Writer's Block: Why I Sometimes Hate Reading

I’m a bookworm and I am proud to call myself as such.  If it weren’t for reading, I would have failed almost every spelling test I got in the first and second grade, and I would not have my own sense of imagination. Reading helped me build wonderful things in my own head, and it kinda built my personality. So in short, it has made me the person I am today. But there will be times when reading will give me a horrible feeling. There will be small instances when I will feel distaste whenever I set my eyes on a book. Why is that? Well, if reading comes with good stuff, it can come with bad things too.

I will probably say the most obvious reasons as early as now. The first reason is simple; books are effin’ expensive. I hate how a simple joy in life called a book would cost as much as a Hipster graphic tee in H&M. That’s how crazy the economy is, nowadays, and that’s probably why Youtubers and celebrities suddenly have the burning passion for writing. Also, books have the ability to make my life look like a dull page, and I mostly read fiction. I read fantasy novels that have all the magic, the sci-fi, the dramatic heroes, the over-cliched romances, and the suspense. Most protagonists in high fantasy novels will disagree with me on this one but, their live are awesome. I would trade my soul just to have one simple adventure that involves dungeons and fairies (wait that somehow didn’t come out right). Unfortunately, in the end I will be slapped by reality and be reminded that there will never ever be a portal that will take me to an amazing fictitious world. But just once, I want my life to be like YA novel. I want to walk down in the hallways, meet a satyr telling me I’m an extraordinary demigod and I’m needed to save the world. It may sound like a heavy burden, but I would take this heavy burden over final exams. But again, no. I’m my own writer of my very own story. So I guess it’s up to me to make my lifetime extraordinary.

I sometimes hate reading because I know I will never get a satisfying ending and this happened half the time I’ve been a bookworm, which has been almost two decades. If I don’t get the ending I want, it’s either I have to wait for the sequel in a year or two or I don’t get a round two or three at all. That alone irks me. It sounds selfish that I’m being choosy when it comes to endings, but books are forms of entertainment. Therefore, they must entertain me. How can I enjoy knowing my favorite character died? How can I be happy not knowing things are going to be okay in the next book? Those thoughts tend to drive me nuts. Don’t even try judging me, I know you’ve been down this path too. Every reader goes through this. And if you haven’t, then let me warn you now; there will come a time when you’re reading a book and you won’t like where the plot is going at all. It’s pretty similar to watching the Game of Thrones, trust me.

In connection to storylines, I hate going on a book hiatus. This usually happens whenever I read book series. I have to wait at least year, if I want to know what happens next. The wait can be the definition of torment itself. It has made me detest waiting. Especially when the story is getting really good, but then it ends in a cliffhanger. I don’t know with you but it can be the worst feeling the world! Finishing a book with a cliffhanger is the equivalent of watching a horror film. It’s going to take time for you to get back to your regular sleeping pattern (assuming you have one), because you will be staying up all night coming up with theories and guesses on what’s going to happen next. Sometimes, I just can’t stand waiting and talking about it. I just cheat on this book series with another, and that doesn’t help at all because this other book likes bringing out cliff hangers, too and I still lose.

I also hate it when a book suddenly gets into the concept of death. It has become an insane trend in between novels lately. Whether it’s about a dystopian world or a kid who’s got an incurable disease, somebody has to die. What’s worse is that whoever dies is  someone  that we care about because the writers know that if they kill of an insignificant character, nobody will give a damn and quickly move on (well that’s what usually happens, anyway). It’s their sly tactic to make us savor their books so we can talk about it more, because this will create more buzz, then more people will be curious about it, which will make them buy the books until they cry about it, and the whole cycle goes on repeat. It’s basically an indirect marketing strategy, because thanks to our “feels”, we are promoting the books for the writers. Luckily most of the books celebrated are really good ones.

And there you have it. A fangirl explaining why she sometimes hates reading. If you can relate to anything that I just said, feel free to comment about your misgivings on reading on my Disqus (yay! I has Disqus) account, which will feature this very topic. That is it and till the next post~

The Problem With YA Fiction Today

Recently I watched a Youtube video created by CassJayTuck and I found myself agreeing with everything she said. She was talking about what she thinks is the problem with YA Fiction today, saying that the ideas in current YA novels are not as fresh or original. In other words, writers are simply recycling so much ideas to the point they forgot the whole point of writing.

