What would you like to see more of in the LDS book market? Less of?I think the market is heavy on romance. It's not that I'd like to see less of it, but I'd like to see more of other genres to help balance it out.
We also have an upsurge of speculative fiction for youth. IMHO, you can't have too much of that, but I'd like to see more for adults—something other than last days stories.
I'd also like to see more in YA and realistic fiction. (See this post. And sorry, Josi, I typo-ed your name in that post but I fixed it.)
10 comments:
I wholeheartedly agree -- with everything.
I particularly like your comment about speculative fiction other than last days stories. I think there could be a decent market for alternate history (Lee Allred's "For the Strength of the Hills" is a marvelous example of what I mean).
And I'd also like to see some of what I call "Mormons in space" stories. How would Mormon culture, practice and doctrine change if humanity began colonizing space before the Second Coming?
I think the proliferation of romance novels in the LDS market just follows the trends in the national market. Romance tends to outsell other genres by quite a bit so it makes sense that there is greater demand for it in this market, too. Maybe it just comes down to who is willing to plunk down the cash for a book and so romance readers form a major voting bloc with their pocketbooks, and that's perfectly okay. If the demand is there, then bring it on. But I agree that it would be great to see more YA offerings. When my son gets a few years older, I'd love to have a wealth of titles to entice him with, so here's hoping that while the LDS market grows, the variety will, too. There's great stuff to choose from now. It's just a question of having even more!
I would love to see the adult non romance section of the LDS market grow. I write speculative fiction and while my main Character isn't LDS, he is a moral man and the story follows him through his changing from a bad boy to a good guy. It is clean fiction and my readers say it is good writing.
Fablehaven, Leven Thumps, 13th Reality, Farworld Etc. have proved that LDS YA has the potential to go far why not adult?
Personally I am tired of picking up a book and not finishing it because of the smut. I think we just need to convince the editors, publishers and others that there is a need for good adult fiction in adition to the romance.
I'd like to see more fiction with adult characters written for adults. It would be nice to see more books dealing with contemporary problems that aren't overly sentimental romance stories or those ridiculous, calculated maudlin over-hyped stories that come out each year usually just before Christmas. I have an insatiable appetite for romantic suspense, heavy on the suspense or mystery side. I'd like to see well-written stories that deal with doctrinal questions that aren't just a frame around a sermon. Most of all I'd like to see more attention given to proof reading copy and more error free books.
My friend & I were talking about this the other day. Her response was LDS fiction seems to be lacking in humanity. It feels like it is from another planet were her words.
My frustration as a reader is sometimes is the characters don't seem real. I feel like I am reading the Mormon version of Stepford Wives,Husbands, and Children or the Stepford ward. I turned to Christian fiction because they were not afraid to tackle meatier issues. It is not a perfect fit sometimes the theological issues are so off & in one case one author was branding religions as cults & yes that included the mormon faith.
What would you describe as meatier issues?
Dude LDS Alternative history would be sooooo coool! Like what if the spanish settled the Salt Lake valley first? (almost happened by the way...) or what if Brigham Young got assasinated? What would have happend if Emma Smith crossed the plains....weird stuff like that could be really interesting. I'm for it!
More good YA would be nice too. Especially funny YA. A lot of it is sad and tragic right now. But a nice funny YA novel would be good.
What exactly do you mean when you say "speculative fiction"? Are science fiction and fantasy both covered under that umbrella?
Also, if someone wrote an adult speculative fiction book for the general market, would an LDS publisher even consider publishing it? (I'm thinking kind of along the lines of Fablehaven and Leven Thumps, where the books were published by an LDS publisher, but are still known nationally.)
I don't mean to offend speculative fiction fans, but some of us have had all the dragons, vampires, witches, and Harry Potter wannabes we can stand. Let's leave fairytales in youth fiction and have more adult fiction where adult doesn't equate with smut.
I would like more YA books for teen boys. Finding a good book for a boy is really hard. All genres! They like fantasy and SF best, but other types would be great.
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