#ya dystopian novel protagonists be like

[charlie-rulerofhell]

officiallordofthelost: 5 minutes before tonight‘s sauna in Leeds.

#lord of the lost #lotl #absolute squaditude #they look like the protagonist gang of a dystopian ya novel #ready to punch the next lackay of the oppressive government in the face

[hexeratii]

No one understands my love for eco-brutalist architecture. 💔

#I just want to feel like a ya novel protagonist living their best life in a community of revolutionists #Tell me you've never seen a city wreckage in a dystopian movie or videogame and thought it looked dope #all this concrete needs is some ✨succulents✨ #me when I see the most rigid uncomfortable pain on my scoliosis furniture imaginable 😍

[writingquestionsanswered]

Will my novel still count as YA if both my main protagonists are 21 years old?

YA with 21-Year-Old Protagonists?

The short answer is: probably not.

The long answer is: It's complicated, and here's why...

"Young Adult" isn't a genre but an age category that was created by librarians in the 1960s to help teenage readers find books that served as a transition between children's literature and adult literature.

Today, YA is still an age category, but it's used to classify books that are specifically written with appeal to young adult readers. Which isn't to say older and younger readers can't read and appreciate them (they can and do... a 2012 study found that 55% of YA readers were adults), it's just that the publisher feels the book will appeal broadly to young adult readers.

There are two main criteria for a YA novel:

-- protagonist is typically between the ages of 14 and 18 -- protagonist broadly experiences "coming of age" issues

In order to qualify as YA, at least one of the above has to be true. However, someone above the age of 18 is unlikely to broadly experience young adult "coming of age" issues, so it's rare to see YA protagonists much older than 18.

Young adult "coming of age" issues are things like: first romantic relationships, growing apart from childhood peers, first forays into independence from family, struggling to fit in or fighting with individualism, first generation cultural conflict with immigrant parents, etc.

So, it's not that someone over the age of 18 can't experience any of those issues--many do--it's just that they're not usually going to experience them as broadly as the average 16-year-old.

Enter the "New Adult" age category, which is like YA but for readers and protagonists between the ages of 18 and 25. While there can be some overlap between the experiences of "young adults" and "new adults," most new adults have moved beyond the typical teen "coming of age" issues and are dealing more with things like preparing for life beyond high school and college, first long-term serious relationships, first foray into a career, living away from family for the first time, engagement and marriage, etc. NA romantic fiction tends to be spicier than YA romantic fiction, but it's by no means a requirement of NA--contrary to popular belief.

Adding to the complexity of the issue is YA genre fiction, which almost always features protagonists who should be older than 18 and were probably written as older than 18, and as such are dealing with more adult issues than their YA counterparts. Rather than dealing with things like first-love or going out for cheer leading, YA genre protagonists are usually taking down corrupt organizations in gritty far-future or alternate world cities, preparing for war on a planet populated with dragons, fighting in a deadly competition sponsored by a dystopian government, or rebelling against a villainous monarch in a fantasy world. There's sometimes a little overlap with YA issues like first love, fighting for individualism, first-time independence, but for the most part these characters are dealing with more adult issues and situations. Unfortunately, since traditional publishers have yet to embrace the New Adult age category, protagonists between the ages of 18 and 25 in genre fiction are often aged down to below 18, which is why we have YA novels where 16-year-old princesses in arranged marriages, 17-year-old war-grizzled space captains, and 18-year-old gang leaders with prolific spy networks and a reputation that strikes fear into the hearts of powerful people. It's a little silly, but here we are...

And then there's adult literary fiction, which is character-driven fiction that deeply explores the human condition in a way that emphasizes style over plot. Literary fiction sometimes includes young adult protagonists--and they sometimes deal with "coming of age" issues--but the story isn't really about that. Examples would be things like Life of Pi, The Kite Runner, The Bear and the Nightingale, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, and The Catcher in the Rye.

