Unique Settings

Last week, I ran out of time to do my Top Ten Tuesday post, but I still loved the prompt of settings that I'd like to see more of. Since this week was a freebie, I decided to go ahead and do this prompt.

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

The books I have read from these books have been absolutely amazing in the majority of circumstances, but there needs to be so much more, especially in traditional publishing for a wide range of audiences, though some of these are best suited to YA or NA. So, let's get started!

1. 4H- I spent twelve years as a member of local 4H, and I have only read one book that ever had showing livestock at a county fair as a plotline. It was amazing, but I haven't seen this aspect of my life in any other book. I have a few ideas based on my experiences (like fair crushes or at a livestock expo), but I'd like to see more that encapsulate this experience.
2. Rural areas from rural authors- This is similar to the last one but living in a rural area is just different from suburban or urban communities. Not only that, but they aren't all negative either. It's a cultural thing and while I relate to characters, it's great when a character has the same background as me.
3. Non Western countries where MC has positive experiences- I'd like to see settings in a variety of locations, but I have read a few where it's really anti that cultural, which isn't cool. We need to have a variety of positive settings and speaking against someone else's culture is disrespectful. Ownvoices is important and I would like to see a variety of positive settings.
4. Midwest and Midwestern culture- Again, something from my background that I don't see represented enough. I didn't even realize that this was a thing that I needed in my life until I moved and experienced a different type of culture. Language is region-specific and it would be really cool to see termology used that is specific to where I grew up.
5. Colleges- small and large- Basically, I want more non-sexual NA novels about things that I'm actually going through in my life right now. Also, more college set YA novels because it's a way for many teens to cope with their futures.
6. Technical schools- I can't think of a single book set in a technical school, but I think this could be really cool and really well done, but it is a realistic part of life for many people and contemporary literature should be able to reflect this.
7. US not the coasts- This one is just because I'm salty how everyone on the East and West Coast seem to believe their culture is the only US culture. Don't argue with me on this because I'm right.
8. Diverse cities (particularly in not diverse areas)- I didn't realize how diverse cities were, especially having grown up in white rural areas. Other cities, especially not traditionally thought of as progressive and diverse, would be great to be shown in literature to show alternatives and more understanding of people with different backgrounds.
9. Diverse fantasy worlds with unique maps- Why would a fantasy world only have people with white skin? And why are so many fantasy novels just using a European map with different country names? There should be more that isn't like this and just based on these things.
10. Small towns- Sensing a theme with wanting books from my background? Rural and small towns are really different, but I feel like these aren't represented well as different in literature. It would be really cool to have more to actually show a difference between them.

All in all, I feel like these follow along many of the same themes in terms of what I want, but all of these would definitely be valuable to represent in current literature and to have a positive impact on readers with a wide variety of backgrounds.

Thanks for reading! Be sure to let me know if you have any great recommendations for these settings and drop your Top Ten Tuesday links below.
Alyssa