Paranormal fiction gains
popularity with teens

By J. Rentilly THE DEATH OF TEEN LITERACY has been greatly exaggerated, as it turns out, and it’s not only the vampire blockbuster Twilight series taking a substantial bite out of adolescent Twittering and joysticking. Capitalizing on the wild success of Stephenie Meyer’s blood- sucking saga, virtually every publisher is fast- tracking—and hitting the commercial and critical jackpot with—young adult novels bearing supernatural themes. In coming months, bookshelves will be packed with the teen-targeted, extraordinary adventures of hunchback spies, immortal teens, werewolves, phantasms and, of course, more bloodsuckers.

Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series;

the House of Night series by P.C. Cast and daughter Kristin Cast; Kelley Armstrong’s My

Darkest Powers trilogy; and the birth of an entirely new genre called “steampunk,” a collision of Victorian tropes, steam-powered technology and high adventure, as epitomized in Arthur Slade’s The Hunchback

Assignments. Many of these authors also pen adult fiction, but are particularly enamoured of their prom-bound readership.

WWW.KEITHTHOMPSONART.COMIn Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan, 1914 Europe —filled with robots—is on the brink of war.

that ongoing relationship.

“We’re very much in a golden age of teen literature right now, and many of these books are about paranormal or supernatural subject matter,” says David Levithan, editorial director at Scholastic and a widely acclaimed young adult (YA) author himself. “Reading can be a great escape for teens, so the fantastical certainly feeds into that.”

“Teen readers are fiercely loyal to authors, they read a lot of the books, they recommend a lot of books and they really treat reading as a significant, not just a leisure, activity,” says Clare, best-selling author of the Mortal Instruments series, which features vampires, demons and Shadow-hunters in a battle for the future of the human race.

Levithan believes that two literary series— Harry Potter and Twilight—are primarily responsible for the sudden surge in paranormal prose aimed at teenagers, stating that “part of this trend is trickle-up”—young readers who were hooked on J.K. Rowling’s boy-wizard extravaganza and are looking for more mature thrills—and “part of it is trick-ledown: adult readers grabbed by Twilight who no longer feel silly or stigmatized for reading ‘kids’ books.’ ”

y features vampires, demons and Shadow- he i ers, according to most successful YA o t a g readers’ intelligence and never writing ” Armstrong. “They’re at the t y n high adventure, as epitomizedc c o e y to authors, they read a lot of the d a significant, not just a leisure, activ-

“Readers form connections with the characters, and they want to stay with them. An annual book is like an annual visit from an old friend. That may be even stronger with teens,” says Bitten author Kelley Armstrong. “They’re at the point in their lives where relationships are vitally important, and that may extend into their relationship with a beloved series character.”

Megan Tingley, senior vice president and publisher at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, who also acquired and edited the Twilight saga, agrees. “[These books] put children’s fiction on everyone’s radar screen, and that, along with the rise of the Internet, set the stage for the YA explosion. Suddenly, everyone was looking for another great book to read and the media was looking for a new, great publishing story, and the Internet provided a way for fans to share their passion for a new author or book at lightning speed. It was like pouring gasoline on a fire.”

The keys to captivating teen readers, according to most successful YA authors interviewed for this story, are clear, clean storytelling; honouring readers’ intelligence and never writing down to them; and characters, characters, characters. Alyson Noel, whose Evermore deals with star-crossed lovers who possess otherworldly powers, says, “It’s important to keep the writing honest and authentic. Today’s teens are smart and savvy, and no matter how fantastical the world the author creates, readers want to connect with the characters in a very real way.”

The powerful relationships readers create with their fictional doppelgangers account for the large number of YA series. Few YA smashes are one-hit wonders; instead, they are part of a trilogy or more, not only for commercial reasons, but also because readers crave

But why do so many of these books grapple with zombies and vampires and ghosts? “Most teens feel alienated in high school, so the idea of actually being—or meeting—an alien or a witch or a ghost is actually relatable to them,” says Little, Brown’s Tingley. “They think their lives are boring, and the supernatural world is more interesting and provides a means of escape from everything they don’t like about their own lives.”

But House of Night author P.C. Cast, who relishes reinventing vampire lore, believes the entire process begins with an author being true to him- or herself, regardless of the targeted age group. “The thing that makes these books good is that, for each one, I tell the story I want to read,” she says. “Other readers, young or old, follow from there.” C