So... in regard to your story... If your story is genre fiction--meaning it's plot-driven or plot and character-driven and fits into an obvious genre like science fiction or romance--and your 21-year old protagonists don't broadly experience "coming of age" issues, your book would just be categorized as mainstream genre fiction. If your story is genre fiction and your 21-year-old protagonists do broadly experience "coming of age" issues, it's possible your book would be categorized as YA, but it's far more likely you would be asked to age them down to 18 or younger. And if your story is character-driven fiction that deeply explores the human condition in a way that emphasizes style over plot, your story will probably be categorized as literary fiction.

I hope that helps! ♥

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[souldagger]

Hello! I really liked your post with sci-fi recommendations that aren't just books by misogynistic men. There are some books on the list already but do you happen to have a list of recs just for novels about robots/androids/AI? Preferably where they are the protagonist? No worries if not! Thanks

augh see i love robots/AIs but i have not read NEARLY enough books w them as main characters 😔 i can name a couple u might wanna check out tho!

klara and the sun by kazuo ishiguro (standalone, from the POV of a nanny robot taking care of a sick girl) is pretty interesting, esp in regards to the idea of robots having their own mythos and superstitions. v slow and thoughtful (tho a bit too uneventful for my tastes)

ted chiang has a couple good short stories about robots - exhalation (found in the short story collection of the same name) is a personal fav of mine! (there's also the novella "the lifecycle of software objects" - in same collection - but while i adore most of his stuff i really didn't like that one lol)

if u like YA, def check out the scorpion rules by erin bow (the prisoners of peace duology)! honestly on most levels it's a pretty average dystopian YA book, but then it also happens to have one of THEE most interesting and complex explorations of posthumanism through AI i've ever seen??? like not even in YA, in general (esp in book 2, it's not a major plot until the end of book 1)

if you're interested in the classics at all, i do recommend Asimov's short story collection I, Robot! it was surprisingly fun and it was cool seeing where the iconic 3 laws of robotics thing originated :)

also. i can link u to my own robot/AI tbr list knfdkgjfn

[myfairkatiecat]

Ok so you know the PixelPlayhouse satire song where it’s that girl playing the Classic YA Novel Protagonist, and the lyrics go:

I’m the chosen one

There’s no time for fun

Did I mention I’m also an orphan?

So my life is tough

I can’t come to grips

With this utopian dystopian apocalypse

And that’s how it all unfurls

When you’re not like the other girls

I’m not hot, okay?

No need for confusion

Cause the author describing my face and my body

Might make you draw that conclusion

I’m caught between lovers on numerous occasions

But how can I choose from these mediocre caucasians?

Not only is it incredibly catchy, but it PAINFULLY reminds me of Sophie (even tho I love Sophie and I think she’s definitely better written than this!!) she’s like… the epitome of what this song is talking about 😂😂

#listen I genuinely love kotlc #and I think Sophie is a relatively well done character #BUT IS THIS NOT HER? #especially ‘I’m not hot okay?’ while she’s described as breathtakingly beautiful #kotlc #keeper of the lost cities #sophie foster #pixel playhouse

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

Out of curiosity, could be either due to craft or sheer enjoyment, what are your top favourite books?

Okay lowkey I wrote this post & then tumblr ATE it so here it is a little late!! Rachel's All Time Favourite Books (in no particular order):

Cleanness - Garth Greenwell (litfic, ok but this is actually my fave book & today Garth Greenwell lowkey Acknowledged My Presence SOOOO!!! I've read this 4x since August, it's a craft masterpiece)

What Belongs to You - Garth Greenwell (litfic, the book that comes before Cleanness, I'm not as attached to it but it's still FANTASTIC)

A Hundred Lovers - Richie Hofmann (poetry, my fave poetry collection of all time, ALL my epigraphs come from here)

We Do What We Do in the Dark - Michelle Hart (litfic, AMAZINGGG character study & peak into relationship dynamics)

