⚔️ a writer's thoughts on IMMORTAL LONGINGS // adult fantasy vs. YA fantasy 

lynn you ATE with this reading vlog! even tho I got a lot of your thoughts in real time (haha) your analysis was sooo interesting, generous and insightful :) !!! i swear i always come away from your craft discussions with my third eye opened !! i especially love listening to your thoughts on class depiction bc it’s a theme that is present in all my work and im always terrified of my own unconscious biases slipping through 😭 also your thoughts on YA/Adult was so interesting as well !! i feel like i had the opposite issue with my work in that i struggled to write a believable YA “voice” for the longest time. but what you said about scope + theme makes so much sense-im a very “theme” driven writer and i get really caught up in that when im developing a story :) amazing video!!!

I went out of may way to read These Violent Delights last year. I definately liked the 1920s period setting, and I think the limitations of a historical setting really worked in Chloe Gong's favor. Now that she is doing world building from scratch for the first time, I can see why she would struggle. These Violent Delights was based on Romeo and Juliette, but I was pleasantly surprised how the characters took lives on their own beyond the source material. The 1920s Shanghai setting probably helped in a way that a pure fantasy setting would not since 1920s Shanghai is radically different from 16th century Verona.

Lynn omg this is a fantastic video! I loved the way you talked about the book without criticizing the author, which is how reviews should be... I think....haha and I totally agree with you on the differences between adult fantasy and young adult fantasy. I definitely think adult speculative books are more 3D in terms of the world and the setting implies something about the theme (like what you said!) or the plot. My favorite example of this is Dune. My dream is to write a book like Dune in the perspective of how setting can act as an antagonist or protagonist, and the character and setting are constantly reacting with each other. I think most YA books deal with a theme that is universally easy to understand, also in terms of experiencing "firsts" too. I lowkey think that prose and the level of writing *can* play a part to young adult vs adult. When I was a teenager, I remember not liking to read adult books because the prose was actually harder to read or it described something (a theme or something I didn't care about LOL) that didn't matter to the trope or plot at hand??? I thinkthe new adult category should REALLY be a thing in trad publishing. I sometimes feel frustrated that the books marketed as young adult have such heavy sexual context, which makes it seem as if they should be for adult. I'm 29 and I still get shy and uncomfortable sometimes, especially when sex is depicted in such an unrealistic??? strange? dare I say harmful way (depending on the book of course!) to impressionable minors??? Anyway, this is a really good discussion and definitely will be ongoing for a long time

lynn you look ethereal omg the fit is gorg! really like this discussion on ya fantasy vs adult fantasy - immortal longings has been on my radar for a while so this is pretty timely! very intrigued about the general controversy over gong's work and this superficiality i keep hearing about it! currently reading foul lady fortune so we'll see how i like it...also i am SEATED for that video on theme 👀

I haven’t yet gotten to a Chloe Gong book tho I know I will in time, but as someone who wants to go back and forth with publishing YA and adult fantasy the topic of distinguishing the two (beyond just marketing lol) is fascinating to me. I def agree with you that scope and themes seem to be decent factors in distinguishing between the two (I’m so glad you mentioned how prose isn’t really the best determining factor like def there’s truly literary prose to find in YA and more simplistic (not in a bad way) writing to find in adult. I mean even Brandon Sanderson mentioned doing the latter on purpose to not get in the way of the narrative). Thanks for making this!

I dislike the way people review books ordinarily, but you gave criticism that felt fair and kind. Thanks for sharing with us!

I liked this book but it had some bad plot mess ups. For instance twice it's described as someone jumped and later they're in their body when they aren't supposed to be. And then calla also has an eye color that she's not supposed to have by the authors rules? I'm excited to see if this is symbolism or world building in later books. I like your analysis of the depiction of poverty. I noticed the repetitive descriptions but didn't really think more about it until you brought it up!

I love the fact that you critiqued the book and not the author. I've seen a lot of book reviewers take more time to bash the author instead of exploring their critical opinions of flaws in the book. I also love your take on young adult v adult! To me, adult books always pack a punch, and not necessarily in a sexual or violent way, it's more about the complexities and flaws of the world and how they affect the characters. After reading adult books I always leave with a feeling that there were actual struggles, and stakes that the characters in the world had to navigate and most times they failed or didn't get a happy ending, because that's how our world works. For YA I always know going in that the characters will struggle but at the end, things will "be right" and it turns me off because that's just not how the world works most of the time.