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books

Experimental Hybrid Novels

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The term “hybrid” in kidlit is frequently used to refer to graphic/narrative hybrids like Diary of a Wimpy Kid, but lately I’m noticing a mini-trend that uses that concept slightly differently – combining the traditional narrative with other ephemera like magazine articles, online chat transcripts, photographs, and the like (and illustrations too, usually). Often, the straightforward narrative makes up less than half of the book, and the other methods are much more integral to the story. While the idea is by no means new, I do find it interesting that it’s cropping up a bit more frequently of late, and it’s being taken in new and creative directions.

Kelly wrote a genre guide to alternative formats earlier this year, which covers these sorts of books, but I think some authors are playing with the idea more creatively than a lot of the examples we gave then. Stories told in epistolary format, verse, or graphic/narrative combo, while slightly different, aren’t really considered experimental anymore. I love seeing the types of formats exemplified by the books below that really push the boundaries and force us to dig for a new term to describe them. (Incidentally, what would you call books like these?)

I compiled a brief list below, but I’d love to learn about more, so please comment away. Descriptions are from Worldcat and my own notes are in brackets.

The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone by Adele Griffin
When a celebrated New York City teenager, known for her subversive
street art, mysteriously dies, her life is examined in a series of
interviews with her parents, friends, boyfriends, mentors, and critics.  
[This description only scratches the surface of everything that’s in Griffin’s book, which also includes photos, Addison’s artwork, and magazine articles alongside the interviews. You can read Kelly’s review here and a discussion with the author at School Library Journal.]

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
The planet Kerenza is attacked, and Kady and Ezra find themselves on a
space fleet fleeing the enemy, while their ship’s artificial
intelligence system and a deadly plague may be the end of them all.
[This is a forthcoming title – October 20 – that, according to Kirkus, combines “interview transcripts, memos, instant-messaging transcripts, diary entries, and more.” I have the review copy and am excited to dive in, though a little intimidated by its 600 pages.]

The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich
Told through journal entries, a psychotherapist’s notes, court records,
and more, relates the tale of Carly, a teen who was institutionalized
after her parents’ death but released to Elmbrige High School, where she
is believed to have a second personality or soul named Kaitlyn, and/or
be possessed by a demon.
[This YA horror novel will be published September 15.]

S by J. J. Abrams and Doug Dorst
A young woman picks up a book left behind by a stranger. Inside it are
his margin notes, which reveal a reader entranced by the story and by
its mysterious author. She responds with notes of her own, leaving the
book for the stranger, and so begins an unlikely conversation that
plunges them both into the unknown. The book: Ship of Theseus, the final
novel by a prolific but enigmatic writer named V.M. Straka, in
which a man with no past is shanghaied onto a strange ship with a
monstrous crew and launched onto a disorienting and perilous journey.
[This is an adult title that actually has removable pieces scattered throughout it, making it impractical for library shelves but pretty fun to play with as a reader. The conceit is interesting – it’s a “real” book that’s been written in by two students, and their marginalia makes up the story, though the book is a story in itself as well.]

2015 YA Novels in Verse: A Book List

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Every April I like to do a big round-up of novels in verse. It’s a format I enjoy quite a bit, and I tend to pick up as many verse novels as possible.

Back in 2013, I wrote a genre guide to verse novels for those who want to become more acquainted with it, as well as some standout titles in the format. I updated it a little bit last year with this roundup of 2014 novels in verse, and earlier this month, I talked about verse and how it’s a subversive form (and feminist as such) as part of Emma’s “Poetically Speaking” series.

Let’s take a look at the YA books out in 2015 that fall under the category of verse novels. Some of these are written entirely in the format, and others interweave verse into more traditional prose. All descriptions are from WorldCat, and if I’ve missed any from traditional publishers, let me know in the comments.

Audacity by Melanie Crowder (available now): A historical fiction novel in verse detailing the life of Clara Lemlich and her struggle for women’s labor rights in the early 20th century in New York.