Big Shadow - Marta Balcewicz (litfic, one of my fave books of all time, FANTASTIC teen protagonist in this bildungsroman)

Physical - Andrew McMillan (poetry, AMAZING queer poetry, lots of epigraphs from here too)

Winter in Sokcho - Elisa Shua Desapin (litfic, probably the best start-to-finish narrative I've ever read in my whole life)

If An Egyptian Cannot Speak English - Noor Naga (litfic, THE BEST litfic ending I've ever read, it's UNEXPECTED and something to be STUDIED)

Undoing Hours - Selina Boan (poetry, I feel so grateful for this book as it really helped me reconnect to my Indigenous identity. I met Selina after a LIFE-CHANGING reading & chatted with her, & that conversation drove me to learn more about my family!)

Bitterblue - Kristen Cashore (YA fantasy, this is LITERARY FICTION TO ME I've re-read this like 6 times)

Six of Crows - Leigh Bardugo (YA fantasy, really fun ensemble cast, THE AUDIOBOOK SLAYS)

Intimations - Alexandra Kleeman (litfic short story collection, some of THE BEST short story collections, my work feels adjacent to this dare I say??)

The Marionettes - Katie Wismer (NA paranormal, this series is sooo tropey and fun like I CAN'T WAIT for the last book, I did like book 2 best but this is the first one & I loved it too!)

Demi-Gods - Eliza Robertson (litfic, this was my fave novel before Cleanness & Eliza is my fave writer & from my alma mater! Read my interview with her!)

Monkey Beach - Eden Robinson (litfic, I read this book in a DAY, it's the most impactful novel I've ever read, she's also from my alma mater!)

How to Pronounce Knife - Souvankham Thammavongsa (litfic short story collection, my fave short story collection OF ALL TIME I learned so MUCH about short stories from this!)

The Girls - Emma Cline (litfic, this was MY writing bible for so long lol, I actually ethically hate how this book treats real murders but Emma Cline is an incredible writer & the best parts of this book are the ones that don't casually repurpose history... I have thoughts...)

History of Wolves - Emily Fridlund (litfic, I need to re-read this NOW but wow, the first half of this is chilling...)

Past Lives, Future Bodies - K-Ming Chang (poetry, not sure if you can still buy this but this is one of THE best collections I own)

The Darkest Minds - Alexandra Bracken (YA dystopian, I love AB SOOO MUCH even now hehe, this was a childhood fave & Fostered is a ripoff so <3)

#asks

[strangeparadoxlikely]

terry jr only ever buys books from the queer section of the bookstore, if someone gifts him books that don't have queer characters he won't even put them on his bookshelf.

grant reads classics but only if he knows there's going to be some homoerotic subtext. darryl has offered multiple times to get him books with actual queer representation because henry told him he should but grant claims the subtext is more fun.

nick does what i do and reads anything with a cool-sounding title and then decides any character he likes and/or relates to is trans.

sparrow was obviously a warrior cats and animorphs kid and i don't think he read much after that but he's made exceptions when terry recommends something to him (usually those book have aspec protagonists but sparrow hasn't noticed the pattern)

lark has read every single shitty ya dystopian novel/series he could get his hands on. he's a big fan of all the queer coded villains because he relates to them.

#dungeons and daddies #dndads #terry jr dndads #grant wilson #nick close #nicky freeman #nicolas foster #lark oak #lark oak garcia #sparrow oak #sparrow oak garcia #headcanon #mis mamadas

[flameswallower]

Briar's Favorite First Time Reads of 2023!

I read sixty or so books (start to finish) for the first time this year, which is pretty average for me. I liked most of them pretty well, since if I dislike a book I usually won't finish it. But there were some stand outs, which I'm going to list here.

First up: NOVELS!

