The Dark Sides of Contemporary Popular Young Adult Fiction

Article submitted for assignment in Editing for Writers elective unit

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Young adult fiction – shortened into YA fiction – is one of the most popular genres in the book industry. However, controversial debates have circulated in this genre over the years. Despite the marketing hype surrounding “promising plots” and “bestsellers”, avid YA fiction readers have discovered some problematic elements lying between the words on the pages. Whether the genre clothes itself as teen romance or adventurous fantasy, sharp-minded readers have pointed out harmful, underlying issues that the YA fiction industry does not proclaim publicly.

The New York Times Bestseller awards have become unreliable in gauging a YA fiction book’s true quality. The award is quickly distributed to books that outsold a set number of copies, which is achievable if anyone purchases the book in bulk. Many readers have argued over the irrelevance of the bestselling list because it was based on the data of book sales that the bookstores recorded, rather than the readers’ satisfaction. As anyone can make a large purchase of a YA fiction book to boost its sales to land it on the bestseller list, it does not guarantee the book’s quality. This bulk purchase tactic may help the book gain wider traction with readers worldwide, but its success does not promise a better reading experience among the readers. 

For example, the Twilight book series may have earned the bestselling badge, but YA fiction readers have not stopped criticizing the storytelling. Curious book influencers will also purchase these bestselling books rumoured to be poorly written so they can toss out more opinions for video content. This infamous popularity may continue to drive sales of bestselling YA fiction books, but a quantity-based measure can mislead readers into purchasing a book that ultimately disappoints their expectations. If the judgment of good stories is rigged, how can a reader know if a book on the shelf is still worth reading? Has the purpose of a bestseller award dwindled to an economic interest instead of preserving a culture of fulfilling reading experience?

The consequence of an unreliable quality measure leads to the unseen struggle of authors to choose between publishing a generic but more marketable book or an authentic but less marketable book. The publishing industry in this genre tends to favour books with mainstream themes, reducing diversity in written voices. For example, the enemies-to-lovers trope is commonly repeated in popular YA fiction books because it keeps the readers anticipating the relationship tension between two characters to dissolve into mutuality. Contemporary YA fiction authors often unintentionally overuse this trope to delight a massive fanbase and achieve the book’s best marketability. While trends can catapult an author to faster success, the publishing industry fails to acknowledge and celebrate authors with more unique and diverse voices. 

The darkest side of YA fiction by far is its published content. Despite being targeted towards readers aged 12 to 18, signifying young, developing minds in need of healthy guidance, YA books with mature content are still getting published. This paradoxical situation has sparked an ongoing debate over the years. Without proper surveillance, teen readers face the risk of desensitization and normalization of impulsive behaviours. Parents have expressed concerns about the presence of violence, profanity, or sexual content in YA fiction books.

For instance, Colleen Hoover’s YA fiction bestselling books feature content that romanticizes toxic, abusive men. She has faced significant backlash from influencers on platforms like TikTok and Instagram, who criticize her for deluding readers into believing twisted misconceptions of reality. As younger readers can easily perceive her stories as a lens of life, they face the issue of normalizing inconsistent and unhealthy relationship patterns. 

Society’s attitude towards mental health has become more accepting and supportive, including the book industry. Unfortunately, this has also enabled YA fiction to turn into a darker and gloomier world. Contemporary YA fiction authors embrace creating characters with depression or anxiety. While fiction can help readers gain better awareness through an inside story of a struggling character, authors can also accidentally glorify mental illness and write triggering content to extreme lengths. Instead of raising awareness, the constant mention of self-harm and depressing inner monologues can achieve the opposite effect.

Wattpad, the largest global reading and writing platform since 2006, is a prime example. It has given everyone easy access to read and create a story they like online. However, the freedom of choice has a dark side. Because all types of stories are accepted in the YA fiction genre, books containing mature themes are automatically available online to be read if tagged as “YA fiction”. Without proper regulations to restrict the self-publication of inappropriate content, many readers have encountered disturbing reading experiences. Wattpad’s once good reputation has quickly plummeted due to social controversy, copyright issues and poor content quality.  

The YA fiction genre also tends to feature multitalented protagonists who are too idealistic to be true. It glorifies young adults who shine extraordinarily with their special attributes, creating detrimental narratives of perfect characters. No matter their actions, these characters are portrayed as smart, beautiful, talented and exceptional beyond their age. 

Reading these stories can make teen readers lose confidence because the perfect narratives ignore the humane process of making mistakes and growing from them. Instead of empowerment, fiction with perfect characters sets an unrealistic standard for teen readers to believe that they must achieve incredible milestones at a young age despite their limited skill sets.

In conclusion, YA fiction should explore a teenager’s self-discovery and transition to adulthood with appropriate creative imagery. It is worth noting that words are evocative and powerful because they embody a figment of reality for readers to believe. Therefore, writers and publishing houses must be mindful of what is produced for the YA fiction genre. Its underlying dark sides have taken the genre in a problematic direction by portraying wrong and misleading concepts of social issues. As Edward Bulwer-Lytton quoted, “The pen is mightier than a sword”, the YA fiction industry needs to be responsible for how its publications can shape the newer generations today, while offering a fulfilling delight in the reading journey.

(1006 words)

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