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I hate teenage heartbreak.
Hate it. So much. In reality, I get it. Everyone’s sixteen, hormones are raging, and statistically, if we all stayed with our OTPs from high school, 98% of us would be miserable. (I made up that stat, but I stand by it.) But I don’t YA read for reality. I read it for escape. To live the dream. And even more importantly, to avoid unnecessary heartache. And if teenagers do one thing reliably, it’s break their own hearts regularly. So if characters can manage to keep their hormones and their brains on (mostly) the same track, and not engage in truly Stupid Plot Anvils of Misunderstanding (trademark pending), I am intrigued. Ask my husband - my obsession with Riverdale Season 1 was…a lot. See: Betty and Jughead. In season one those two really nailed the whole Well, We’re Doing This, So Let’s Talk Through Our Shit and I ate it up. I was pregnant, calming my own erratic hormones with stories of teenage shenanigans and murder, and you know, in retrospect, it probably prepared me for motherhood on some warped level. (I jest. Kinda.) What I’m saying: inject that business into my veins because I can’t - I won’t - quit it. Consequently, I’m always on the hunt for fictional Communicating Teenagers Books. When I’m writing, I try to keep my characters talking effectively, because all I wanted when I was a teenager was to be recognized for how well I communicated and functioned within my relationships. (Spoiler, I didn’t, but I thought I did!) But well into adulthood, I continue to look for books that prove to me, if no one else, that I was that kid, that mini-adult who knew her own way around her thesaurus, as well as her heart. Here are a few of my favorite books, so far: Today, Tonight, Tomorrow, Rachel Lynn Solomon Know this: I love a Story-Within-24-Hours trope. People discover something deep within themselves, and bring it to light in less time than it takes for a day to pass? Bonus points if the bulk of the plot is overnight. AND on the last day of high school? With mortal enemies? I mean. Rowan and Neil have been at each other’s throats for all of high school, competing for Valedictorian, and just about everything else. After Neil is crowned, Rowan digs in and knows she absolutely must win Howl, a scavenger hunt dedicated to letting each senior class bid farewell to their childhood. Naturally, Neil is on her heels the entire time, and as the minutes tick by to sunrise, both Rowan and Neil begin to wonder if maybe they’ve had it wrong all along. Today, Tonight, Tomorrow is pitch perfect in terms of the main characters communicating. Even though they spend the first two thirds of the book bickering relentlessly, Rowan and Neil find their brand of bickering key to their communication style. (Sarcasm really should be declared a language.) Later, during a scene in which I will not spoil, but has stuck with me for a long time, there is very clear direction about what Rowan asks from Neil in her, uh, moment of need. And you know what - telling your partner what you need in the bedroom is crucial at every stage, and it's also incredibly impressive coming from an 18-year-old woman. TAYLOR SWIFT ERAS: Lover, with a side of 1989 BUY IT HERE Fangirl, Rainbow Rowell Woman after my own heart, Cath loves fanfiction. Every day, she has a new opportunity to not, oh, correct the source material, but fluff it up a bit. Dig in deeper on the Simon Snow world, and add meat to relationships where it's looking lean. She’s even got a LOT of followers online - while in high school, she accumulated nearly the readership of her beloved Simon Snow series…but now Cath is at college. And in real life, when she looks up from her ever-present laptop - fanfiction is pretty nerdy. (Or entirely unacceptable, according to her creative writing professor.) Also, Wren, her twin sister, is a mess. And her roommate might hate her? And her once-vanished mom is back in the picture? And there’s a boy interested in … her? Cath is a glorious writer, even though no one knows it because of her pen name. But when she’s gotta use her voice, man, that part’s killer. As the novel progresses, and we see why Cath’s twin is partying too hard, and why Cath over-corrected and shut herself in her room with Simon Snow and her fanfiction, it becomes clear why she best channels her voice through someone else’s story. The level of protection, of never having to entirely own yourself or anything you put into the world is cathartic. Dizzying. We watch Cath come into her own, and begin to not only hear her own voice, but understand the roots of what she’s capable of creating, if she simply lets herself. But also - back to the boy, and the romance hook. Levi is dreamy. He listens. He asks. What is with all of these new adults running around with confidence enough to tell their partners what they need? I am here for it. If I drug my knuckles on the sidewalk at seventeen so these girls could walk, so the next generation can run, godspeed, lovelies. You go get what you want. TAYLOR SWIFT ERAS: Fearless (TV) and Speak Now BUY IT HERE My Life Next Door, Huntley Fitzpatrick Samantha understands that the grass is always greener - particularly as she watches the Garretts next door from her bedroom window. Sure, the Garretts always let their grass get too long and trampled from the basketball team-sized family they have. With that many people coming and going every day, it's a miracle they have grass at all. And yet…Samantha cannot get enough of daydreaming she’s in their family. She’d never eat dinner alone. Yeah, the WiFi would run slower, and the water heater would probably never be as hot as prefers, but the pure silence of her house would never overwhelm her either. It helps that Jase, the boy closest to her age, is also the dreamiest. When Samantha and Jase do connect, and fall in love (hardly a spoiler, I promise), her welcoming into the family is real and warm and right. She doesn't just love Jase - she loves all of them. So when Samantha’s own mother - who by the way is running for political office - accidentally yanks the Garretts and her daughter into her a scandal big enough to swallow lives whole, Samantha has two choices: use that voice her mom gave her and ruin their lives, or keep her mother’s secret, and ruin the Garrett family. The back third of this book is addicting. I feared blinking. I drank it in like a coconut vanilla latte. I swear it swam through my veins for a few hours. I had to know how Samantha and Jase would solve this. I needed them to talk their way to their happily ever after, and I needed them to start that happily ever after before the book’s climax, because I swear - there is nothing better than a couple figuring out the family secrets together, being aghast together…and then fixing it together. That shit is balm to the part of my heart that’s still 17, and watching his red sports car swirl up orange and brown leaves in the gutters, as the taillights grow fuzzy and disappear in a veil of dust. I wasn’t disappointed. (In My Life Next Door, that is.) TAYLOR SWIFT ERAS: Red (TV), with a sprinkling of Folklore and a dab of Sweet Nothing and Lavender Haze. BUY IT HERE. In short - what's the point of writing a novel, if you're going to avoid the characters' very real need to discuss what's going on in their minds? Teenagers especially are prone to voicing their ongoing thoughts with those they trust deeply, and those people tend to be their friends and partners. The most unreliable thing I find in YA literature is when a character - a person - doesn't use their voice, and the plot keeps toiling away without them. Teenagers talk. They analyze, dive deep, look for deeper meaning in everything. Why stop them for the sake of the plot? Move the plot with the character. It'll make me happy, anyway. What do you think? Have you read any of these books? What’s your favorite YA romance?