Pseudotooth, by Verity Holloway (2017) is the first portal fantasy coming of age novel I've read in a long, long time that I found genuinely charming. It has a very dark Gothic edge to it, with shades of Gormenghast and Edward Gorey making for a uniquely unsettling and bleak fantasy world. The novel also deals frankly and seriously with themes of ableism, eugenics, medical abuse, xenophobia, socio-economic class, rape/sexual abuse, and the psychic fallout of rape/sexual abuse. But it's got a lot of whimsical absurdist humor to it, too, and a deep humanist compassion for its characters. The three young adults at the center of the story are all quite likeable, and though they are involved in a kind of love triangle, I found the particulars of it refreshingly queer, strange, and not the primary focus of the story.

The Marigold, by Andrew F. Sullivan (2023) is a pitch-dark, stone cold bummer that is also frequently hilarious and emotionally moving in tender ways that took me by surprise. In this dystopian satire, a bunch of down-and-out relatable characters and one horrible rich guy struggle to survive as near-future Toronto is engulfed by "the Wet"-- a sapient mold-based hive mind accidentally created by the depravity and greed of big business. The residents of the titular condominium/apartment complex feature in short vignettes that demonstrate the despair and alienation people suffer under late stage capitalism, and the way the Wet calls to these people, lures them in, hunts them.

The Open Curtain, by Brian Evenson (2006) is a harrowing nightmare about madness, violence, possession, Mormonism, and the destabilization of one's known reality (well, see also "madness"). It's a type of story that could easily feel shlocky and exploitative of people with certain mental disorders, or just predictable (there are some plot twists you'll guess very quickly if you've ever like...read books or seen movies before...), but Evenson's unornamented yet masterful prose, his meticulous attention to detail, and his non-condescending empathy for both victims of violence and people struggling with delusions, violent impulses, etc. make it rise above those potential problems. At least in my opinion! This one's very disturbing, will definitely leave you feeling like shit.

Hummingbird Salamander, by Jeff VanderMeer (2021) is very emotionally moving and a suspenseful, well-plotted eco-noir page turner! Also a bummer, but leaves one feeling awe and hope and determination as well as mourning the devastating loss of life that climate change has wrought. The protagonist is great, a truly unusual and unlikely detective. I loved her voice-- like any good noir hero, she can throw off a legitimately funny sarcastic quip with the best of them, but she's also prone to astute social observations and flights of breathtaking lyricism.

How to Get Over the End Of the World, by Hal Schrieve (2023) is a TRAGICALLY under-promoted and underrated punk rock magical realist YA masterpiece about trans high schoolers, and their dysfunctional adult mentors, putting on a rock opera to save their community center. This one, unlike most of what I read, is NOT EVEN KIND OF A BUMMER. It's delightful and hilarious from start to finish, though it's definitely not saccharine-sweet or afraid of conflict. In fact, it deals quite bluntly and refreshingly with topics ranging from the relationship one character has with his violent, abusive father, to sexual relationships between teenagers, to the ever-looming awareness of climate change. Every major character is trans! Every single one!! This is kind of a spoiler, but, like, not really lol

Sudden Glory, by Hal Johnson (2023) just goes to show that guys named Hal can really write comic novels. This book has perhaps the highest joke-to-paragraph ratio of anything I’ve ever read, and also probably the most varied types of joke: a person whose sense of humor runs to preposterous situation comedy, slapstick, and lowbrow sexual humor will find a lot to like here, and so will someone whose sense of humor runs to moderately esoteric literary/historical references, social satire, five-layer wordplay, and Wildean bon mots. Since it’s set in the New York City of 2003, there’s even room for a few 9/11 jokes, which could not have appeared without controversy in a book actually published in 2003. This slightly "politically incorrect" edge comes off as good-natured and in keeping with Johnson's commitment to absurdism-- there's never a "laughing at" vibe, more one of "laughing with" human folly, futility, pretensions, etc. At base, this is a story about a person who feels he can't tell the truth or be himself for fear of social rejection, and all the trouble that gets him into.

Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke (2020) is fucking gorgeous, probably one of my favorite books of all time now, this hole was made for me, etc. I can't reasonably expect that most others will have as intense a response to it as I did-- I felt it perfectly conveyed some very important and difficult to articulate things about, like, my personal experience of consciousness, and my experience as a person with certain types of neurological/cognitive/developmental disability navigating the world, through a kind of fabulist prism. But it got great reviews, so, you know, give it a shot! I think it's better not to know anything about it going in, but let me just say, if you're into weird, massive labyrinthine buildings, this hole might also have been made for you.

Devil House, by John Darnielle (2022) is exactly the novel you'd expect "the Mountain Goats guy" to write, in all the best possible ways. It's a story that elevates the inner lives of neurodivergent outsider teens to the mythic heights they deserve. It's a story that brutally critiques the true crime industry. It's a story about the problems of defining people exclusively by their victimhood, or exclusively by the worst thing they ever did. It's a story about the importance of having a little space to oneself, a shelter from the demands and threats of an often cruel world, and the lengths to which a person will go to defend such a shelter if it's broached. Also, there's a long, nauseating section about how it's actually really difficult and gross to chop up a human corpse for disposal.

#next: short story collections and anthologies!!

[sam-glade]

Happy STS! Today I have a riddle: what comes first? The title or the story? 🤭 To expand, I'd love to hear the creation order of one (or several) of your stories. Did you think of characters first? Plot? World? What was the final piece?

Happy STS, Tori💜

That's a very good question🤔

I think it's usually the story, but more specifically a key element of a concept of it, which in my mind starts acting as a shorthand for 'that WIP', and more often than not evolves into the title. But even before that, the very first thing I come up with are a few locations that I really want to explore, so I start coming up with events that will take me to all the intriguing nooks and crannies. Since 4 out of 5 of my novel-sized projects are set in the same world, it's more about exploring an aspect of it than the world as a whole. For Days of Dusk, that's the countryside, then the city where the Army's Command is located, then the manors and palaces of the aristocracy.

As for particular stories, here's the list:

Gifts of Fate (DoD book 1) - the sequel to it was written first, and included mentions of the backstory, which was supposed to be a typical YA fantasy, but as I kept including more details, it grew more unique, until it didn't fit in the background, and stole the spotlight. So, the world and the characters were already very much developed. The title was the very last thing - I had the manuscript ready for beta readers, and only then I started brainstorming the title.

The Prince's Shadow (DoD book 2) - this story has lived in my head for 12+ years, so the beginnings are a bit fuzzy in my memory. The key thing is that it was previously titled Aftermath, because it was about the consequences of being a hero. I can't tell anymore what came first; it feels like the title and the concept were so intertwined. However, after I've written out the prequel (Gifts of Fate), I realised that the concept no longer works, so it was back to the drawing board with respect to the title.

Prodigal Children (DoD book 3) - I've written it a year or two after the first complete draft of Aftermath, as a continuation, still riding the momentum of the previous instalment, and I remember the title being there from the very beginning, and almost shoehorning the story to fit it. It also started as two independent short stories that were left as very rough drafts; the first of which became the first act (after some expanding), and the second the climax. Initially, the stories were meant to take place 50 or so years apart (bear in mind nigh-immortality in this setting), but as I started stitching them together, it became clear that if these two events are about a year apart, it puts so much delightful pressure on the characters.

The Truth Teller - it started with the concept of someone who's nigh-omniscient and simultaneously unable to lie, as in, the metaphysics won't let her say something objectively false, so the title followed very quickly. And of course to get the protagonist in trouble, I came up with the dystopian setting (DoD setting a few millennia later). The government would very much like to have access to a power like this, while the protag would go quite far to resist. I admit, this came up around the time I read Mistborn for the first time.

