Don’t We All Want to Engage Readers as Much as Sarah Dessen Does?
I’ve already told you some of the many things that we can learn from Sarah Dessen’s excellent YA novel The Moon and More. In case you are unfamiliar with the contemporary YA scene, you are missing out on some of the most engaging work that is currently being produced. You’re also missing out on the beautiful enthusiasm of so many readers.
Yes, yes. We “literary” folk have blogs and we share enthusiastic “THIS” posts on Facebook. That’s all great. But look at how YA fans can’t help but gush about a book they loved. These people are readers. They’re not picking up books because they are being forced to do so. They are reading because they crave well-told and exciting stories populated by interesting characters. They spend their valuable time proselytizing on behalf of authors they love. Perhaps best of all, these readers engage in some refreshingly story-focused literary analysis. Instead of mentioning that The Moon and More‘s Emaline is part of a blended family and then droning on for an hour about the representation of blended families in German expressionist poetry written in 1934 but published in 1936, these reviewers talk about the story and what it made them feel and why you should read the book.
I know…I know. We all write because we have a compulsion to do so deep in our hearts. You must admit, however, that you would enjoy seeing your work greeted with the same unbridled enthusiasm.
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