All We Have Is Now by Lisa Schroeder (July 28): Since she ran away from home Emerson has been living on the streets of Portland, relying on her wits and her friend Vince to get by, but as a meteor approaches North America they meet Carl, who tells them he has been granting people’s wishes–so what will they do if this is their last day on Earth, and, more important, what will they do if it is not?

 

One by Sarah Crossan (September 15): Despite problems at home, sixteen-year-old conjoined twins Tippi and Grace are loving going to school for the first time and making real friends when they learn that a cardiac problem will force them to have separation surgery, which they have never before considered.

Skyscraping by Cordelia Jensen (June 2): In 1993 in New York City, high school senior Mira uncovers many secrets, including that her father has a male lover.

 

A Heart Like Ringo Starr by Linda Oatman High (available now): Her family runs Stevens Brothers Funeral Home. Which is ironic, since Faith Hope Stevens is not long for this world. Unless someone dies. Unless there is a match. Staying alive will mean a heart transplant. Faith copes with wit and nerve. She’s also a little pissed off. She will never grow old. She will never have a boyfriend. Then one shocking day everything changes. 

The Lost Marble Notebook of Forgotten Girl & Random Boy by Marie Jaskulka (available now): Forgotten Girl, a fifteen-year-old poet, is going through the most difficult time of her life–the breakup of her parents, and her mom’s resulting depression–when she meets Random Boy, a hot guy who, like her, feels like an outcast and secretly writes poetry to deal with everything going on in his life. In The Lost Marble Notebook of Forgotten Girl & Random Boy, the couple’s poems come together to tell their unique love story. The two nameless teenagers come from opposite sides of the tracks, yet they find understanding in each other when they lay bare their life stories through the poetry they write and share with each other. Through verse, they document the power of first kisses, the joy of finally having someone on their side, the devastation of jealousy, and the heartbreaking sadness of what each of them is simultaneously dealing with at home and hiding from the world. Finally they have someone to tell and somewhere to tell it in their marble notebook. This is the powerful story of two imperfect teens in first love who find solace in poetry.

  

5 to 1 by Holly Bodger (May 12): In a dystopian future where gender selection has led to girls outnumbering boys 5 to 1 marriage is arranged based on a series of tests. It’s Sudasa’s turn to pick a husband through this ‘fair’ method, but she’s not sure she wants to be a part of it. 

Traffick by Ellen Hopkins (November 3): Five teenagers struggle to find their way out of prostitution. Sequel to Tricks. 

 
Dating Down by Stefanie Lyons (available now): Seventeen-year-old aspiring artist Samantha Henderson, eager to learn about life and to get away from her father’s political campaigns and her stepmother, refuses to give up on her new boyfriend, “X,” even after he proves to be trouble, damaging her friendships and introducing her to drugs.

Get Genrefied: Alternate/Alternative Formats

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Every month, Kimberly and I talk about genres and formats in YA in our “Get Genrefied” series. We’ve tackled everything from high fantasy to thrillers, contemporary/realistic to the graphic novel format. Each month, we love talking back and forth about what topic we want to approach, and we’ve built a nice list of what we haven’t talked about yet.

But this month, I thought I would go back and talk more about a format that I have talked about before. Not because we’re out of ideas, but instead, because it’s a format that got a lot of talk at ALA Midwinter in January from various publishers as being something they’re acquiring and publishing more and more of. That is the alternative format — books that aren’t a traditional narrative structure. Because this isn’t a traditional genre in the same way that urban fantasy or cyberpunk may be, this guide will be a little bit less traditional as well. Alternate format novels take on every genre, and there’s not necessarily an easy, straightforward way to define them. You know what it is when you see it.