The Fulcrum - oh boy. That was definitely inspired by the Vivec city in The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. I had this image of a city inhabited by a cult that believes itself to be the centre of the universe and is obsessed with order and control, not to upset the balance of the world, while in reality it's just one of the many larger than life locations. I also visited Korea around that time, and went to all the museums, which indirectly sparked my interest in pre-Medieval cultures. Then I wanted to write a travelogue to organise all of this worldbuilding. So, setting first, then probably the title - the holy city is called Lornai, which translates to 'fulcrum' or 'pivot', and in my mind I started using 'Lornai' and 'fulcrum' interchangeably to think of this setting/story. The story came later.

#sts #ask and i shall answer #writeblr

[maggotsandcream]

I feel like we should take a moment to remember how well written and terrifying the sequence where Honorius kills off all of the resistance except Kitty and Nick one by one is. Bonus for feeling both foreshadowed (very heavily foreshadowed, no one expects the grave robbing to go well) and also shocking in the way of most YA dystopian novels don't have the nerve to brutally kill off the only visible resistance to your universe's fascist government by way of laughing skeleton especially when one of your protagonists is part of it and the book's climax is still a ways off.

I would say that Stroud should write more horror but *gestures at Lockwood & Co*

#bartseq #bartseq spoilers #kitty jones

[loving-family-poll]

i actually also hate tlt. anyway, proof homestuck is the most YA shit:

-first setting: a video game that ~happens in real life11!!!!~ generic overplayed YA premise even in 2008. i had multiple forum roleplays with that exact premise in middle school.

-second setting: an authoritarian, fascist society where your social status is strictly determined by a trait you were born with, and sorted into one of several categories by that trait. the categories all have special colors, symbols, jobs, and magic powers associated with them. do i really need to explain how this one is YA. that was like literally every novel released after h*rry p*tter and the hunger games.

-third setting: a literal dystopian future earth where the world was taken over by a megacorporation and only a handful of humans are left alive. the seas are flooded. branded robot drones roam the earth looking for the protagonists. again. generic YA dystopia plot, this was like, every YA novel from 2013-16.

in conclusion: sure, homestuck innovated webcomics and whatever, but it did that while being YA as hell.

Damn wadda hell even happens in homestuck

#asks #not a poll

[literallymechanical]

Hi. Please write the solarpunk dystopia book. I’d read that in a heartbeat. However, if you don’t have the time, could I bother you for some book recommendations?? I’ve been on a sci-fi space semi-body horror alien kick (children of time, children of ruin, to sleep in a sea of stars) and I’m needing a new one to sink my teeth into. I think I’d like to move a little closer to the horror genera without reading an actual horror book, but anything dystopian, sci-fi, and plant/space/alien related would be cool! Any thoughts?

Space horror isn't my usual genre, nor is horror in general, but here are a few that come close. It can be hard to judge where the line sits between "horror" and "horror-adjacent," so I'm going to err on the side of just recommending a few horrifying things I've enjoyed:

Roadside Picnic, by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, 1972. Old-school soviet scifi alien horror, and the inspiration for an entire genre of fiction – "people go and explore a Weird Zone where reality is borked and bad things happen." Stalker is a direct homage, the Southern Reach trilogy, etc. I read a translation by Antonia Bouis.

The Laundry Files, by Charles Stross, 2004 – present. This one is a longer series, the first book is the Atrocity Archives. A very modern twist on Lovecraft — bureaucratic horror. The "Laundry" is the unofficial name for the British secret service that handles the occult. Necromancy is a field of theoretical computer science pioneered by Alan Turing, and you can summon Nyarlathotep with a well-crafted raytracing algorithm. The protagonist is the department IT guy, Bob Oliver Francis Howard. If you get the pun in the name you're older than me. Later books deal with the occult implications of Brexit.

