What do people LIKE about Young Adult Fiction?

[snabbott]

See, that makes sense. Actually, there's something kind of like that in HP - the idea that the killing curse doesn't work unless you really mean it. I'm guessing that's true in general.

[Deloria]

So the protagonist, Harry Dresden, uses Latin (or Latin-like) words for his spells, whereas a Hispanic wizard we meet later on uses Spanish words.

Because Spanish isn't Latin-based? Does Harry Dresden speak English most of the time? If so, this is a deeply flawed explanation.

[KatieHal]

Specifically Latin words, whereas the other wizard is using specifically Spanish words.

Though even Harry admits his system is far from 'perfect' and consistent.

[stika]

Nah, it'd be much cooler if the spells were said in European Portuguese 

((what? I can dream, can't I?))

[writerlove]

See, that makes sense. Actually, there's something kind of like that in HP - the idea that the killing curse doesn't work unless you really mean it. I'm guessing that's true in general.

Harry tried to use the Cruciatus curse on Bellatrix in book 5 and it doesn't really work on her. She told him he had to mean it and in that moment, he was full of grief from the previous incident that had just happened.

[GrahamRocks!]

I think that was one of the things that made me give up on my Fantasy novel: my Magic system didn't make much sense, or rather, it was too simple and there was hardly any "cost" to use it properly.

How did it work? Well, there is all sorts of Elemental Magic in the land of Corim, such as Fire, Ice, Lightning, Nature, Healing and so on; and a Mage can learn one type or multiple ones if they wish (although, I'd imagine that learning multiple ones would take longer) When a Mage is casting a spell, they simply have to focus on whatever task they have (Mages in training are taught to close their eyes to help them with this, while an advanced Mage doesn't have to), their eyes glow and they see their target in whatever color that Magic is associated with while everything else around them (from their POV, not literally) is in black and white. Once they are focused, they simply just thrust their hand/s forward and ALAKAZAM!

And seeing as you have to keep calm and focus to perform Magic, there really isn't such a thing as insane Mages in Corim as their spells with just backfire.

[KatieHal]

Ahh--yeah, see I'd say add something that lets bad guys use it. OR, that could be a whole plot in and of itself--somehow there ARE evil, insane mages suddenly and your protags are trying to find out why and how.

Alternately: evil doesn't necessarily mean insane. A person can do horrible things and be perfectly sane about it--what's he or she is doing can make perfect logical moral sense to them.

Any time you give a character powers or some kind, basically, you do need to find a drawback to it. Even if it's one that isn't going to be obvious--say, using magic makes them immortal. Sure, seems great, until you realize they suddenly don't age though their friends and family do. Or they DO still age, and have to deal with that while never actually dying. They can be long-term effects, but still something that's hard to wrap one's head around in the short-term. If they're immortal, are they still human? How else will this magic change them? And will they even notice, or is that the scary part, that they won't notice?

[GrahamRocks!]

Well, people in Corim are a LOT longer lived than in our world- I mean, remember all those people in the Bible who lived to be over 100? The humans in my story can live to be over one hundred (provided of course, they don't die from injuries or disease, which is bound to happen anyway being mortal) and still be kickin'! They can't live to be, say, 1000 but they can live at least 150 or so.

Technically, there is a "cost" to using Magic in Corim, but it's not very interesting: whenever you work out or go for a run, you have a physical limit that lets you keep going until you can't take it anymore and collapse from exhaustion. Obviously, that's not a good thing to do. Same goes for Magic, except instead of physical tiredness, it's mental tiredness. If you overdo your Magic, you'd eventually become so mentally tired that you can hardly think.

As for that whole "Magic can be used for evil" thing? Well, my villain actually IS/WAS a powerful Mage anyway, so I knew that already.

Want me to recount what I'd thought of until my computer lost its data on it?

[stika]

Still no Portuguese magic incantations? *mutters to himself*

[KatieHal]

GR: Yeah, sure. In general, though, yeah--if you think your magic system is lacking something and not interesting, chances are no one else will either. So throw something new in there to mix it up. Magic wearing you out eventually is a common drawback I've seen in other fiction. It helps to make battles interesting--who's going to wear out first, etc.

Depending on what kind of world Corim is, the other drawbacks could just be the kind of trouble people who use magic get into. Especially if it's something they need to keep a secret, though I get the impression it's not.

[Deloria]

I don't like Young Adult Fiction. At all. It's insipid and doesn't often deal with issues I care about. I especially hate it when adults try to write young adult fiction that wasn't inspired by their own adolescence because those characters are never relatable and insanely unrealistic. John Greene can't write polymaths or cancer kids or libidinous teenagers.

[stika]

What about Sci-fi, Deloria?

[Deloria]

I've never really read any Sci-fi, though I suspect that would be more up my alley. What bothers me in YAF is the lack of realism in the interpersonal relationships and the dialogue of the protagonist and the characters surrounding him/her. I'd be fine with an alternate universe.

[stika]

Ah that makes sense. Me I love Sci-fi in general, though I also like police novels, I've ready all of the Sherlock Holmes books ever published... not that it's a hard thing to do as they're not very big or that complex compared to what we have today

[Deloria]

I want season 3 of Sherlock!

[stika]

I've actually only seen an episode or two of the show it was pretty good

[Delling]

I don't like Young Adult Fiction. At all. It's insipid and doesn't often deal with issues I care about.

In fairness, I would say that some of it does indeed deal with issues you care about; it just doesn't do it well.

I especially hate it when adults try to write young adult fiction that wasn't inspired by their own adolescence because those characters are never relatable and insanely unrealistic. John Greene can't write polymaths or cancer kids or libidinous teenagers.

So, what you're saying is... you only liked Looking for Alaska? (Because that's the one book based on his own adolescence... I mean, they all are of course in part based in his own experiences, but that one admits the heavy involvement of his adolescence in its setting and characters.)

Also, Alaska and Margo seem to be the same character when you strip away the packaging... that is, they seem to be the same underlying person simply responding to the family and background handed to them in their respective books. Colin is the rare super-boy who becomes interested in the otherwise "plain" girl (role reversal for Green). And in TFioS, if we were trying to follow the bouncing Sue/Stu trope through Green's work, we'd have to conclude that in the TFioS universe, cancer gives you enlightened entitlement to understanding the vastness of the universe, the meaninglessness of life, and the inevitability of oblivion, and then you die.

[stika]

I saw we should turn this into an Edward vs. Jacob debate!

I vote team Jacob!

[GrahamRocks!]

I'll stick with Team Charlie, thank you.

[KatieHal]

Start your own thread for that!