Oddly Specific Book Genres
Hello again students of Third and Fourth Hour English. This blog post is gonna be a bit different than the last two I've done. I'm going to be going over some common oddly specific types of books. From the book where kids replace adults in ridiculous situations, to the famous "Futuristic Science Fiction That Revolves Entirely Around VR", I'm going to go over as many as I can think of in the next 30 minutes so here goes. Please note that while I am trying to make fun of these book stereotypes, there's absolutely no shame in liking or disliking any of these books. I'm just pointing out the oddity in these genres and the hilarity in them. Don't hurt me.
The One Where Kids Replace Adults in Ridiculous Situations
This one is surprisingly common. Kids (usually teenagers, but sometimes kids as young as 9 or 10) replace adults doing stupidly dangerous activities. Stuart Gibbs, an author that's been written about a lot on this blog, writes quite a few books in this category, including the Spy School series, in which kids are trained to be spies for the government, and the Funjungle series in which your definitely very average ordinary kid who was literally raised in a tent in the jungle in Africa while his parents studies gorillas solves mysteries by walking around in animal exhibits with minimal adult supervision. But don't think these are the only examples I can think of! Major authors like J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan don't get off the hook for throwing children at wizards with decades of training and actual gods so that their books are more "relatable" and "hip" (I only jest, both authors are great at what they do).
The Short Story That's Incredibly Well Written But Makes No Sense
Looking at you, Ted Chiang. Short stories aren't terribly popular or common these days, but there are quite a few that pack way too much philosophy and meaning into way too few pages. Call me slow, but you gotta chill it with the metaphysics while I figure out who the main characters are.
The Science Fiction Book That Cannot Stop Mentioning "Cold, Gray Hallways"
I swear to whatever deity you believe in, people need to stop doing this. There are so many words in the English language (171,476 in current use according to the Oxford English Dictionary) and yet you choose to string those exact three together so many dang times. I want to hit my head against the wall of a cold, gray hallway every time I see "cold, gray hallway" mentioned in a book. Seriously! Here's a guide to some words you can use to mix things up: Chilly, cool, below average temperature, bitter, freezing, frosty, colorless, silvery, nondescript, unremarkable, light black, dark white, corridor, hall, passage, pathway, just to name a few.
Futuristic Science Fiction Book That Revolves Entirely Around VR
I truly believe, with all my heart and sole, this is the only thing Ernst Cline can write. Both of his books, Ready Player One and Armada revolve around people using VR to do things. In Ready Player One, the book revolves around The Oasis, basically a Virtual Reality Minecraft Server in which players need special headsets to access, and can do anything and everything they want (within reason). School takes place there, as well as games, and some shopping, among other things. Armada, instead of taking place in the future, takes place in the present as a VR video game is the key to a much larger conspiracy... it might be a bit overwritten, but it sure makes for an interesting genre.
That'll be all for now! Comment down below if you can think of any more I can talk about and maybe you'll be featured in next month's post. Or don't. I don't really care. But, you will be fulfilling part of your homework assignment, and you get unlimited bragging rights if you're chosen.
Until next time,
William K.
Cool post! I agree with a lot of what you said, especially about kids replacing adults in dangerous situations. Though, I also understand why authors write like that. I don't think a 5th or 6th grader really wants to read about a bunch of adults going on adventures. One part would be the difference in mindset, the language the book is written in, and just not being able to understand them. It'd probably be pretty hard to grow attached to a character who is 30 years older than you are. This post was really well written, good job!
ReplyDeleteAnother series that fits into two of the genres you mentioned, VR and kids in adult situations, is the Insignia series. The series is about child soldiers who use VR brain implants to control space predator drones that fight each other.
ReplyDeleteHaha, nice post! I certainly agree with you on the "cold, gray hallways" and the kids replace adult sections. In fact, there are probably a lot of dystopian tales that talk about kids overthrowing governments while walking through the aforementioned hallways.
ReplyDeleteChildren replacing adults in ridiculous situations used to be fine for me, maybe two years ago, but now I wonder how a group of 17 year olds can infiltrate an impenetrable fortress (Six of Crows).
I think the reason a lot of writers use the cliche, "cold, gray hallway," is because it does actually sound good. As long as you haven't seen it 463 other times and it wasn't in half of all books ever written. As well, I agree that the kids replacing adults genre is pretty unrealistic and I often find it in sci-fi. Walter mentioned the Insignia series of which I only had the willpower to read the first book but it is very guilt of this and from what I remember there is little to no explanation of why kids are using mind-control brain implants (yes, that is part of the plot) instead of adults.
ReplyDeleteI really like this idea for a post, great job! These clichés are interesting to think about, but I think that some of them are used over and over for a good reason. When I read the words "cold, gray hallway," I visualize a pretty specific kind of a setting which has come from it being used so many times in similar contexts. I also enjoy it more when books have a main character that I can relate to, and being a similar age is an easy way to do that. I think if the more a reader can relate to a character, the more empowered they will be to learn the same lessons.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to say that I really enjoyed reading this post. The humor shines through as you discuss these clichés. They're really interesting to notice and consider. I imagine that fabricating entirely new lines to convey the same ideas across countless pieces of literature is nearly impossible, and that's why we see so much repetition. I also agree with Andrea that these phrases have come to convey very specific meaning, and so they are effective in getting nuanced ideas across. And as far as that confusing short story, I'm convinced it's successful because people like to feel smart. Writing and deciphering stuff like that thoroughly engages someone's brain.
ReplyDeleteI think the concept of this post is original! It's a lot more interesting than just reading reviews. I hadn't really noticed how common some of these tropes were until you pointed them out. Like the demigods and wizards fighting adults- I guess the reason I had never noticed this was because I am the character's age. Great post!
ReplyDeleteThis is one if the most funny and interesting posts I've read so far. I really agree with the thing you said about short stories. They really have to chill on those. I love this and you should pursue doing some more of these.
ReplyDeleteI also love how many times I've heard cold gray hallways. They are pretty much everywhere, spaceships, ships, submarines, buildings. This was great *thumbs up*
This is such an amazing article! It was hilarious and yet informative. I've definitely read books that fall into these categories. My favorite ridiculously specific genre is "Mysteriously, Every Adult in the World is Dead and Now the Children Are in Charge." I can not tell you how many books I have read (and continue to read, to my eternal embarrassment) that revolve around this specific issue. I would love to see this continued as a series!
ReplyDeleteGreat job on this post William! I have definitely noticed some of these genres in the books I read. I think that the kids being in charge kind of genre is definitely one of the more common ones however. It's obvious why they do it, who wants to read about some adults going out and doing things? There's spy movies for that. In any case, I also think there's the hope that it will kind of help kids believe in themselves more, by giving them an example of what kids can do. Even though its fiction and none of the things could happen in real life (as far as we know...), it still shows kids having the ability to stand up for themselves and accomplish things.
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