Definition

There’s not a singular, solid definition of what a novel in an alternate — or alternative — format is. It’s hard to even say which is the right terminology, alternate or alternative, so for the purposes of this guide, the terms are used interchangeably but mean the same thing.
We’re used to a traditional narrative format when it comes to novels. That doesn’t mean that we expect the same structure with each book, but we expect the story to be composed of lines and paragraphs which flow into chapters of some sort. There’s a linear structure keeping the story together. Alternative formats do away with this linear format we’re used to and instead, they use different methods of story telling. This could be through letters, which make them epistolary novels, through diary entries, through e-mails or instant messages, through Twitter or other social media, through lists, or through mixed media, including novels that are partially traditional narrative and partially graphic novels. 
It could be easily argued that verse novels and novels told through multiple points of view fall under the alternate format umbrella. For me, I don’t know anymore if I agree with that argument. Not because they’re not different, but because there’s a specific term for verse novels (and it’s acknowledged as a format in and of itself) and because the use of multiple points of view isn’t that surprising or different anymore. Multiple points of view still tend to follow the traditional narrative structure, unless they are themselves in an alternate format (say one of the characters tells his or her side of the story through lists or illustrations). This is splitting hairs, of course, and considering either or both as alternate is perfectly reasonable. 
Another kink in defining alternate formats is that it can be tricky to figure out what an end point to the category is. Would alternate format novels also include the sorts of books that feature a digital component to them? Do transmedia works count as alternative formats? It would make sense to say yes to this, though for the purposes of defining alternate formats, as well as keeping this guide tight, I think it’s fair to leave those sorts of books out of the definition because many transmedia works or novels which feature digital components are not entirely dependent on those pieces to tell the story. Often, though not always, that’s bonus content for readers who want to continue digging deeper into the worlds they’re reading. 
So what’s an alternate format then? It’s a book in which non-traditional methods are used to tell the story and those methods are crucial to the understanding of that story. 

Resources

Because alternative formats aren’t a genre in and of themselves, these books are eligible for awards in their appropriate categories. Fiction titles — including graphic hybrids — are as eligible for the Printz, as well as the Morris awards through YALSA, and they’re eligible for the National Book Award in Young People’s Literature. Books in alternate formats are eligible for other respective awards and selection lists through YALSA, including the Best Fiction for Young Adults list and the Excellence in Non-Fiction Award, if the work in question is non-fiction (an example of an alternate format in non-fiction may include something like a graphic hybrid memoir). Depending on the genre of the book in an alternate formate, it may also be eligible for various awards, including the Edgar, the Norton Award, and so forth. 
Of course, because these books are eligible across awards and honor lists, it’s not always easy to pull out which titles are written in alternative formats. This is where reading annotations, as well as writing strong annotations, becomes useful. Making note of books featuring something different in structure makes finding them much easier. 
We’ve put together lists and resources in the past: 
  • As part of the 2012 Contemporary YA week, we put together a list of contemporary/realistic YA in alternate formats. This included novels in verse, as well as books told through multiple points of view. As proof of how much we grow as readers and thinkers, I’m not entirely sure I agree anymore that novels told through verse or in multiple points of view are necessarily alternate formats; however, I think they do offer something different, so they’re worth noting here. 
  • Verse novels as rounded up last year and in previous years. 
Around the book world, a few more resources worth having on hand to make finding alternate format YA novels easier:
  • Jennie wrote about a handful of epistolary YA novels at YA Reading List. 

Reading List 

Because this could be lengthy, this reading list is limited to books published in the last 4 to 5 years. It’s especially heavy on upcoming titles, as this is a format that’s going to be growing in the next year. Links above will lead you to many excellent backlist titles that fit the alternate format category in YA. I’ve also included forthcoming titles I’m aware of, but if there are any missing, lay them on me in the comments. Likewise, this is a contemporary/realistic heavy list, so genre novels fitting the alternate format definition are ones I’d love to know more about as well. 

These books range from being told as graphic hybrids to play scripts, from art class assignments in narrative non-fiction format (fictionalized) to more traditional diary/epistolary formats. As usual, all descriptions are from WorldCat unless otherwise noted. 

Me Being Me Is Exactly As Insane As You Being You by Todd Hasak-Lowy (March 24): Through a series of lists, a narrator reveals how fifteen-year old Darren’s world was rocked by his parents’ divorce just as his brother, Nate, was leaving for college, and a year later when his father comes out as gay, then how he begins to deal with it all after a stolen weekend with Nate and his crush, Zoey.

