Rant rant rant rantity rant

I tend to rant online a lot less than I used to these days, but one of the things that can still get me up on my soapbox and ranting away is seeing an adult SF writer who is unfamiliar with YA but writing it anyway complain about the values found in books such as Valiant and the Gossip Girls series, even while admitting to sitting around watching reasonably trashy TV with no regard for its values herself.

Or as I said in cedarlibrarian‘s journal when she pointed me to the first of those posts:

It’s one of my soapboxes–adults who decide “I should write a YA” who aren’t YA readers and don’t know the genre. SF/fantasy adult writers seem particularly prone to this, actually. I mean, would they go off to write a mystery if they didn’t like to read them, one wonders? Why do they think it’s okay for YA, then? Is there some notion this is an easy way to sell a book? As a writer who considers YA fantasy one of my “home” genres, I can just rant on and on and on about this. If you’re not here for the love, get out and let someone who is write that book instead.

I could also rant about underestimating teens, not trusting them to choose the books they can handle, and not understanding that teens have the same right as adult to read books for fun.

Seriously–grownups? Stop being stupid about teens and their books, okay? In some ways, you and that 15-year-old looking for a good book aren’t all that different. Give them a little credit, please.

Especially if you intend to write for them.