I have to admit, there
has been an overabundance of works taking place in bright and shining worlds
that achieve piece by exerting total control over the people. And of course
there’s a rebellion, and an evil president, and a girl who accepts everything
until she meets a certain boy (or sometimes vice versa).
These are just generalities. The
actual books are varied and layered. And truly, you can’t go to a bookstore
without tripping over a stack of dystopians. I just never thought this was a
bad thing : P. But it does mean it’s a lot harder to stand out these days.
Is it the end? Far from it. A few
years ago, it was contemporary YA I head that was dead, and only the freshest, best
written were published. Then before that, it was Urban Fantasy that was gone,
saturated with TWILIGHT knockoffs and girls with magic powers (or dating boys
with magic powers). Both of these genres are still alive and kicking, so I’m
thinking dystopian isn’t so much dead as it is in a recession. It’s still going
to be hard to get noticed, but if you work hard, edit hard, and never give up,
you still have as much a chance of getting published as anyone.
I think. And desperately hope.
Thoughts?
