Items now forbidden in YA fiction
I'm coming to the end of reading for the Ethel Turner prize, the young adult section of the NSW Literary Awards. I have to inform you that the following things are no longer permitted in Australian YA fiction:
I could go on - for example, the words 'splattered' and 'splodge', characters whose only identifiable trait is that they are vegan - but I've got to get through another novel tonight.
- the word 'munch' and all its variants
- characters named 'the General' unless they are actual generals in the armed forces
- lists of any kind - no, not even to-do lists! None. No more lists. Everyone is over list-making, either as action or as content, all right?
I could go on - for example, the words 'splattered' and 'splodge', characters whose only identifiable trait is that they are vegan - but I've got to get through another novel tonight.
posted by Among Amid While at 8:25 pm
5 Comments:
characters named 'the General' unless they are actual generals in the armed forces
Oh my this made me laugh. (And I am a wee bit scared that you needed to make a rule about that. :) )
It IS scary - especially as I'm sure I've read this rule somewhere else before.
What about 'the Captain' I can't tell you how many times I've bumped into him!
Yep, he can go too. Although he didn't turn up in this year's entries except as a real captain, of a ship. Which is OK...for the moment. And as long as he doesn't turn out to have a sensitive side. I am very sick of initially-intimidating characters gradually revealing their hearts of gold/secret-understandable-reasons-for-being-so-intimidating.
And please please the word 'feral', both in YA novels and in reviews of them!
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