Reading YA: Are Fast-Paced Novels Engaging?

(This post grew out of a discussion on my friend Livia’s blog.)

In recent years, there’s been a lot of chatter about attention spans. Increased television watching among preteens has been blamed for a rise in ADD/ADHD. Parents are encouraged to read to younger children, or get older kids reading as a first step in engaging their minds. But what if the books we so blithely hand around don’t engage? What if they’re too fast, too short, too thoughtless?

Many modern YA novels are quick to start the action. A monster chases the hero into a dark and broody forest. A heroine discovers a door is not simply a door. Characters are introduced at the cusp of change rather than the beginning of their stories and readers are plunged into the conflict feet first. Is this a good thing? Do we miss out a deeper, richer reading experience by choosing books that start in the middle?

Some time ago, I read an article purporting that the best way to get published was to write a novel the way Michael Bay writes movies:

Introduce every man character.
Bad jokes.
Introduce love interest/sexy character.
Blow stuff up.
Bad jokes.
Blow stuff up.
Love scene.
Blow Stuff up.
Put love interest/family in danger.
Blow Stuff Up.
Introduce giant robots.
Blow. Stuff. Up.

And it’s true. Novels written with this sort of structure – YA and adult alike -  sell. Action and danger are exciting. Living vicariously is fun. But not all fast-paced novels are action-packed. The majority are plot-driven–we continue to read because we want to know what happens next. Character growth and change are incidental, things that happen as a result of the conflict and its resolution. And while a strong, authentic voice is certainly appreciated in such a novel (in any novel), it’s secondary to a tight plot.

Part of the reason so many YA novels are written with the action up front is expectation. We–authors, agents, publishers–assume all teens have short attention spans, so we write and publish with that in mind. Conversely, teens are used to reading books with an immediate, in-the-moment-of-change start, and to some extent, have come to expect them.

And that’s okay. To me, the key is not so much that teens are unwilling to read the lead up to a transformation because it’s not important. A teenager’s whole life has been spent leading up to the penultimate transformation–the shift from child to young adult. While most teens aren’t dealing with some of the issues presented in YA novels (wizard school acceptances are remarkably rare in real life), they know what it’s like to not fit in, to feel used or unappreciated &c. because it’s part of the adolescent condition. Asking them to read detailed backstory is almost like asking them to watch home movies, or listen (again) to a particularly embarrassing childhood story. ??Fairy tales also do this – we, the reader, are often told little about the main character. Sure, we know she’s a princess, or he’s a woodcutter’s son with an evil stepmother. Sure, we know they’re rich/poor, happy/unhappy. We’re rarely told about the years leading up to the story; many fairy tales don’t have character names. Why? Because this is extraneous information–the change, the journey, is the important part. Fairy tales are for the every man, the every woman. I am always the princess/woodcutter’s son/dwarf with a chip on his shoulder. Names and details are distracting. The lack of set up doesn’t make these books less engaging or less relevant. It may even make them more so.

Of course, this doesn’t mean all young adults read fast-paced books, or that all character-driven YA books are plodding. (S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders is an excellent example of a novel that burns the candle at both ends.) But slice-of-life novels with a full backstory tend to be issues books. These are not novels meant to be read on a plane or waiting for a bus. These are novels intended for savoring, musing, even dissecting, best read under a favorite tree or snuggled up in a cozy chair. Good examples are issues books (Dreamland, Sarah Dessen, Thirteen Reasons Why, Jay Asher) or belonging books (Dark Dude, Oscar Hijuelos, Looking for Alibrandi, Melina Marchetta and, of course, Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye.). Are readers more satisfied by these books? Do they yield a deeper experience?

The simple answer is “it depends”. Such books may be deeper in the moment–it’s easier to consider what’s happening and why when a character isn’t in imminent danger. The majority of character-driven YA is also set in the real world, meaning that the real teen life parallels are a lot more transparent. The story takes longer to start; we spend more time with a character before they reach the moment-of-change. We get to know the character, decide if we like them, decide if we’re like them. Do we need to go through these steps? Probably not – the best writers use action to illustrate character. But backstory gives us context–it gives us a road map littered with signs pointing toward the moment-of-change and handy little sidebars about why characters act as they do. Without a grounding in family relationships, Dark Dude makes little sense; without an understanding of the rules in Looking for Alibrandi, the story is whiny, the main character self-indulgent. Skilled authors, however,  give us all the information we need in an unobtrusive way. Reading about the Josephine Alibrandi feels much like chatting to a friend over coffee; following Lia (Wintergirls) as she pieces together her friend’s death is almost like mourning ourselves.

Some authors straddle the line between character-driven and plot-driven books. Many do it with a cheat–a fast-paced prologue that’s actually an action scene from the end of the story (all eyes on you Michael Buckley). Others use a variation of the Michael Bay line, using physical aspects of a character or a character’s world to show change (Kaimira: The Sky Village is a pretty good example). Tamora Pierce achieves both by winding two stories into one–the first two books in her Beka Cooper series could be untangled to make four. Phillip Pullman starts the His Dark Materials series with a lot of action (The Golden Compass) then dials the pacing back to ruminate on religion, love, and duty (The Amber Spyglass).

Do you prefer fast-paced YA? Character stories? What are your favorites?