Ten pages. 4,070,000 results on Google when I type this into the search bar: "why is ya fiction so bad". Wait I take that back, I only typed in "why is ya fiction" and the result popped up. This topic was brought to my attention when I was stalking the blog of an author who's book I recently read. (Please take this time now to read Six of Crows. It's awesome.) And she had a blog post devoted to a response of another post where an author just ripped apart the genre even though she herself writes it.

That bothered me and it reminded me that it is not the first time I have seen Young Adult fiction being ripped to shreds by other readers-namely by older readers. And that bothers me. So I want to share my responses on some of the arguments I see people tossing in the direction of YA fiction, it's readers and the writers that tackle it.

It's wish fulfilment-a chance to rewrite high school.

I disagree entirely, at least in part. First off, I consider any form of writing for pleasure wish fulfilment and the reason why I think this is simple. One of the factors that drive each and every project I write is annoyance-yes I am aware that sounds strange so I will explain further. I get annoyed by a trope or cliché that pops up in a genre that I'm reading and I want to know what would happen if that did not occur and then I write it to find out. In short, I wish for a story, I can't find said story so I write it myself. That's my wish fulfilment with writing, I get to find my answer to the what-if. But there are others. Some writers write for fun, just the escapism of it and doing something purely for themselves. Others do it because they care deeply about the world ranging around in their heads and need to share that world with others. Some do it for the money. Or maybe it's a combination of all those reasons. Either way, all writing to me, any writing that you honestly do not have to do, is wish fulfilment. So I call BS on that one.

Then there's the matter of rewriting high school, well I think "rewrite" is the wrong word to use here. Like it or not high school contains some character shaping events that help mold and the memories do stay with you forever. I've heard plenty of high school tales from much older adults in my life and they either remember them fondly, with humor or chagrin or all three. High school is that awkward stage of being caught between childhood and adulthood. You're finally starting to shape a life outside of family and you have far more independence that is afforded to you do to your age and you make choices based on that. Those dynamics are interesting things to explore and the conflicts and questions you face at that age don't fade away after graduation-trust me. I know this from personal experience and from stories much older folks have passed onto me.

Now to my point, I don't think all YA writers or even most of them use the genre to rewrite high school and give themselves the experience they wish they could have had. I think it's more about exploring that time in life now that you have had time away from then and got perspective on the whole experience. But that's just me, are there some writers that do that? Yeah maybe. But blanketing the whole group is just wrong.

They are just kids! They don't know good literature!

The instant assumption that anyone who reads, writes or otherwise enjoys YA fiction can't be old enough to know good fiction or literature and that is complete crap. Being a little blunt sorry, but that is the only way to say it. I read and write YA fiction-I enjoy it and guess what? Some of my favorite novels include "classics". Ones that come to mind include Jane Eyre, There Eyes Were Watching God, To Kill A Mocking Bird, Gone with the Wind and The Handmaids Tale.  There are more, but these are only a few of them.

I loved all of those books, all for various reasons and yet according to the line of reasoning above, I could not possibly know them because I am young or because I enjoy YA or both. *snort* No, that's crap. You do not have to be young or old to appreciate a classic novel nor to appreciate a novel that is aimed at a teenage audience. A good story is a good story and that is that. If the story is good, anyone who loves that sort of story regardless of age will find that story and they will enjoy it. Harry Potter is an excellent example of this fact. It is aimed at children yes, but adults around the world love the series.

Stories are stories and good stories always find their audience-you do not have to be a certain age to appreciate of them.

They are just romantic fantasies of young girls!

Fifty Shades of Grey anyone? Tell me that wasn't a romantic fantasy (though I cannot fathom anything about that series that is romantic) and that was not written by a teenage girl. It was written by a fifty-three year old woman. What about Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin? Could it not be argued that the novel there was also a romantic fantasy? The Wasteland by T.S. Elliot? The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy?  Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare? Romance and love has always been a theme of stories since forever and some writers tackle it in there books-you could make that argument for any piece of work that involves love. Saying this as a blight against YA fiction is quiet pathetic to my mind. It is such a weak argument, do some writers indulge in romantic fantasy in there writing? Yes. But is that limited solely to the YA genre? No. Do only young girls write YA? No as well. This is probably the weakest point in the long list of arguments against YA that I've seen.

When they get older they're move onto better books!

My BS meter is going off once again. As I stated earlier, you don't have to be old or young to enjoy a book. And yes, when we get older, perhaps some of the stories that we loved in our younger days are not as good as we remember them from the first time-and I can attest to this fact-however, there is still value in it. Those are the books that got us to read in the first place and opened the doors for us into the world of books. Had I not read Eragon at the age of sixteen, I do not think that I would have picked up Lord of the Rings a year later. That book, which is admittedly not the greatest written book out there got me into that genre and opened me up to the idea of reading others that fell under the umbrella. Some of those books also fell under the umbrella called classics.

Why does it matter that someone read a YA book and really enjoyed it? Should it not be more important that they are in fact reading and doing so of their own free will rather than being forced and then going onto discover more novels?

If you're an adult you should be ashamed for reading books aimed at children!

This was an actual headline I read on an article on the Slate and to the person who said this I kindly say please go and fuck off. People read whatever they want and they should not be ashamed of it. I have said it twice before in this little post and I will say it again: a good story is a good story and it will always find an audience-the age of that audience does not matter.

And another thing I wish to say is how the only thing that is shameful about this argument against YA is how is shames people for doing something as harmless and beneficial as reading. Maybe a thirty year old mother is reading Twilight to bond with her daughter. Maybe a forty year old man is reading Harry Potter to his eight year old son to instill in him a love of reading. Or maybe this adult just spotted the book in Barnes and Noble, thought it looked interesting, decided to read it and enjoyed it. They do not need the reason of bonding with a child to read YA and they can enjoy it and they should be allowed to without idiots crowing about how they shouldn't.

Overall, as you can see, I find most of these arugements to be complete crap and as solid as swiss cheese. If you enjoy reading YA that is fine. If you are the target audience for it, also fine. If you are not the target audience that is fine. If you write YA fiction your writing is no less important, insightful or powerful because of it. You are not any less of an author because of the genre and if anyone says otherwise base a character on them in your novel and have them meet a grisly end. (Or just tell them to go and screw off, either one!)

So those are my thoughts on the things people say to fight against YA fiction-what have you heard and what's your response? Tell me in the comments!

Write on! =)