The Gender Divide in Contemporary Fiction

Last week, I was bummed when my two submissions didn't make the cut for Miss Snark's First Victim's 2013 Bakers Dozen Auction. The 60 results (35 YA/MG, 25 Adult) that will be looked over by agents and editors were posted early this morning. So of course I had a look. Expectations were high. I mean, if my loglines and samples weren't good enough to pass muster, that's fine; but I expect to see some really solid stuff up there. For the most part, my expectations were met. There are a few entries that caused me to shake my head in disbelief, but that's the nature of the subjective gate-keeping process. Know what's interesting thought? The selected samples featured an obvious imbalance in protagonists' genders, favoring one much more than the other. The causes behind this range in complexity but I think it's worth taking a look. Crawl on for a breakdown of the entries, the apparent gender divide and possible explanations for it.

Something Shiny

A quick post on something which was delightfully distracting this morning. I had full intentions of getting some writing done, but an email from an up-and-coming author diverted me from those plans. Over at Victoria Schwab's blog, there's a scavenger hunt of sorts going on, one that will net the lucky winner 25 signed books! Courtesy of YA Scavenger Hunt, the contest runs this weekend only and features some authors who might just be the next big thing, including: Jessica Khoury, Beth Revis and Schwab herself, whose "Near Witch" was an excellent debut, if I do say so myself. If you're into the current state of YA books, do yourself a favor and get in on the hunt!

Baking Fail

Ever have one of those days when all of your planning and preparation and hard work seem to go up in smoke? A day when it's much, much easier to just throw your hands up in submission and resign to try again another day? I liken these particular days to preparing a much-anticipated recipe that goes horribly wrong. You've got your instructions, you've gathered your ingredients, you've weighed and measured your necessary portions and you've got the oven set to the proper pre-heated temperature. What could possibly go wrong? Read more after the break.