The Truth Commission by Susan Juby (April 14): As a project for her “creative non-fiction module” at a school for the arts, Normandy Pale chronicles the work of the Truth Commission, through which she and her two best friends ask classmates and faculty about various open secrets, while Norm’s famous sister reveals some very unsettling truths of her own.

The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley by Shaun David Hutchinson: Convinced he should have died in the accident that killed his parents and sister, sixteen-year-old Drew lives in a hospital, hiding from employees and his past, until Rusty, set on fire for being gay, turns his life around. Includes excerpts from the superhero comic Drew creates.



Hold Me Closer: The Tiny Cooper Story by David Levithan (March 17): Larger-than-life Tiny Cooper finally gets to tell his story, from his fabulous birth and childhood to his quest for true love and his infamous parade of ex-boyfriends, in the form of a musical he wrote.

The Bunker Diary by Kevin Brooks: I can’t believe I fell for it. It was still dark when I woke up this morning. As soon as my eyes opened I knew where I was. A low-ceilinged rectangular building made entirely of whitewashed concrete. There are six little rooms along the main corridor. There are no windows. No doors. The lift is the only way in or out. What’s he going to do to me?

Gabi, A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero: Sixteen-year-old Gabi Hernandez chronicles her senior year in high school as she copes with her friend Cindy’s pregnancy, friend Sebastian’s coming out, her father’s meth habit, her own cravings for food and cute boys, and especially, the poetry that helps forge her identity.

Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler and Maira Kalman: Sixteen-year-old Min Green writes a letter to Ed Slaterton in which she breaks up with him, documenting their relationship and how items in the accompanying box, from bottle caps to a cookbook, foretell the end.

Roomies by Tara Altebrando and Sara Zarr: While living very different lives on opposite coasts, seventeen-year-old Elizabeth and eighteen-year-old Lauren become acquainted by email the summer before they begin rooming together as freshmen at UC-Berkeley.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews: Seventeen-year-old Greg has managed to become part of every social group at his Pittsburgh high school without having any friends, but his life changes when his mother forces him to befriend Rachel, a girl he once knew in Hebrew school who has leukemia.

Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaria: When Laurel starts writing letters to dead people for a school assignment, she begins to spill about her sister’s mysterious death, her mother’s departure from the family, her new friends, and her first love.

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick: A day in the life of a suicidal teen boy saying good-bye to the four people who matter most to him.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (series): A horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children who once lived here were more than just peculiar.

 

Asylum by Madeleine Roux (series): Three teens at a summer program for gifted students uncover shocking secrets in the sanatorium-turned-dorm where they’re staying–secrets that link them all to the asylum’s dark past.

Chasing Shadows by Swati Avasthi, illustrated by Craig Phillips: Chasing Shadows is a searing look at the impact of one random act of violence. Before: Corey, Holly, and Savitri are one unit– fast, strong, inseparable. Together they turn Chicago concrete and asphalt into a freerunner’s jungle gym, ricocheting off walls, scaling buildings, leaping from rooftop to rooftop. But acting like a superhero doesn’t make you bulletproof. After: Holly and Savitri are coming unglued. Holly says she’s chasing Corey’s killer, chasing revenge. Savitri fears Holly’s just running wild– and leaving her behind. Friends should stand by each other in times of crisis. But can you hold on too tight? Too long? In this intense novel, told in two voices, and incorporating comic-style art sections, Swati Avasthi creates a gripping portrait of two girls teetering on the edge of grief and insanity. Two girls who will find out just how many ways there are to lose a friend– and how many ways to be lost.

Because You’ll Never Meet Me by Leah Thomas (July 2): Ollie, who has seizures when near electricity, lives in a backwoods cabin with his mother and rarely sees other people, and Moritz, born with no eyes and a heart defect that requires a pacemaker, is bullied at his high school, but when a physician who knows both suggests they begin corresponding, they form a strong bond that may get them through dark times.