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This is the first in a series about character development for characters in Young Adult Contemporary Fiction. In the series, we'll talk about their drive/motivators, goals, research, and more. These are simply my tips and tricks of the trade. Every writer has a different process, and I want to learn about yours!
Today, we'll talk about my first step in getting to know my characters. --- On Instagram (stephanielogue_writes), I’ve been talking about my characters in The Right Kind of Light and my current WIP a lot. A lot. So much, in fact, that I’ve had people commenting and asking questions about Ginny, Lou, Greta, and Annabella. The questions have all been fabulous (I feel so famous!), but the most thought-provoking question for me, as the author of these four women, is: how did I develop them? Friends and fellow writers: I named them first. Ginny came to me in a hazy idea at an Ed Sheeran concert in 2015. Its the last summer before college, my subconscious said. Missing her best friend. Fell in love with best friend’s ex. Works at a place like Storybook Land. Got it. Got it. Got it. Brett drove us home after I finished fangirling over Ed, and I grabbed the first notebook I found and wrote down as much as I could remember from whatever I saw during “Photograph”. Somehow, even in that moment, Ginny’s name was Ginny. My paternal grandmother’s name was Virginia, and I always knew that I wanted to name either a daughter or a character Ginny. That one was easy. The remaining three girls were…(mostly) easy too. Here’s how Lou, Greta, and Annabella came to be: Lou: As Ginny’s ex best friend, I knew they were polar opposites. The kind of people who would push each other to be their best, and maybe bring out each other’s worst when they weren’t cohesive anymore. She needed a harder name. Something with implied edge. I’m a sucker for a.) old school names and b.) names that belong in a traditional sense to a man or a woman. Louise = Lou. Bad ass, strong, take-no-shit lady. Greta: I knew she was sweet as pie and desperate to find her first love, but with a spine of steel. “Pearl of a girl” is a phrase that I heard in a song lyric a gazillion years ago. I don’t remember what song (and now its going to haunt me all night.) Turned out Greta means “pearl”. Its ALSO an old name. (Double check in the pro column: Greta is a name for a supporting character in a series of stories I wrote in junior high and high school. A tip of the hat to my…self, I guess.) Annabella: AB for short, but only her best friend Ed calls her that. Annabella is a Latina and comes from a traditional Catholic family, so I wanted something respectful but fitting that I could see her parents perhaps choosing. The name means “grace” which is a larger plot point in my WIP. Here’s the thing about characters though: They’re gonna tell you what’s actually up about everything, including their names. Lou, for instance. She’s the most delicate little sunflower I’ve ever encountered in my life, and I have a golden retriever that’s afraid of laundry baskets, empty storm sewers, and open refrigerator doors. When I was writing The Right Kind of Light, I didn’t realize how her motivators would evolve past Ginny. And Annabella: this woman has had two name changes, her direction changed more times than I can recall, stripped of her nickname only to get it back, and her girlfriend’s name changed too – when I realized their names rhymed and that was just too weird in all the “ella”. My only goal for all these four women is that I continue to channel honesty and sincerity into their hearts. Girls aren’t rainbows and butterflies. We’re eye rolls and loud voices and periods. We drink too much alcohol and coffee and we’re vain and go to sleep with toothpaste on zits. We say stupid shit to our best friends, we cheat on our boyfriends, and we hook up in backseats at parties by lakes. But we’re heart, and we’re hope, and I will be damned if I contribute to any conversation about young adult girls and women in college in any way that isn’t as truthful as I can make it. So when I write a line that seems to manufactured or trendy (or wannabe trendy), it hits the slush pile. I can usually hear her, whoever’s head I’m inside at that very second, tell me they’d never say that. And my god, as a writer, its so helpful. Yours in Devotion to Voices in Your Head, Stephanie PS – there’s SO MUCH more to character development. Another trick I like is to make playlists for each book or piece I’m working on. Head on over to my Instagram to learn more. |
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