First Quest: YA Fantasy Keys

[Blake Hutchins]

The Seventh Tower series by Garth Nix is also pretty darn cool.

White Bear and Red Moon, by Joy Chant (I think)

LeGuin's Earthsea trilogy

Best,

Blake

[Judd]

LeGuin's Earthsea trilogy

Earthsea is absolutely on my list and has been for some time.

Right on.

[SherryNugil]

Should a Young character get Key of Vengeance? I'm not sure if that fits my conception of YA fantasy. Might also be hard to run with compared to Companion/Curiosity.

Actually, I think Vengeance is a fine key for a kid. Why? Because I think in many cases it denotes a lack of sophisicated thinking about a problem. I think it's important to remember (at least sometimes) that kids are not all rainbows and nice things. Kids have a dark side, and they have dark feelings -- including the desire for revenge. A Vengeance key could go well, or it could go poorly, but helping kids make their characters is, I believe, the best way to guide them, as opposed to removing the option almost entirely.

[Clinton R. Nixon]

Should a Young character get Key of Vengeance? I'm not sure if that fits my conception of YA fantasy. Might also be hard to run with compared to Companion/Curiosity.

Actually, I think Vengeance is a fine key for a kid. Why? Because I think in many cases it denotes a lack of sophisicated thinking about a problem. I think it's important to remember (at least sometimes) that kids are not all rainbows and nice things. Kids have a dark side, and they have dark feelings -- including the desire for revenge. A Vengeance key could go well, or it could go poorly, but helping kids make their characters is, I believe, the best way to guide them, as opposed to removing the option almost entirely.

Sherry,

I think this is the best first post ever at the Forge. Welcome aboard, and spot on!

[Joe Zeutenhorst]

Actually, I think Vengeance is a fine key for a kid. Why? Because I think in many cases it denotes a lack of sophisicated thinking about a problem. I think it's important to remember (at least sometimes) that kids are not all rainbows and nice things. Kids have a dark side, and they have dark feelings -- including the desire for revenge. A Vengeance key could go well, or it could go poorly, but helping kids make their characters is, I believe, the best way to guide them, as opposed to removing the option almost entirely.

The key I'm proposing is pretty dark - rewarding hatred and getting hurt, kind of a Vengeance primer. The problem I've got with giving Vengeance to a young character is that it assumes some adult level capabilities, i.e. to be able to kill people and disrupt their operations. I might like my young character to be a power-hungry bigot, but not be killing folks off just yet.

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

Sherry,

I think this is the best first post ever at the Forge. Welcome aboard, and spot on!

Holy crap, yeah.

For my feelings on kids, see Under the Bed.

[SherryNugil]

The key I'm proposing is pretty dark - rewarding hatred and getting hurt, kind of a Vengeance primer. The problem I've got with giving Vengeance to a young character is that it assumes some adult level capabilities, i.e. to be able to kill people and disrupt their operations. I might like my young character to be a power-hungry bigot, but not be killing folks off just yet.

After reading your reply, I went back and took another look at both the original Vengeance Key and your suggested Hate Key, and now I believe I understand your point better. To a certain extent, I agree with you that young characters (ie young people) have some greater limitations than older people, however, I still think kids/young people/young characters are capable of more than you may be giving them credit for. There is room for both of these Keys -- both conceptions of the abilities and potential limitations of being young.

I was also thinking about how the frustration of NOT be able to secure Vengeance would affect a character with that Key. Maybe they try for an up-front confrontation and lose horribly. Well, open warfare is not the only way to give your enemies what they have coming. It makes for an interesting struggle: a person we think of as having less power, trying to reach beyond that percieved limitation. -- Your Hate Key addresses this perspective as well, but from a different starting point or base assumption.

And, thank you to the rest of you for the warm welcome. I didn't even realize I had not posted before; I suppose lurking makes you feel pretty connected to the disscussion. =)

[Clay]

The key I'm proposing is pretty dark - rewarding hatred and getting hurt, kind of a Vengeance primer. The problem I've got with giving Vengeance to a young character is that it assumes some adult level capabilities, i.e. to be able to kill people and disrupt their operations. I might like my young character to be a power-hungry bigot, but not be killing folks off just yet.

Since I do share my life with two children, and they aren't my own, I get to see them without the rose-colored blinders of a parent.  They're evil little beasts, with the full range of emotions and a lot fewer checks on how they act upon those emotions.  I live pretty close to where a six year old was shot by a classmate.  It wasn't an accidental shooting: the child in question knowingly took the gun out and shot his victim, in the classroom.  Two other children who live on my street entertain themselves by destroying other people's property (their milk carton will be a collector's item in our neighborhood).  I've even caught them snooping through my garage.  The fact that they ran like hell when I caught them suggests that they were fully aware of the fact that what they were doing was wrong. It's stuff that, if they were adults, wouldn't be tolerated and would get them locked up or beaten to a pulp.

Give your young characters some respect and let them take the vengeance key.  Children are more likely to act out a vengeance scheme than an adult, not less.  The only difference is in their ability to plan and their access to resources.

[John Harper]

Here's another vote for Sabriel. Top-notch YA fantasy. Top-notch fantasy for any audience, actually.

And I don't agree with Ralph and the "my guy" thing. TSOYs Keys promote all kinds of seeming "my guy" behavior, but they do it at a level that is functional and supportive of good group play. Yours do the same, Judd. Not only are they OK, they're great.