  

Bright Lights, Dark Nights by Stephen Emond (August 11): Walter Wilcox’s first love, Naomi, happens to be African American, so when Walter’s policeman father is caught in a racial profiling scandal, the teens’ bond and mutual love of the Foo Fighters may not be enough to keep them together through the pressures they face at school, at home, and online.

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon (September 1): My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world.I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black–black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.

Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster. (Description via Goodreads). 

Chopsticks by Jessica Anthony and Rodrigo Corral: In a love story told in photographs and drawings, Glory, a brilliant piano prodigy, is drawn to Frank, an artistic new boy, and the farther she falls, the deeper she spirals into madness until the only song she is able to play is “Chopsticks.”

Contemporary YA Fiction in Alternative Formats Book List

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Looking to read a book written in an alternative format? I’ve got you covered. Here are a host of recently published contemporary YA titles written in an alternative format. I’ve included epistolary, verse, and multiple point of view books in this list. None of these books are published after 2010, and all descriptions come from WorldCat. I’ve kept it to one book per author, since some authors choose to write multiple books in an alternative format. 

This is obviously not a comprehensive list, so feel free to add any additional titles in the comments.

The Day Before by Lisa Schroeder (verse): Sixteen-year-old Amber, hoping to spend one perfect day alone at the beach before her world is turned upside down, meets and feels a strong connection to Cade, who is looking for his own escape, for a very different reason.

Cracked by KM Walton (multiple POV): When Bull Mastrick and Victor Konig wind up in the same psychiatric ward at age sixteen, each recalls and relates in group therapy the bullying relationship they have had since kindergarten, but also facts about themselves and their families that reveal they have much in common.

Crazy by Amy Reed (epistolary and multiple POV): Connor and Izzy, two teens who met at a summer art camp in the Pacific Northwest where they were counsellors, share a series of emails in which they confide in one another, eventally causing Connor to become worried when he realizes that Izzy’s emotional highs and lows are too extreme.

Getting Somewhere by Beth Neff (multiple POV): Four teenaged girls participating in a progressive juvenile detention facility on a farm have their lives changed by the experience.

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley (multiple POV): Told in alternating voices, an all-night adventure featuring Lucy, who is determined to find an elusive graffiti artist named Shadow, and Ed, the last person Lucy wants to spend time with, except for the fact that he may know how to find Shadow.

The List by Siobhan Vivian (multiple POV): Every year at Mount Washington High School somebody posts a list of the prettiest and ugliest girls from each grade–this is the story of eight girls, freshman to senior, and how they are affected by the list.

34 Pieces of You by Carmen Rodrigues (multiple POV): After Ellie dies of a drug overdose, her brother, her best friend, and her best friend’s sister face painful secrets of their own when they try to uncover the truth about Ellie’s death.

The Children and the Wolves by Adam Rapp (multiple POV): Abducted by teen genius Bounce and her drifter friends Wiggins and Orange, three-year-old Frog seems content to eat cereal and play a video game about wolves all day–a game that parallels the reality around her–until Wiggins is overcome by guilt and tension and takes action.

Tilt by Ellen Hopkins (verse and multiple POV): Three teens, connected by their parents’ bad choices, tell in their own voices of their lives and loves as Shane finds his first boyfriend, Mikayla discovers that love can be pushed too far, and Harley loses herself in her quest for new experiences.

My Book of Life by Angel by Martine Leavitt (verse): 16-year-old Angel struggles to free herself from the trap of prostitution in which she is caught.

Pieces of Us by Margie Gelbwasser (multiple POV): Four teenagers from two families–sisters Katie and Julie and brothers Alex and Kyle–meet every summer at a lakeside community in upstate New York, where they escape their everyday lives and hide disturbing secrets.

How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr (multiple POV): Told from their own viewpoints, seventeen-year-old Jill, in grief over the loss of her father, and Mandy, nearly nineteen, are thrown together when Jill’s mother agrees to adopt Mandy’s unborn child but nothing turns out as they had anticipated.

