The question is… are they attending the state funeral?
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The ribbon neck thing is a folk tale.
" The origins of the girl with a green ribbon story is generally connected to French legends dating back to at least the 17th Century. It is commonly thought to be connected to the French Revolution and the use of the guillotine at the time."
It has been rewritten so many times, the popular modern version is a part of horror story collections from my childhood.
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I am tired of either overly simplified writing, that is too obvious or else pompous writing, like someone is trying too hard to make a point.
Pompous has got to be funny, to have any use.
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Yeah true, but when it’s too self-important/ indulgent, I just lose interest.
Maybe I misunderstand what metaphor is, but that’s not what I mean.
Oh I didn’t know that. What a weird little tale.
Oh I mean metaphor in the sense that words, events or passages while progressing a story also signify something else — like neck ribbons for umm the (?)female condition. In the allegorical sense.
I assume you’re talking about making comparisons i.e. He’s the sun; he’s never seen the night.
Then you mean themes and symbols and I guess allegories if referring to the big picture.
Just like everything else in life, those too can be overdone or poorly executed but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with them per se.
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They aren’t. They’re meant to be but they effed off to Buckingham Palace to get it on. God I hate that book, and I don’t trust TikTok
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Lol yeah, I don’t see the big deal about that, and it let me down as much as any Sally Rooney book has. TBH, A lot of BookTok books are pretty crap, though, regardless of genre. Empty, too. Especially “LGBT” fiction. Most of the stories are about identity politics, and not about being seen. The plots are empty too, which really disappoints me. Too much political agenda in those.
I won’t stand for this Sally Rooney slander 
and I don’t agree with your view on the “political agenda”. Class, identity, gender, sexuality, and the multitudes of other inequalities are very important to be represented in literature. It’s both personal and political; it’s not mutually exclusive. Even with Austen and Dickens, you’re following a cast with their personal problems but at the same time the politics of the society at large; gender and class.
I think my gripe with TikTok recs is that most of them are a certain type of book — easy to read, easy to get swept up in, unchallenging in form, themes and ideas. And I agree there’s really nothing being said. For me, it’s the equivalent of watching an aughties sitcom.
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I tried with Sally, and I just can’t make it through her books. Not my cup of tea at all, sorry 
If you like her, that’s fine. Nothing against that. Just not for me.
I’ll try and clarify what I meant below with the “identity politics”:
For me with a lot of modern stories, it’s how they present it and ram it down our throats that annoys me. Representation is one thing, and showing us the character’s life and how they navigate the world but the story shouldn’t solely be just one-sided political propaganda.
We’re going on a journey with a character and you’re following their journey, first of all. The whole gatekeeping thing, blaming people that have nothing to do with the issues at hand, and their weak arguments are what annoys me.
It’s different if it is showing the time period, and them overcoming the obstacles of society and politics but I don’t want to read a lecture disguised solely as a romance for the author’s agendas, lol. And their manifesto. If I wanted that alone, I’d just go to their Medium page 
.
Yes, I think that representation is important and that books should be diverse, but I also think that how you represent the representation and your points, and your politics is another. The reader should be able to read a complete story that challenges them and their viewpoints and helps them understand things, rather than just be a you better like X or else you’re Y kinda thing.
Yes, and I just can’t anymore. Empty stories might as well not exist. When the author just tells you everything and doesn’t show anything. Eugh. And an aughties sitcom with a laugh track ew.
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Haha that’s totes fine. I think I resonate with her books is because a) the protagonists are finding themselves, coming into the world and into themselves, learning what to feel and how to feel, it’s all very youth-of-the-moment, which I major relate to… b) it’s sobering to see all these Trinity d**kneads being so self important, ridiculous, and artsy fartsy that it breaks my soul a little, myself being an Oxbridge reject hanging out with other Oxbridge rejects.
I understand what you’re saying. I think some of those books are targeted at a younger reading demographic where these ideas tend to be laid out plain without much nuance.
I agree it’s very important if you’re trying to make a point that it needs to be presented well in the story and structure.
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Yup. That second one is my problem that I am trying to fix
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And they tout the same books as if it’s the greatest literature ever written. Like, bestie, have you read literally any other book?
But maybe I would’ve done the same if TikTok was a thing back when I was a teen. Hunger Games! Hunger Games! Hunger Games! (Hunger Games is very good though).
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I made chapter two shorter than chapter one at over 1k. No biggie just noticed that I couldn’t make it longer or as long as chapter one.
I don’t even care too much. I am just glad to be writing. Now, on to chapter three.
The second draft is doing fairly good, but I know I can make it a whole lot better if I tried hard enough.
Nothing else to add.
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Fair enough 
I didn’t go to University and I think that the best I would have managed would have been Ulster University anyway. But yeah, the average Sally Rooney protagonist isn’t someone that interests me, not having been from those circles.
Yeah, and I understand that, but weirdly (and as of late), there has been a lot of 21-30-year-olds, and maybe even older reading these books aimed at teens. I know that some of them review them, but it’s for adults mainly, too. And also in some stories, it’s kinda hard to tell sometimes if they are aiming their stories at the ACTUAL YA market or these adults who read the stories.
It confuses me. Maybe someone should make a new genre called Adult YA - YA for adult readers. Or some new niche, or something. That would make sense there.
Anything for middle grade and under shouldn’t be complicated, maybe some YA picks up in the complexity but still keeps it easy enough for the younger YA readers to understand, but NA (and anything written for adults) can be simple, but it should be held to a higher standard.
I know right? Like, anything else? I tried to read a Casey McQuiston book (One Last Stop) and it bored me a lot. I think I got to page 50(?) and I switched off and haven’t read it since May lol. It’s still there, though.
I haven’t read THG properly. I went off reading when I was a teenager, for some reason. I read TFIOS, though to see the big deal about it, and I never DNFed a book as fast in my life. It was the writing style amongst other things for me, but mainly how John Green wrote it.
Matthew Quick will always be superior to John Green, for books in that style.
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It should feel weird, it’s got roots that are 230ish years old. It fits in better with things like the original The Little Mermaid, which is rather messed up.
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I suspect it’s the readability. YA is categorised for it’s less complicated language or reading comprehension or something to that effect. As much as I do not care for some of these books, they are very readable. It takes little brain power, and is a guaranteed wild ride, if not enjoyable.
The last TikTok sensation I read was Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. Was it an affront to my senses and possibly the worst book I’ve read? Yes. Did I finish it in one sitting? Yes. Was it enjoyable? In a twisted way, if only to rant about it two days straight to my boyfriend, yes.
Not a fan of Casey McQuiston. I only read Red, White and Royal Blue for a LGBT+ bookclub. Boy, did I have things to say about that damn book. I don’t intend to read One Last Stop. I’ve since realised I have a finite time on earth and only so many books I can read.
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