YALC at LFCC Sunday 13th July more super condensed 5 point highlights

Let's do this! Once again, sorry I could not quote all individual speakers as I couldn't keep up and this is only my own subjective highlights.
Sunday at YALC was the best for me. Cooler, calmer and the panels even more entertaining.

Only caught last 5 minutes of this one, but had to mention Ben Horslen's words of wisdom about writing terrible first, second and third drafts with creative abandon.
I'm currently first drafting - so needed to hear this, thanks Ben!

Side-note: This panel were laugh out loud funny.
1. Authors now have freedom to write the sex scenes that their 14 year old selves wanted to read.
2. Sex is still taboo for teens but when compared to other taboos e.g. Violence, drug use - it is the only thing you will still be doing as an adult. Sex is a healthy, positive thing - violence is not.
3. Gatekeepers (editors, teachers, librarians, parents) can still censor - but is far better for teens to find out about sex in a YA book than through the internet or porn.
4. There are still taboos. Torture and "alternative holes" were mentioned!
5. LGBT sex scenes are becoming more common which we hope is not a trend as being LGBT is not a trend (Non Pratt).

1. Advice: write what you want to write and let others sell and market it.
2. YA/ Crossover deals with big ideas with a freshness of perspective as everything in the teen years is changing so fast.
3. Idea of many of the classics e.g. Jane Eyre, Oliver Twist, being YA - and Hamlet as the ultimate dithering teenager.
4. Some heated debate sparked by Anthony McGowan (playing the role of bad cop) on whether it was a pathetic fallacy that a novel needed to be long and complex to be worthy. Nick Lake disagreed with criticism of Twilight saying despite flaws, it was a gripping first person narrative.
5. Idea that as a teen you are the most intense version of yourself (Matt Haig) which makes YA enjoyable to write.

1. Teen heroines can challenge the idea a girl needs to be strong and physically tough to be brave. Kick ass girls can be two dimensional (Holly Smale)
2. Teen heroines shouldn't have to be virtuous in order to be likeable. And they don't necessarily even need to be likeable. All shades of femininity represented.
3. We are all only a couple of steps away from making a terrible decision - teen fiction explores the consequences.
4. Better to have a bad review than one that is ambivalent. Sparking debate is positive.
5. Disagreement on whether female authors are taken less seriously.  Female authors can be given different more gender specific covers which is a negative thing.

Thanks for reading.