't sanity checked by a human".
Well, an algorithm is mostly saying "people who bought A tend to buy B," no? I'm talking about the cover design, blurbs, etc.