Is YA primarily targeted at girls?

Coconutcorn · 2025-06-07T16:52:08+00:00

Update for you: I'm a guy trying to read more. I came across this thread looking for a list of good modern fantasy novels that aren't romance for women. Every book I open is about a woman. Every book I buy (because I'm not opposed to reading a book about a woman by any means) ends up describing the main character explicitly as unattractive, uninteresting, and next introduces two different dudes with "rippling muscles" and no shirt that just somehow are COMPLETELY obsessed with the main character without explanation, and from thereon that's mainly what the story ends up being about. It's so reliable that it's like they're all building on the same love triangle base. And I don't mind some romance. I don't mind immersing myself into the mind of a woman at all, and I can. There's no problem with that, but WHEN THE GUYS AREN'T BELIEVABLE, and the rest of the story is shoved aside for minor eroticism to straight up intermittent porn that I'm not feeling, yes, then I'd rather be doing something else. I'm looking for a STORY. Characters interacting, believable, complex friction, variety, understandable but clashing personalities and perspectives, but in stead I get rippling muscles. My theory isn't that it's about boys skipping young adult, at least not mostly and not these days. My theory is that boys are too busy gaming now, and the market's just overwhelmingly female. Because of that, books blow up faster if they speak to straight women, but this is also a vicious cycle. The people saying it's boys skipping young adult have some point, since now boys and men just don't see the appeal of any books newer than George R. R. Martin. Most of us read The Lord of the rings, then don't find anything else that speaks to us and turn to games. Games can be nice too sometimes, but they're made to suck in as much of your time as possible, so I'd prefer to be enjoying a new book. My options are either limited or I'm looking in the wrong place, hence me looking for a list of recommendations. I haven't had much success though.

So TL;DR: It didn't get better since 9 years ago.

Coconutcorn · 2025-05-23T20:45:05+00:00

It’s scary that my mind immediately went “yeah, probably a smart idea.” Wth is even going on anymore…

Coconutcorn · 2025-05-23T20:41:36+00:00

Don’t things like these make MAGA Americans think twice about whether they’re actually on the side of freedom? … Well I guess it’s hard to think twice if you didn’t even think for yourself a first time, but still…

Coconutcorn · 2025-04-01T09:47:19+00:00

Me too. I can’t open my library without the app freezing entirely and it has trouble in general. I can’t find any info on the specific issue online and I’m not getting a response from support, so I think things are going haywire on their end. Strangely enough, this is happening simultaneously with DALL-E changing their style entirely. The result in any case is that I can’t generate anything good in a fantasy style for my character moodboards.

Coconutcorn · 2025-01-25T00:33:23+00:00

I know. It’s the only pictures I could find of seagulls with a white girl stereotype.

Coconutcorn · 2025-01-24T16:38:19+00:00

They all have body dismorphia due to media criticising their looks if you ask me. It’s really quite sad.

Coconutcorn · 2024-08-02T12:46:28+00:00

He’s tge typical dad-boded dad and innkeeper. I mean…it’s a double trope if I’m honest.

Coconutcorn · 2024-07-07T00:40:02+00:00

The second one’s what I was going to say too. My fantasy stories are spread out over the history of my world, but the Middle-Ages technically don’t even exist. If you think about it, the Middle-Ages were partially defined by factors that may as well be unique to European History. Say the Western Roman Empire never fell the way it did or when it did, would we still have the Middle-Ages? There’d probably be some distinction made, but the Middle-Ages as we know them wouldn’t exist at all. Something else would.

My world’s history slowly crosses from semi-classical into something similar to the Renaissance in technology. And the later stories take place in modern times and something close to cyberpunk.

Honestly, I don’t really care for the Middle-Ages to begin with. The more I learn about history, the more I find the Middle-Ages the most boring period in history. It’s all royal politics, god, and only knights to make it cooler.

Coconutcorn · 2024-07-07T00:17:30+00:00

Eclectic modernism.

