ellenosb
Acolyte
Maybe part of it is that labelling a book as 'young adult' makes it more acceptable to a mainstream adult audience that wouldn't normally associate itself with reading fantasy.
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Adult writers moving into YA
- Thread starter Steerpike
- Start date
JCFarnham
Auror
Weirdly enough you may be on to something. Normal I would hate the suggestion that young adult fiction is anything but what it is, but honestly? I know plenty of adults who shame themselves into not doing anything they enjoy. I can't count the amount of times I've heard "Oh I used to do such-and-such but I grew up." and I'm like "Whut?!" That to me makes no sense. If you enjoy something why stop just because its childish? Becoming an adult isn't an excuse to get boring.
So yeah, if the young adult label ensures more people are engaging with fantasy because they can't guilt themselves into feeling "childish" so easily then I'm all for that haha
ellenosb
Acolyte
Yeah it's just a shame that it's sometimes more acceptable to say 'I'm reading a children's book' than it is to say 'I'm reading a fantasy book' because people still have prejudice/stereotypes attached to fantasy, and like you say, it's seen as being childish. But the fact that there is such demand for these books shows that people love fantasy when it's in a socially acceptable form!
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