The Absolute Value of -1 by Steve Brezenoff (multiple POV): Three teenagers relate their experiences as they try to cope with problems in school and at home by smoking, drinking, using drugs, and running track.

Audition by Stasia Ward Kehoe (verse): When sixteen-year-old Sara, from a small Vermont town, wins a scholarship to study ballet in New Jersey, her ambivalence about her future increases even as her dancing improves.

Confessions of the Sullivan Sisters by Natalie Standiford (multiple POV): Upon learning on Christmas Day that their rich and imperious grandmother may soon die and disown the family unless the one who offended her deeply will confess, each of the three Sullivan sisters sets down her offenses on paper.

Displacement by Thalia Chaltas (verse): After tragedy strikes her family, Vera runs away to a small desert town where she tries unsuccessfully to forget her grief and sorrow.

Exposed by Kimberly Marcus (verse): High school senior Liz, a gifted photographer, can no longer see things clearly after her best friend accuses Liz’s older brother of a terrible crime.

Leverage by Joshua Cohen (multiple POV): High school sophomore Danny excels at gymnastics but is bullied, like the rest of the gymnasts, by members of the football team, until an emotionally and physically scarred new student joins the football team and forms an unlikely friendship with Danny.

LIE by Caroline Bock (multiple POV): Told in several voices, a group of Long Island high school seniors conspire to protect eighteen-year-old Jimmy after he brutally assaults two Salvadoran immigrants, until they begin to see the moral implications of Jimmy’s actions and the consequences of being loyal to a violent bully.

Orchards by Holly Thompson (verse): Sent to Japan for the summer after an eighth-grade classmate’s suicide, half-Japanese, half-Jewish Kana Goldberg tries to fit in with relatives she barely knows and reflects on the guilt she feels over the tragedy back home.

Rival by Sara Bennett-Wealer (multiple POV): Two high school rivals compete in a prestigious singing competition while reflecting on the events that turned them from close friends to enemies the year before.

Shakespeare Makes the Playoffs by Ron Koertge (verse): Fourteen-year-old Kevin Boland, poet and first baseman, is torn between his cute girlfriend Mira and Amy, who is funny, plays Chopin on the piano, and is also a poet.

Tweet Heart by Elizabeth Rudnik (Tweets, emails, blogs): Lottie wants to help her friend Claire find love, and Claire thinks that she is on the right track when her crush starts following her on Twitter, while Will hides his crush on her and a mutual friend tries to get them together.

Unlocked by Ryan G Van Cleave (verse): While trying to impress a beautiful, unattainable classmate, fourteen-year-old Andy discovers that a fellow social outcast may be planning an act of school violence.

Waiting by Carol Lynch Williams (verse): As the tragic death of her older brother devastates the family, teenaged London struggles to find redemption and finds herself torn between her brother’s best friend and a handsome new boy in town.

You Are Not Here by Samantha Schutz (Verse): Annaleah’s grief over the tragic death of seventeen-year-old Brian is compounded by the fact that her friends did not like him, while his friends and both of their families knew nothing of their intimate relationship.

Guest Post: Lisa Schroeder on Alternate Formats in Contemporary YA Fiction

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Alternative Formats in Contemporary YA by Lisa Schroeder




Some things in life are exact. Baking great grandpa’s favorite cookies from a recipe that’s been passed down through generations. Planting bulbs in the fall so you’ll have flowers that bloom in the spring. Balancing a checkbook. Writing, however, is not one of these tasks where there is a step-by-step process that gets you guaranteed results. Creativity does not like guidelines. It does not want to have a “right” way and a “wrong” way. Instead, it wants a thousand possibilities, at least.


That’s the beauty of writing, really. It is an art, like painting or making music or sculpting clay. Would anyone ever say to an art student – you must draw with a black pencil? Or to a musician – you must play with a piano?

And although writers aren’t told there is only one way to write a novel, I think it can be a difficult decision to do something outside of the norm.
Sometimes, however, an author feels strongly that a story would be better served by something other than one point of view, or a straight timeline, or traditional chapters, and so, she chooses to take the path less traveled.

