You're The Voice: Chelsea, fantasy, and popular fiction
Welcome to a brand new inside a dog feature - You're The Voice. Each month here on the news blog we will host a "teenager in residence". Our first ever(!) You're The Voice contributor is Chelsea. She's 15 years old and hails from the state of Victoria. Here's a little more about her:
I started reading from a very young age, although at first it was only because I was bored but then it became something I did constantly as a hobby. Although I favour the fantasy genre, I am not limited to it. I love when writers can create a completely new concept (like Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Liani Taylor, I loved that the ideas were unexpected, and also Pure by Julianna Baggott). Although I love writing I do not do it often, as it takes up my free time that I would rather use reading.
Each Monday throughout July Chelsea will share her thoughts. With much ado, may I present her very first post:
I am curious as to the style of books people like to read. I am not particular to any, but I have noticed that some people are very fussy, especially towards books deemed to be ‘popular.’ This includes the Twilight series, The Hunger Games, Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girl and many more, which have a been turned into movies. I have noticed that a lot of people, readers or not, hate the ‘idea’ of a story and simply don’t read it (or watch the movie) just because it has that feature in it. I think that stories being turned into movies have made people more aware of what people are writing about. The reason it was turned into a movie is because it was a popular story, but once a lot of people start liking it, it becomes less appealing (I’ll admit that even I have felt this on occasion).
The reason why I have started thinking about this is that I heard someone saying that my favourite author was very ‘mainstream’ and I had never heard her being referred as that. When I asked my school librarian what she thought of her, she said the same thing and that she didn’t really enjoy her books. This I am not confused about; I understand that people have their own taste when it comes to everything, including books. What I am upset about is that readers do not go out of their comfort zone when it comes to reading and that they go on the opinions of others, and I believe that you will not know how you really feel about it until you read it for yourself. Please go and read a book that YOU think you will enjoy, not what is considered to be bad because heaps of people (like your friends, at school, work etc.) heard that it was really bad so they haven’t read it. For example, many people didn’t like Twilight, but I read it and have my own opinions on it. I love the saying ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover,’ and in this case I believe that it means to develop your own opinions on a book, and not to let others do it for you. It is ok if you don’t like it; just try not to ruin the experience for others. There is a reason why the author was popular in the first place; don’t you ever wonder why?