There Is No Antimemetics Division, by qntm, 2020. Originally published as a serial on the SCP Wiki, later re-edited and compiled it into a standalone novel. Requires no prior knowledge of the SCP Foundation to enjoy. This is the cosmic horror that Lovecraft wishes he could have written. Can be read for free on the SCP Wiki, but I recommend buying a copy to support the author. Bonkers amazing, pedal-to-the-metal, goes from "quirky high-concept scifi" to "oh god what are they going to do to him with that chisel" real fast.

American Elsewhere, by Robert Jackson Bennet, 2013. It's a bit obscure and might be harder to find, but it's one of the best books I've read in years. Scifi horror-thriller that gets both splashily cosmic and laser-tight. Our protagonist comes to a small town in New Mexico that doesn't appear on any maps to find closure after her abusive father's death, and gets tangled up in horrifying secrets. Nasty, achingly heartbreaking, grand, and takes its time in the most delicious way. The author writes mediocre YA fantasy now, and that's a damn shame.

John Dies At The End (and its sequels), by David Wong, 2007 – 2022. Comedy-horror about shitty paranormal investigators. The comedy is genuinely hilarious and the horror is genuinely horrifying – closer to the cosmic- than body-horror, though it does get up-close and personal. One of the few comedy-horror stories I've read that convincingly pulls off both.

Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story, by Christopher Moore, 1995. A raunchy vampire story, set against the sobering backdrop of the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco. I have no idea if this actually counts as horror but I think more people should read Christopher Moore. The tonal whiplash between goofy vampire sex, night-shift convenience store workers bowling with frozen turkeys in the aisles, and the trauma of young men dying from love and dirty needles, is expertly crafted.

I could keep going but this list is already getting a bit long. Hey followers et al., you should add more recommendations, especially ones that are actual space horror!

#fiction

[queeraliensposts]

Hey I just saw some loser shit on someone who was posting about the book they were working on so I figured I'd tell ya'll about my book that I've been working on for 5 years

• YA Dystopian novel

• It's set in the year 2063 and it's about a runaway teen, who makes his living by being a hacker, that is found by a rebel group that asks for his help with a rescue mission in exchange that they help him find his younger brother

• It's got lots of representation: the MC is a bisexual Latino trans boy, the love interest is a Jewish gay boy with ADHD, and there is also an asexual autistic black boy, a Korean lesbian, and an indigenous two-spirit pansexual demigirl.

• Author is an autistic bisexual trans man and a Mexican immigrant

• Lot about queer history as well as the truth about American history

• Talk about trauma and mental illness

• Protagonist is a runaway teen but the book doesn't romanticize it

• Very political the way dystopian fiction is meant to be

• Trans Rage

• Fuck patriotism

• First book of a trilogy

• Teenage characters that talk and act like teenagers

• More world heavy rather than action-heavy (though rest assured there is action it's just taking a back seat for this one)

• Scarily realistic dystopia

• Byronic hero MC

• Found Family

• Enemies to Lovers?

• If you liked: Cemetery Boys, Legend series by Marie Lu, The Witch King, Nimona, or Hell Followed With Us, you're gonna love this book.

• If you've ever been called chronically online, or told you're reaching by white queers on tik tok, this book is for you

• If you're a Terf, neo-liberal, transmed, cishet white boy that uses being progressive as a status, cringe culture loser, incel, trump fanatic, or you call trans men expressing anger "toxic masculinity" you're gonna hate this book

The book is called "The New World" hoping to be done by the end of January

#lgbtqia #writerblr #ya dystopia #dystopian #lgbtq characters #lgbtqia representation #lgbtqia books #poc characters #poc representation #poc books #neurodivergent #neurodivergent representation #autism representation #adhd representation #work in progress

[italofobia]

🍰🎂🍩🍫 tutti i dolci per chi vuoi❤️

grazie amo ❤ "tutti i dolci per chi vuoi" perchè non parlo più dei miei oc LMAOOOO

i think ill go withhhhh nina (name pending)! shes the protagonist of this new idea i had thats sort of kind of inspired by a shitty YA dystopian novel from 2012 if it was set in a shrek-like universe

🍰 what's something your OC counts as unforgivable?

mmmmm i have yet to finalize her background but one thing i know for sure is that she grew up extremely poor so naturally she hates rich people by default. one thing she considers to be unforgivable is rich people not sharing their wealth and also people who betray their principles for their own benefit. but shes also a criminal and a thief so shes more flexible with crimes and such. she hasnt killed yet but she would do so if she had no other option.