I think we see alternative formats in contemporary YA especially because in today’s world, many teens don’t want a “right” way and a “wrong” way to live. Whether it’s their interests, their sexuality, or even their world views, things often aren’t black and white. There are choices. Sometimes, lots of choices, and so, it makes sense to me that contemporary young adult novels would push the boundaries, not only in exploring tough topics, but also in exploring different formats for the storytelling itself.

As the author of four verse novels for teens, I get asked over and over again, why? Why write in verse? I have given different answers over the years. Sometimes I say it’s because it creates an atmosphere I can’t get with prose. Sometimes I say it’s because it gets at the heart of the emotional story. And sometimes I say, because that’s the way the story wanted to be told.

The truth is, I don’t even think about why I’m doing it, really. All I’m doing is trying to tell the story that is in my heart the best way I can. If a story wants to be told in a sparse, poetic way, then I’m going to honor the story and tell it the way it wants to be told. Some people are turned off by this format, some think it’s a stupid gimmick, some think it’s not poetry at all, some HATE VERSE NOVELS WITH ALL THE CAPITAL LETTERS IN THE WORLD. I know these things all too well. But I also know that every week I get letters and e-mails from teens who say, “I usually hate to read, but I love your books…”

I think it’s important for people, and adults especially, to not be too quick to judge the alternative formats we see in YA novels. These alternative formats speak to the way teens live and communicate. As YA author Stasia Kehoe said in this great blog post (http://swardkehoe.blogspot.com/search/label/verse novels), “I live in a world of Twitter (haiku?), of texts from my teens, of vlogs and cartoons, of compact little Facebook status reports. I live in a world of cool fonts and snarky signage. I live in a world of rap music and catchy advertising slogans.”

Shouldn’t contemporary YA authors be allowed to play with their stories the way teens love to play with words and images on tumblr? Because when an alternative format works, it can really make an impact.

One of the books my now 15 YO reluctant reader son read and enjoyed last year was CRACKED by K.M. Walton. CRACKED is a book with two points of view, Victor and Bull. Whenever an author decides to do more than one point of view, she’s taking a risk, because the reader is going to want a good reason for doing so. In this case, it works well, because Victor is the victim and Bull is the bully. It’s fascinating to see things from Bull’s viewpoint, to see how he came to be the way he is.

I recently read Matt de la Pena’s novel I WILL SAVE YOU, and Matt chose to tell the story by alternating between the past and present day, something I do as well in my upcoming novel FALLING FOR YOU. There’s a lot of tension in a book written this way, but that’s why it’s so great. At least I think so. Others may become frustrated and want to throw the book across the room. Only certain stories are going to work this way, and the reader has to put a lot of trust in the author, because answers to questions don’t come for a long time about what exactly is going on. The whole time the reader is thinking, the payoff better be worth it. I thought the ending to I WILL SAVE YOU was brilliant, and I didn’t see it coming.

Every time an author writes a novel in an alternative format, he/she is taking a risk. There is more to pick apart. There is more to criticize. “It would have been better in regular prose” some people say about my verse novels. Maybe. Maybe not. I’ll never know, because I chose my path and I followed it and it got me to the end of something I was proud of and something I was happy to share with others.

It’s not always easy being the author who does something different. But writing a novel is never easy. We do it the way we choose to because our creativity whispers to us, I like this. Keep going. If there is one voice the author must listen to above all else, it is that one.

As readers, I say let’s be glad there are choices. Let’s be thankful we have authors willing to take risks. And most of all, let’s celebrate and respect differences.
***
Lisa Schroeder is the author of five YA novels, all with Simon Pulse, including THE DAY BEFORE, a contemporary novel which was a 2012 Oregon Book Award finalist and a 2012 ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers. Realistic teen fiction is on her list of favorite things, right up there with cupcakes and the TV show Friday Night Lights. Look for her new contemporary YA, FALLING FOR YOU, coming 1/1/13. You can find her on the web atwww.lisaschroederbooks.com and on twitter at @lisa_schroeder.