Normal girls: Omg let's go get drunk and party
Me: Omg let's talk about fictional characters

“I find it hard to look at her. I know from experience that beneath every peripheral girl is a central truth. She's hiding hers away, but at the same time she wants me to see it. ”

—Every Day, David Levithan

“Tamora Pierce I have spent my life as an advocate for young women. The Steubenville case has been one extended slap in the face to young women everywhere, but to have the latest hit come from a once-distinguished news service is an expression of how pervasive the rape culture is in this country. These news commentators told every young woman watching that her life, her dignity, her future, her safety, all meant NOTHING. Literally nothing, because the person whose life was being mourned was not that of the girl who was fondled, photographed, filmed, finger- and object-raped, urinated on, dumped, and turned into the target for sleazy jokes and threats, but those of her rapists--and not even all of them. Pity the poor sex offenders? CNN, if they hadn't been protected by their coaches and the law enforcement structure of their town, they would have been tried as adults and earned their sentences as adults, just as they earned the labels of sex offenders. If you cannot see the anti-woman rage they expended upon the body of this girl as the kind of rage that does not end in one expression, then you have not been paying attention to the news you claim to report. You are every bit as wrong as the town that tried to protect them.”

—Tamora Pierce on the CNN coverage of the Steubenville Rapists

“Critics who treat ‘adult’ as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish: these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty, I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.”

—C.S. Lewis

The word “okay” is used 138 times in The Fault in Our Stars

Reblog if you aren't ashamed to read young adult fiction.

Because I want to follow you all.

YA Books with (Little to) No Romance

vocaloid-review asked: I feel like a horrible person: I don’t want to read as much anymore ever since I read books aimed at my age group as sexist & condescending but I need to to improve as a writer. And when I read comic books, they’re not too great either. Do you have a list of books that’ll kick me back into gear, or at least some words of comfort for a girl who doesn’t want all her books about women & men to be ruled by romance, lazy plots, & what sells? (hell just give me a book without romance uuugh)

Here are some awesome books (most are YA) that have little to no romance in them:

The Ender’s Game series by Orson Scott Card (endorsed by blakesreckoning)
The Giver by Lois Lowry
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
World War Z by Max Brooks
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
Stitches by David Small
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (endorsed by iseult)
Monster by Walter Dean Myers
Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu and Erin Mcguire
The Ranger’s Apprentice series by John Flanagan
A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
Bound by Donna Jo Napoli
The Orphan’s Tales by Catherynne M. Valente
House of Stairs by William Sleator
The Dreamhouse Kings series by Robert Liparulo
Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride
Holes by Louis Sachar
Hate List by Jennifer Brown
I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
The Young James Bond series by Charlie Higson
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
The Inkheart trilogy by Cornelia Funke
A Dog’s Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron (suggested by forestrabbit)
Room by Emma Donoghue (suggested by ameftowriter)
The Old Kingdom trilogy by Garth Nix (suggested by rachelthehouseelf)
The Transall Saga by Gary Paulsen (suggested by calliotp)
The Chrestomanci series by Diana Wynne Jones (suggested by windsroad)
The Dalemark series by Diana Wynne Jones (suggested by windsroad)
Unwind by Neal Shusterman (suggested by davidtennantismylover)
The Secrets of The Immortal Nicholas Flamel series by Michael Scott (suggested by jejunemondegreen)
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart (suggested by illuminatedbycandlelight)
The Black Jewels trilogy by Anne Bishop (suggested by pfdiva)
The Bartimaeus trilogy by Jonathan Stroud (suggested by sehrglanzvoll)
The Twelve Kingdoms by Fuyumi Ono (suggested by sehrglanzvoll)
City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau (suggested by sehrglanzvoll)
Homeward Bounders by Diana Wynne Jones (suggested by jillwandersen)
The Dark Is Rising series by Susan Cooper (suggested by jillwandersen)
The Wind Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami (suggested by dorkindenial)
The Maze Runner by James Dashner (suggested by we-could-go-home)
Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk (suggested by skeptikitty)
Paper Towns by John Green (suggested by revelsinmalevolence)
The Flora Segunda series by Ysabeau S. Wilce (suggested by revelsinmalevolence)
Pigtopia by Kitty Fitzgerald (suggested by veritaspeck)
The Circle of Magic quartet by Tamora Pierce (suggested by fromshadows)
7th Sigma by Steven Gould (suggested by fromshadows)
The Henry Reed series by Keith Robertson (suggested by fromshadows)
The Dragonslayer’s Apprentice by David Calder and Stieg Retlin (suggested by fromshadows)
The Chronicles of Prydain series by Lloyd Alexander
The Patron Saint of Butterflies by Cecilia Galante (suggested by iseulttoinjury)
The Wanderer by Sharon Creech (suggested by iseulttoinjury)
A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket (suggested by iseulttoinjury)
I, Claudius by Robert Graves (suggested by iseult)
Claudius the God by Robert Graves (suggested by iseult)
Our Only May Amelia by Jennifer L Holm (suggested by iseult)
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams (suggested by iseult)
Matilda by Ronald Dahl

