The Reviewers' Roundtable is a weekly discussion feature hosted by me and Emily from Read Your Bookcase. Each week we discuss a different bookish/blogging topic and hope you guys will share your thoughts too!
Go HERE to find a list of past/future topics.
THE HOSTS:
Emily at Read Your Bookcase
Michelle at Pink Polka Dot Book Blog
Topics I Want to See More Books Written About
I like to think I could write a book if I really buckled down and committed to it... but let's get real, I read books by John Green and Sarah Ockler and pretty much KNOW I could never write that good. And if I can't do something awesomely, I don't want to do it. But that is kind off topic... what I was trying to say is writing is really hard and it's easy for me to be like "I want more books like this or like that", but to actually write the book, that takes major creativity and skill. Having said that, there are ideas that come to mind for books that as a reader I would LOVE to see. Here are some of my ideas:
1. College
2. YA Mysteries
3. 2 Book Series
4. Bromance
5. Gender Flipped Fairy-Tale Retellings
6. Villian POVs
8. Unconventional Formats
9. New Time Periods
10. Not What I've Been Reading
Not trying to be demanding here. These are just some suggestions that I've come up with/heard other people mention over the years. There are so many good books out there.... SO MANY. And for the most part I think authors do a superb job at being creative. But of course I'll always want MORE.
Please tell me what topic you would love to see written about. I love hearing ideas!!!
1. College
- I just so want books about the college experience that are like what I actually experienced when I was in college... which I happen to think was a pretty standard (and awesome) college experience. But there were no rock-star boys covered in tattoos... us girls weren't all innocent virgins just waiting to get dirty with the bad boy (I'm pretty sure NONE of us were virgins). I want the authentic feel of college... the uncertainty, the finding yourself, the freedom! Of course there has to be some action, I know it is fiction after all, but I don't want what is out there right now. I want Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell.
- Maybe there could even be books about going on college tours. That would interest me.
- Maybe there could even be books about taking a year off from college and what it's like to still be home after everyone leaves. Or a book about doing something super cool on a gap year before starting college.
2. YA Mysteries
- I actually have been seeing more of these lately... but I want even MORE. I want what Adult has in mystery choices.
3. 2 Book Series
- Duologies? I don't know what it's called but I would really like to see more 2 book series. Part I, Part II, Done. Personally when I read series of 3+ books I find the first and last book most interesting. A lot of the middle books suffer from middle-book syndrome where they seem to just be filler and lead-up to the final book. Why not cut all that and do a 2 booker?
4. Bromance
- In 2013 I went through a big male narrator book phase. I found I really really like reading from a teenage male POV. But I also noticed that these guys don't have a lot of friends. And when they do have a really close friend, it's usually a girl... who they end up liking. I want to see 2 guys be besties... hard-core besties. No more awkward, we don't want to look gay so we have to keep our friendship super chill, male relationships. I want BROMANCE.
5. Gender Flipped Fairy-Tale Retellings
- Maybe these do exist and because I'm not a HUGE retelling reader I don't know about them??... but I would LOVE to see a girl who saves the GUY!!! Wouldn't that be awesome. The guy is the damsel in distress or the princess in the tower and the girl is the warrior who goes in to rescue him.
6. Villian POVs
- I would love to read more books where the bad guy is the narrator. And maybe we even up liking him/her a little, but still don't because they are clearly evil, but at least understand where they are coming from. Not sure if that made ANY sense at all.
7. Healthy Sex
- Every time a girl has sex, she doesn't have to get dumped and humilated, wind up pregnant and give a baby up for adoption, or get an STD. Sex does not have to = you will die. Sometimes people have sex because they are ready and they end up being cool with breaking up or they stay together and they use condoms and they get STD tests beforehand.
8. Unconventional Formats
- Jay Asher wrote 13 Reasons Why with a casette tape narrating a lot of the time. How cool is that?? I love journal/diary books and the idea behind the book Shooter by Walter Dean Myers which is entirely police reports and interviews. I'm sure it's super hard to come up with stuff like that but oh how I love reading it.
9. New Time Periods
- Thanks to The Diviners, I've discovered that I can like historical fiction!! So I would love to see some more historical books from time periods that we haven't been seeing. 50's? 80's? 90's? Vietnam War-era?? WWI??
