Guest Post – The Talking Bookworm

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Two incredibly common and much-maligned conceits in YA are love triangles and insta-love.

One of my favorite quotes about romance in YA comes from author Ally Carter:

“Being a teen isn’t about figuring out who you should be with. It’s about figuring out who you should BE.”

Love triangles and insta-love can both be big parts of that search for identity.

Teens have parents telling them where to go, teachers prescribing what they read or write in school, and demands coming from tons of other places as they get ready to face “real” life in college and beyond. It is very rare for a teen to be in a position where they can truly make a choice (much less one that involves saying “no”) entirely on their own. One way to show teens in that power position–taking ownership of their life in a very literal sense–is with a love triangle.

Teenagers are fickle creatures. They have years and years ahead of them to settle down. Why not have a book with multiple love interests? Why not let them explore their options with two or even more love interests?

As for insta-love, well, isn’t that just shorthand for love at first sight?

There are a lot of instances where both of these things can be handled badly. There is the potential for a forced relationship or one with insufficient stakes. Underdeveloped characters or thin plots can be especially disastrous for love triangles or insta-love as making either trope seem contrived or as if it came without the proper foundation.

But as with any literary device if a love triangle or insta-love is handled well it doesn’t detract from a story. Instead, it can complicate and depth to an already rich story or even a new facet to a character’s personality.

Now that I’ve told you why I’m all for love triangles and insta-love (done well) here are some recommended books:

Love Triangles:

The Selection by Kiera Cass
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han
Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan
The Unwritten Rule by Elizabeth Scott
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Insta-Love:

The Jewel by Amy Ewing
Hold Me Like a Breath by Tiffany Schmidt
Famous in Love by Rebecca Serle
Rebel Mechanics by Shanna Swendson
Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

—
Emma
“Miss Print”
missprint.wordpress.com

For Part 1 of the LINAMA Blog Tour Click Here.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Today I bring you Ms. Maccie’s thoughts on the importance of research when writing a novel. Many of us know research is an important part of the writing process, but sometimes we forget how crucial it is we do it. Especially when it comes to young adult fiction. Many young adult writers have not been teenagers for several years (and sometimes more than a decade) and it is important we immerse ourselves in a teenager environment. Thank you Ms. Maccie for taking the time to write this for my blog. Without further ado, Ms. Maccie:

Ms. Liz Maccie:

Since I had been out of high school for many years once I started writing “Lesson I Never Learned…” it was important for me to do some hands on research. I had the wonderful opportunity to go back to my old high school and spend an entire day talking to kids and simply observing a day in the life of a teenager. It’s funny because many things were how I remembered them to be, but then there were other aspects that I didn’t clearly remember. One of my favorite parts of my day of research was walking back out to the reservoir behind the school. The way it looked and sounded and smelled was so specific. I even found a poem posted to a tree stump that I wound up putting in the book. It certainly isn’t necessary, but since I was essentially writing about my old high school, it was a wonderful thing to get to go back and allow for my memory and imagination to marry one another.

Besides that day, I really spent time looking back into my own past. There are fragments of my personal experience woven throughout the entire book and in every character’s story. So I feel there was an element of “personal research.” I wrote down an entire list of events that had happened to me and deciphered which I most wanted to talk about. I would say it was pretty obvious to me the issues I wanted to try and tackle right from the very beginning. When writing a novel, you really need to open your own life up to be examined. I do think it’s true, we write what we know, but sometimes its beneficial to research what we know. What I mean by this is that you really have to get honest with yourself. You have to do some personal excavation in order to tell the truth about things and that isn’t always easy.

I was also lucky enough, at the time I was writing this novel, to be volunteering at a couple of schools with an organization called “The Young Storytellers.” This is a fabulous group who helps kids find their voice and then write their very own screenplay, which eventually gets acted out by professional actors. So even though these kids were younger, I think just being around kids was a great way to do research. Really, when it comes down to it, we all care very much about a lot of the same things. We all want to matter. We all want to love and to be loved. Kids are so candid and real. It was great research to just be around such youthful honest energy.

AUTHOR BIO

Liz Maccie was born and raised in New Jersey and attended Bucknell University. After college, she moved out to Los Angeles to pursue a career in film and television writing. She has had two movies produced, “The Thirst” and “Black and Blue.” She went on to work at The Disney Channel until she found a home at the breakout ABC Family show, “Make it or Break it.” She is currently adapting the wildly popular YA book, “The List” for MTV as a television show. “Lessons” is Liz’s debut novel.

If you would like to know more about Liz Maccie or follow her on social media:

LINKS

Website: http://lizmaccie.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LizMaccieAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Lmaccie

Purchase LINLAMA: http://diversionbooks.com/ebooks/lessons-i-never-learned-meadowbrook-academy