Thank you for your question!

Anyone else have suggestions for great YA (or Adult) fiction novels with little to no romance or at least a fresh take on things?

The Mortal Instruments series

The only books series that includes an 800 year old bisexual asian wizard with rainbow coloured hair.

The Basics of Writing and Reading YA Fiction

Anonymous asked: Hi, what are some good resources for first time writer’s of Young Adult fiction. Also, any good recommendations besides some of the more popular ones like Suzanne Collins and Cassandre Clare. Thanks.

We’re going to give you a ton of articles on writing YA fiction, but here are the basics:

Do not condescend to your reader. Ever. Do not preach. No one cares about five pages of exposition detailing the dangers of drunk driving or pot smoking. Be honest. Be open. Tell a riveting story not a cautionary tale.
Create strong young characters. Young people are complex and your characters should reflect this. Their decisions aren’t always the right ones. Their thought processes don’t always make sense. They’re learning. They’re growing. Don’t forget to have them make mistakes and learn from them in believable ways. Give your characters power over the events in the story. Children in YA fiction have the power to change (their) world. Don’t overlook this.
Have a solid plot. This is especially true in YA. YA readers are there for the dynamite plots. Action is a big deal. Even if it’s a relatively “small” story (no saving the world), the overall feel should be epic.
Write with a strong YA voice. Young adults sound like young adults. They’re not adults in teenaged bodies. Young people speak differently, have different interests and priorities, and behave differently from adults. Write a voice young people want to hear, but which also resonates with adults (lots of adults read YA now).
Listen to young adults. They know what they want. Go talk to some young people. They’ll tell you exactly the sorts of stories they care about. Learn from them first, then write a story for them.

Here are some articles on YA fiction:

And here are some great authors in YA fiction:

John Marsden, author of the Tomorrow series
P.C. Cast, author of the House of Night series
Eoin Colfer, author of the Artemis Fowl series
Cornelia Funke, author of the Inkheart trilogy
Richelle Mean, author of the Vampire Academy series and the Bloodlines series
Alyson Noel, author of The Immortals series
D.J. Machale, author of the Pendragon series and the Morpheus Road trilogy
Veronica Roth, author of the Divergent trilogy
Melissa Marr, author of the Wicked Lovely series
John Green, author of Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, Paper Towns, and The Fault in Our Stars
Maureen Johnson, author of The Key to the Golden Firebird and the 13 Little Blue Envelopes series
Lauren Myracle, author of the Winnie Years series and the Internet Girls series
Nancy Holder, co-author of the Wicked series
Debbie Viguié, co-author of the Wicked series
Tamora Pierce, author of The Song of the Lioness series
Christopher Pike, author of The Secret of Ka and the Remember Me series
Celia Rees, author of the H.A.U.N.T.S. series
Rick Riordan, author of the Olympian Demigod Series (there are two)
Angie Sage, author of the Septimus Heap series
J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series
L.J. Smith, author of The Vampire Diaries series
Lenomy Snicket, author of A Series of Unfortunate Events
Maggie Stiefvater, author of the Shiver trilogy
John Flanagan, author of the Ranger’s Apprentice series
Jana Oliver, author of the Demon Trappers series
Anne Osterlund, author of Aurelia, Exile, and Academy 7
Orson Scott Card, author of the Ender’s Game series

Okay, listen. There are literally thousands of young adult authors. Tons of the best authors in YA fiction are not listed here, but it’s a start.

Here are some more directories for great YA authors:

If you’d like to add an author to the list, reply to this post or shoot us an ask. Please format your suggestion like this:

[author’s first and last name], author of [book or series title]