I'd like not only to reiterate everything she said, but to add up to it, because I think this is definitely an opinion that needs to be heard among more hardcore bookworms out there. If you want to have a head start, you can take a quick look on Cass' video here:

Before I begin, I'd like to make one thing clear; I have nothing against the Dystopian or Romance Genre. I'm saying this because it is one of the most common genres we normally see in YA Fiction. That's the reason why I don't hate them, they are just genres. If a writer wants a Dystopia, then he/she has every right to write one. So if I have no problems with these, then what is the problem?

Cass mentioned in her video that most novels in YA lack this thing called, "world-building". One of the many joys in reading is that you get suck into a whole different world, that your reading experience becomes more or less surreal. YA Novels today, unfortunately, do not give that much world-building. It only focuses on a certain element that the writers think will excite their readers, as well as editors and publishing companies. And this is what happens when you pretty much recycle from a classic YA Novel. You end up focusing on things that you think will make your novel become a hit, but let's establish the fact that all novels are not similar and shouldn't be. You might as well stick to fanfiction writing if you intend to recreate something that's already there. The main challenge of a writer will always be the creative juice. A reader will be able to notice right away if you're trying to rip something off. I'm not saying that writers shouldn't draw their inspiration from other books. If they intend to base their ideas on previous published stories, might as well put a little bit more flare and not put other used ideas in one book. There's a difference, yes. That's why being a writer is not as easy as you think. You shouldn't be using other techniques or styles. Use your own. Basically, most writers are missing the fun part in writing. You get to create your own world. The time and effort must be focused on that, as well as in character development and in plot ideas. Not in just who ends up with who. So Cass is right, give your stories a little bit more love. This is my challenge for aspiring writers. Create stories wherein I can enjoy a whole new world. Follow the example of children's books. Please. Or maybe, you can take notes from Anime, because most anime shows do that very well.

Back on the genre issue... genre should never be an issue. It becomes an issue when a book fails to deliver a promise. For example, you want to create Dystopian novel (sorry if I constantly use this as an example, but it's the most common one at the moment), but you want to put a bit of romance. I've read tons of novels similar to this problem, and instead of focusing on the main problem, it concentrates on the love triangles. In other words, the secondary genre suddenly becomes much more important than the dominant genre. Then the story strays from what it originally was. Twilight is a perfect example of a novel that is able to deliver its promise. Stephenie Meyer made it clear from start to finish, that this whole saga will be a love story in between a huge vampire-politic problem. And it was a love story that was in the middle of a huge vampire-politic problem. I've read many books that imply that this is gonna be a story about a conflict two parties, but when I read it, the story is purely or mostly about romance and how the character is so awkward about puberty.

I also want to challenge writers about writing protagonists, because they can also be a YA issue. Main heroes and heroines now lack a bit of originality, nowadays. We always get the following:

1.) The person who doesn't want anything to do with the situation but gets into the situation anyway.
2.) The sassy or blunt person with a terrible or sad past, becomes very indifferent to almost everything but still gets loved by everyone
3.) The confused person who runs into a middle of a crossfire, and surprisingly becomes a major part of the crossfire.

As you can see, the similarities between the three are endless. I'd like future writers to come up with a whole new and realistic main character. I guess this is why I like the Insignia Series so much. Tom Raines had sass all over his body, but he didn't conform to any typical YA cliche I mentioned above. So the perspective was new, fresh, and absolutely interesting.

I would like to discuss another cliche. I know romance is something that any young adult can relate to, but I am sick of love being the driving force or main motivation for any YA character. There's more to life than relationships and all that shiz. I am starting to get tired of YA for creating characters who would just participate in a war or do something totally crazy for the sake of their significant other. I give kudos for The Hunger Games, for giving Katniss a whole new realistic motivation, which is her family. It made perfect sense for her character and for the world she was in. So perhaps another challenge? If writers cannot write a straight YA Fiction without inserting a few love stories here and there, make it subtle then? Give your characters different kinds of motivations? Give your readers a whole new thing to be inspired about?

That's all I have to say about YA for now. If you have other misgivings about the current situation on YA (which won't end right away), let me know on the comments. Also, you can share this so it will reach to more people, particularly to authors (aspiring ones, included). And I will see you till the next post~