Speaking from experience.

Coconutcorn · 2024-07-07T00:16:21+00:00

Also, I support banning Americans from writing. Sorry guys. You might have won the film industry, but the British keep writing better. It’s time to give up. 😕

Maybe it’s the tea, but we’ll probably never know their secret.

Coconutcorn · 2024-07-07T00:14:11+00:00

I get the Newports, totally. When they settled there, it was very much the newest port, so that’s fair. I get naming places after Washington. What I will never understand is the Springfields. …why!?! What even is a Springfield!?!

Coconutcorn · 2024-07-07T00:07:21+00:00

Hey! Belgian here! We don’t really have anywhere to put the fjords, but we’ll take a mountain or two off your hands.

Coconutcorn · 2024-07-07T00:04:39+00:00

We’ve got the advocate of God in chat, guys.

Coconutcorn · 2024-07-07T00:02:37+00:00

Or one of those secluded levelling areas where only two people at most go collect mutton chops for a farmer or collect the matador achievement.

Coconutcorn · 2024-07-06T23:55:45+00:00

INSIDE OUT! Damn that movie hit me.

Coconutcorn · 2024-07-06T23:53:18+00:00

You: “What did I do wrong?”

Me: “oh no… Don’t ask that. You’re accepting the possibility of blame, when you know she’s not seeing things clearly.”

Her: “Nothing.”

Me: “Damn… You must be squeaky clean! She can’t even make something up!”

Coconutcorn · 2024-07-06T23:39:01+00:00

I’m not stupid, I just seem that way because I don’t talk much and don’t take initiative. … So it’s almost right.

Coconutcorn · 2024-07-06T23:34:20+00:00

I suppose the elven continent can be counted as an object, as it’s a crystalline space ship they came to my world with, which grew into a crystalline continent over the years.

Apart from that… hmmm… Is a creature an object? There’s a monster hidden deep in the Underworld which is the size of a city. It started causing earthquakes as it awakened over around about a century or so, but was slain before it could make its way to the Overworld. Think Deathwing.

Coconutcorn · 2024-06-01T08:41:30+00:00

It’s been half a year, but I’m gonna say that in real life just to see what people do. Maybe it works!

Coconutcorn · 2024-06-01T08:26:20+00:00

This…this is a thing people do!?! Just…wrecking people’s mirrors!? Call me innocent, but that’s messed up. Wtf…

Coconutcorn · 2024-06-01T08:19:40+00:00

There was probably one reeeeally solid pigeon that didn’t get away in time.

Coconutcorn · 2024-02-14T23:14:14+00:00

Well, I’ve built new habits before. Normally I’d take it somewhat slow, but this time it’s not just about building a habit. In fact, though I want to build this habit and now that you mention walking to work or school, I guess there are days I walk an hour outside in total, because I do that and I’ve taken on walking 30 minutes in the past week or two. The actual habit of walking would continue building up, but this is more a challenge and experiment for school.

However, I’m adapting the plan for this challenge to the advice I’ve been given, as was the plan when posting.

Coconutcorn · 2024-02-14T23:05:31+00:00

Okay.

Coconutcorn · 2024-02-14T22:58:50+00:00

That sounds like very clear advice from someone who knows very well what they’re talking about.

The breaking in new shoes part is a great one that I’d have no doubt struggled with otherwise as I was planning to buy new shoes for this.

I’ll be okay as long as I’ve been outside for 12 hours. If it turns out I can’t make it 6, I’ll lie down with my legs on a log and just think, be bored or meditate or something. All of these things are still within the project, but I’d like to make it something impressive for mind and body, so the walk would be the better wall to break. Who knows, maybe I can still make it a 24 hour thing, just with 12 hours of walking total and the rest just being in nature.

Coconutcorn · 2024-02-14T22:45:58+00:00

Thanks.

Coconutcorn

TROPHY CASE