🎂 has your OC have any contradictory interests or traits to the first preception people have of them? how do they surprise people?

despite her rocky childhood nina is a proficient musician and possesses an absolute pitch (she can recognize notes right away just by hearing them). she was also lucky enough to be taught how to read in a world where the majority of poor people are illiterate and is a fast learner. this shocks most of the nobles and dignitaries she is forced to interact with in the princess contest.

🍩 what's a crime your OC is most likely to commit? what's a crime they're most likely to get arrested for?

PICKPOCKETING!!! the story actually starts with her getting arrested for this lmao. shes actually good at stealing and has done it successfully many times this time she just happened to steal from a noble who was protected by a spell

🍫 where does your OC go to think?

......nowhere LMAO. she doesnt really have the privacy to think during the princess contest since shes being magically recorded most of the time. i guess her room is the most private place she is allowed to stay in?

#grazie per l'ask mwah 💋 #oc stuff

[dankovskaya]

i went to a well known predominantly Jewish university in the us (it’s probably definitely the one ur thinking of) and those tags are so insanely real like the amount of acquaintances and people i thought were rational, kind people, even some who i even would think of as leftists more than liberals, who are just coming out of the woodwork saying the most classic Zionist talking points straight from Israel’s twitter propaganda. it’s just really fucking insane

No like really it's kind of horrifying 😭 Especially cause there seems to just be 0 self awareness. Some of these ppl definitely think theyre like. YA novel protagonists fighting against the dystopian oppression of People Who Are Against Genocide Oops I Mean Terrorism Sympathizers. Remarkably childish self-victimizing oppression fantasy shit from people who r ACTUALLY OPPRESSED. like how does this happen. Yes antisemitism is upticking and you guys and your stupid fucking golden calf of an illegitimate white supremacist state are making it WORSE FOR ALL OF US❗️❗️❗️ It's actually scary .

#ask #Like i guess all that shalom shit was a lie then&$& #This is why (even though i straight up have NEVER EVEN SEEN THIS) I kind of just do not care abt some Palestinians being antisemitic bc #Zionists love to bring that up but IF ANYONE ON EARTH HAS A VALID REASON......

[dumbasswhatever]

failing hard mode because it’s definitely YA but Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard is just terrible imo. I read it because I had to write a book report on it for an English class and by the end I wanted to throw the book out and tell the library it was mauled by several rightfully-angry crows. The premise of the book is that people with silver blood are born with powers, and those with red are not. Naturally, because this is a dystopian YA novel, the silver-bloods rule and the red-bloods are treated like dirt. Suddenly, our protagonist (whose name i forgor) develops powers and is suddenly thrust into royalty to hide them from everyone else or something. It’s a standard dystopia where she falls in love with two guys and helps rebel against the monarchy and one of the guys is evil in a shocking twist that felt more like the author going “haha wouldn’t it be funny if i suddenly make this guy evil for no reason?” etc. etc. Sorry for ranting but. Don’t read it, save yourself the headache.

it's okay anon i forgive you for failing hard mode ✌ bc i love hearing people rant about books. i was thinking that i kinda wanna read this book now to see how bad it is but actually none of that sounds like it stands out as particularly bad in the world of YA dystopias....... bc so many ya dystopias are so similar and so bad

#does anyone else wanna send me a book unrecommendation 🥺🤞