tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37083420.post2621172257462781474..comments2024-01-27T16:10:28.502-08:00Comments on Tara Maya's Tales: Writing for Boys -- Take the Quiz! Tara Mayahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09095632631554776002noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37083420.post-64793369311480375992013-01-16T16:01:18.707-08:002013-01-16T16:01:18.707-08:00What I think:
I think the book market for boys is ...<b>What I think:</b><br />I think the book market for boys is self-correcting and right now boys are opting out of the bullshit people are trying to cram down their throats.<br /><br />Boys and teen boys check out of the market with amazing ease. Role-playing games like <i>Skyrim</i> and other video games fill their storytelling needs when they can’t turn to books because of the lack of content.<br /><br />Now, there are books out there aimed specifically for boys, and books not particularly aimed at either sex like <i>Harry Potter</i> and <i>Hunger Games</i>. And at a certain point, a young man simply checks out of the book market for his age group and reads adult-market books despite the fact he may be only 13 to 18.<br /><br />So, in a sense, this really isn’t a problem that I’m up in arms about. My oldest likes to read Robert Heinlein and Larry Correia.<br /><br />But it is a problem for people who try to make money on books for boys. These people often give up and say things like “boys don’t read” or some other illogical argument that everyone knows is false. Boys do read. They just aren’t reading the (crap) that you’re selling.<br /><br /><b>What makes a book more appealing to boys:</b><br />**A forward-focused story where the main character is not dwelling in the past<br /><br />**Where boys and men are in the story, some of them exhibit positive masculine behavior (yes, boys don’t like men-hating books just like men don’t)<br /><br />**Lack of pretentious message fiction (boys can spot this a mile away and attribute it to “boring”)<br /><br />**A lack of passive-aggressive behavior on the main character’s part (this is huge and many women authors boof this consistently)<br /><br />**Related, a main character that does things, rather than reacts to things and tries to do them in a positive, heroic manner<br /><br />**A cover that takes into account how boys visualize (I once showed a book to my oldest and he looked at the cover and snorted “What, is this this Twilight for boys?”)<br /><br /><b>What makes a book more appealing to girls:</b><br />I think the current book market does this well. But I see a lot of disingenuous arguments made that these books should also magically appeal to boys and if they don’t, it’s the parents fault for raising their boys wrong.<br /><br />No joke. There is on several blogs that make this assertion.<br /><br /><b>Do you think men and women are more or less open to reading omnivorously:</b><br />Yes, when they want to do so. Tara, in your books, you have some male characters that are a “mans’ man.” This is appealing beyond, say, the alpha male portrayed in a romance novel sweeping the heroine off her feet. Not that there is anything wrong with that; it just not what attracts men to read.<br /><br />The “mans’ man” character has universal appeal but isn’t easy to portray. There are other common elements out there, besides this that appeals to all genders (for example, boobs. Boobs have universal appeal).<br /><br />But, the bottom line with books for boys is an untapped market that will slowly be filled by independent sources or other hybrid story platforms besides books (like story-telling video games). The landscape is currently bleak here. I’ve been following the publishing industry for several years now and many people within, all the way from writers to book buyers wouldn’t know, for example, a Christian-valued man if he bit them on their ass. The disconnect is legion and forced by ideology and dogma. The market here is wide open.<br /><br />I once asked a group of women writers who were talking about writing books for boys if they ever played <i>Halo</i>. They all said no.<br /><br />Then what makes you think you understand what boys want in a story? I asked. If you are unwilling to explore the popular storytelling mediums out there already in use, why would you think your book would be appealing? <br /><br />I have yet to have someone give me an answer on that one.Lucas Darrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01405530729663443670noreply@blogger.com