Cause and effect
For my own later perusal: Every brilliant piece of writing advice from Clarion 2012.
But this is the one that struck me:
“YA has fewer male protagonists because boys tend to either stop reading after middle-grade age, or go straight to adult books.”
Couldn't we equally say that boys tend to either stop reading after middle-grade age, or go straight to adult books, because YA has fewer male protagonists? Or -- at the very least you're leaving off a "because": Boys tend to go straight to adult books because...
Well --
( There's a lot of reinforcing-the-gender-binary stuff under the cut. Which, I know, is way too simplistic. At the same time I think it's broadly true that most boys tend to either stop reading after middle-grade age, or go straight to adult books, and I think that has to do with differences in how kids are socialized to talk about emotions. So, take that as a blanket disclaimer! )
But this is the one that struck me:
“YA has fewer male protagonists because boys tend to either stop reading after middle-grade age, or go straight to adult books.”
Couldn't we equally say that boys tend to either stop reading after middle-grade age, or go straight to adult books, because YA has fewer male protagonists? Or -- at the very least you're leaving off a "because": Boys tend to go straight to adult books because...
Well --
( There's a lot of reinforcing-the-gender-binary stuff under the cut. Which, I know, is way too simplistic. At the same time I think it's broadly true that most boys tend to either stop reading after middle-grade age, or go straight to adult books, and I think that has to do with differences in how kids are socialized to talk about emotions. So, take that as a blanket disclaimer! )