10. Not What I've Been Reading
- I don't want the same old, same old. I want an author to write about YA friendships that break up, but it's NOT because of a guy. I want stories with BIG FAMILIES (à la The Garretts), not nonexistent ones. I want more nonwhite main characters. I want New Adult fantasy/dystopian not contemporary. I want AUTHENTIC gay characters not caricatures.... and maybe even gay characters where it's not ALL about them being gay. I want books where the girl ends up with no one. I want books where the popular people are actually normal nice people and the geeky people are sometimes mean. Books where people go through phase relationships that don't END their worlds.
Not trying to be demanding here. These are just some suggestions that I've come up with/heard other people mention over the years. There are so many good books out there.... SO MANY. And for the most part I think authors do a superb job at being creative. But of course I'll always want MORE.
Please tell me what topic you would love to see written about. I love hearing ideas!!!
Stop by Emily's blog and see what topics she'd like to see more of.
You really caught me with the Diviners. Would def have a look at it :) I completely agree with the Villian point of view reading. I really love twists in books, even if they are a little bit naughty. Also, I would love to see more books with mixed genre, with no direct characters, when you can find something bad in a good character and try to understand the one that is kind of a bad one. More real stories, more real problems, but with a depth of a author professionalism with bringing a story between lines.
ReplyDeleteYES. To all of the above. Especially how everything is same old same old. Just, no. Break out of that, please. And the unconventional formats are SO interesting. I keep talking myself out of writing in them, but I really should sometime. They're so fascinating to read. I guess I'm just scared that I can't pull it off. Excellent post!
ReplyDelete- Kelsey @ Verbosity Book Reviews
Love the unconventional formats. They are so fun to read!
DeleteI would love to see more YA mysteries, Gillian POVs, 2 book series and the unconventional formats! I loved Asher's format for 13 Reasons Why and would love to see more similar to that.
ReplyDeleteAwesome list!
Christy @ Christy's Book Addiction
Great choices!! I agree with almost all of these! I personally usually don't like male points of view...I don't know why that is...Anyway, I really want to read more about college, too! And I agree that it doesn't always have to be what NA stands for right now :P Also, new time periods would be awesome! I'd love to read something Cold-War-ish and I think a lot of other teenagers would actually agree, because that is such an interesting time period, but my generation didn't get to experience it anymore...
ReplyDeleteLOVE the idea of Cold War!! I read a book AWHILE ago that was called Countdown by Deborah Wiles. And I didn't like the book all that much, but it took place during the Cold War and that part of it was SO interesting!!!
DeleteI definitely agree with Historical Fiction and College!
ReplyDeleteYES!! *standing up, clapping enthusiastically* What I want is to see a dystopian where there are no tests or exams or challenges to overcome to be still a part of the society. Kind of like Partials (no tests there). As for gender flipping, I'd love to see heroines as the rich ones, not the heroes. And I'd love to see the heroes being saved by their girls.
ReplyDeleteI would also love to read about amazingly tight families, where siblings don't betray each other and where parents don't ignore their kids.
But the one thing I'd love to see more is safe sex, especially in YA/NA. It's a little sad, really, that almost all of the erotic romances I've read so far have safe sex in it, but the NA/YA seem to not include that. Or maybe I'm just reading the wrong books??
I agree with you when it comes to much of this. I also want them to write a true friendship between a boy and girl, who does not need to end up with love. There are many boys and girls who are just friends. My best friend is a boy so I know what I'm talking about :) I also want a real bromance as you say. I would also like stories where not all protagonists are virgins waiting for the right boy. In reality it is not like that. People make mistakes or fall in love several times or just have sex. Get over it!
ReplyDeleteI love this SO MUCH. I want to push this in authors' faces because I WANT I WANT I WANT. A college tour would be great, fun read. Fangirl was amazing, I want more like it, but I don't know if anybody can live up to Rowell. And YES to gender flipping fairytales. I have an idea for one, but I'm not a writer, sooooo it's a shame. I would die happy with a villain pov as well. Have I mentioned how much I love this list?
ReplyDelete2 of yours that are on my wishlist are YA mysteries and 2-book series! I've read so many really good adult mysterious, but I think it would be really cool to have more YA mysteries. I've also been really loving the whole 2-book series thing when I see it, that way it cuts out middle book syndrome! :)
ReplyDeleteAlice @ Alice in Readerland