By Katerina McCauley |Staff Writer|
In 2002 there were 4,668 published Young Adult (YA) titles according to nymag.com .
That number has doubled to 10,280 in 2012.
With many new fiction stories out in the world, unrealistic plots of true love in such fiction needs to not be so prevalent in the genre because of the influence it brings to teenage readers.
Commonly referred to as Young Adult (YA), this type of fiction gives young girls the impression that the end of everyone’s story has to be meeting love.
I believe this image is what fuels unhealthy relationships in teenagers.
With most YA fictions ending with a kiss, authors send the message that everything else that the female character accomplished isn’t as important as landing the guy.
Girls hold on to the first guy to give them attention, and don’t want to let go no matter what the consequence are. An example of this can be found in the main female character in “Divergent,” a YA fiction success being prepared for its own movie franchise.
“I think that the romance descriptions in YA fiction fuels teenage romance,” said Juila Goldfarb-Sousa, Riverside community college student. “Every girl wants their own Edward and Peeta.”
“It’s unrealistic because it gives young women an overly romantic view of relationships that at that age can’t really exist,” continued Goldfarb-Sousa. “Not to say that it doesn’t; it’s just not an everyday occurrence.”
YA fiction has rapidly grown in popularity the past two or three years.
In that popularity comes the idea that the relationship heroine is being showed cased as the example for the norm.
Our female main characters run around, finding clues, solving problems, and just plain being awesome and than brick wall hot boy straight ahead.
Full stop for any action in the main plot until this makeout session ends.
The hot boy is also an element used to block the heroine from finding the end too quickly and arguably, love plots aren’t all bad.
It’s all in the way it’s presented.
Teenage girls were fed that Edward watching Bella in her sleep was romantic; and other fictions are starting to follow that lead since it was so successful for the “Twilight” franchise.
Recently released “Throne of Glass” has each of the main character’s love interests enter her room and have internal monologues about how pretty and helpless she is in her sleep.
These relationships pan out as obsessive and unhealthy, and that’s what is being sold as romance to 12 to 17-year-old girls.
Authors are aiming for dramatic, angst lust but end up sounding creepy and stalker-like.
I was always a frustrated reader in high school.
I flat out hated romance books, and if the back cover even hinted at love it went back to the shelf.
It was confusing not being able to put my finger on why I didn’t like the book, then picking up another, and seeing the exact same thing all over again.
I find it hard to believe that finding love would be so prevalent a need in fantasy fiction, especially in the post-apocalyptic situations that are greatly popular today.
I would be pleased to see more books geared towards teenage girls to have less romantic subplot.
Yes, fantasy books are meant to be unrealistic, but when the same model of finding love and falling in love is used over and over again, it can become the new reality and the new normal for impressionable readers.
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