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Every time I teach teenagers, I take a moment to gather "market" information. I ask them what they're reading/watching/playing and what they wish they'd see more of. For YA authors out there, here's what my Loft teens would like most of all:
Obviously, this sample size is small. My class this year had twenty students, only four of them male-identified, one non-binary, and the rest using she/her pronouns. The majority of the class was female. There were only two obvious PoCs. All of the students, except one that was there on a scholarship, came from families that could easily afford a $300+ class for their kids. Most were urban/suburban/Metro area, though some came from the 218 area code (I can't remember how many without checking my class list, but it was at least two. I remember because it surprised me.)
The only other thing of note is that this is the first class where we've had to have a few discussions about the technical aspects of writing. Every year I teach, I try to have an opportunity for students to have their work critiqued. It's best when the whole class can participate and I can teach "how-to" peer critique, BUT with twenty kids it was strictly voluntary and I took their work home and typed up my response to their opening pages. I bet half the class participated.
Their abilities ranged wildly, but I was expecting that in a group of 13-17 year olds. What I wasn't expecting was at least three students who seemed to have zero concept of paragraph breaks. Their writing was otherwise good, it was just presented as a giant block of text. I'm not sure where this comes from, and I had to take some time to remember how *I* was taught when a good paragraph break should come. Of course, much of it comes from osmosis, from reading. But I do remember someone requiring that we learn about what should be contained in a paragraph... I wonder which grade though?
Anyway, that was the only 'surprise.' It's tempting to blame the lack of paragraph breaks on the internet. But, I'm still not convinced that the Internet is ruining young writers. I suspect this lack of breaks comes from generally not being much of a reader. (Voracious readers always have an obvious 'ear' for how stories are structured.) Or from reading things, like graphic novels or web comics, that come in a differently consumed format.
It was a weird year at the Loft this year, but, ultimately, the class was great. My boss asked me to be sure to propose something similar for winter quarter.
- Assexual representation. They want a character who is explicitly ace who DOES NOT FALL FOR SOMEONE BY THE END. Please more GLBTQIA+ representation in general. Non-binary/Genderfluid/Genderqueer, too, please. (Ace comes up every year, by the way.)
- Supernatural creatures who are *not* run of the mill vampires
- NO MORE ROMANCE. Or, if there must be romance, can it please be something more than the tradition love triangle. Better yet, let the triangle end in a poly arrangement (yes, my teenagers asked specifically for poly).
- More dystopia, but no more Divergent rip-offs. How about a post-apocalypse that has nothing to do with the government dividing people by their skills/factions/what-have-yous?
Obviously, this sample size is small. My class this year had twenty students, only four of them male-identified, one non-binary, and the rest using she/her pronouns. The majority of the class was female. There were only two obvious PoCs. All of the students, except one that was there on a scholarship, came from families that could easily afford a $300+ class for their kids. Most were urban/suburban/Metro area, though some came from the 218 area code (I can't remember how many without checking my class list, but it was at least two. I remember because it surprised me.)
The only other thing of note is that this is the first class where we've had to have a few discussions about the technical aspects of writing. Every year I teach, I try to have an opportunity for students to have their work critiqued. It's best when the whole class can participate and I can teach "how-to" peer critique, BUT with twenty kids it was strictly voluntary and I took their work home and typed up my response to their opening pages. I bet half the class participated.
Their abilities ranged wildly, but I was expecting that in a group of 13-17 year olds. What I wasn't expecting was at least three students who seemed to have zero concept of paragraph breaks. Their writing was otherwise good, it was just presented as a giant block of text. I'm not sure where this comes from, and I had to take some time to remember how *I* was taught when a good paragraph break should come. Of course, much of it comes from osmosis, from reading. But I do remember someone requiring that we learn about what should be contained in a paragraph... I wonder which grade though?
Anyway, that was the only 'surprise.' It's tempting to blame the lack of paragraph breaks on the internet. But, I'm still not convinced that the Internet is ruining young writers. I suspect this lack of breaks comes from generally not being much of a reader. (Voracious readers always have an obvious 'ear' for how stories are structured.) Or from reading things, like graphic novels or web comics, that come in a differently consumed format.
It was a weird year at the Loft this year, but, ultimately, the class was great. My boss asked me to be sure to propose something similar for winter quarter.
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