An Interview With (a) Vampire Lover(s)

Hey there, I have been without internet for a long while now, and have not really been able to blog. So, this makes me so excited. I am about to blog awesomeness. Why?

Because I am a teacher. And I teach 13 and 14 year olds. And I teach English. So, reading and writing. READING AND WRITING FOLKS! Which means I have so much access to the one thing writers love. READERS! And in particular, YA READERS!

So, every once in a while, my brain actually works and puts something together that is amazeballs. And here it is. I interviewed some of my students to find out FROM THE SOURCE, what teens look for and don’t look for in books. These are the kids who buy our beloved books. These are the ones we need to entice. Yes, everything is subjective, but when I noticed these girls devour books like it’s a plateful of pie, I figured I would get inside their head. Ask them a few questions about what they read and why they read it.

So, here is the interview. Listen and learn, writers. Today’s audience...teen girls. If you are writing YA, pay attention!

Welcome Jessa, Katelyn, and Rumneet, Jaiya, Euna, and Kendra. Six wonderful girls with sass and spunk. You could not ask for six more amazing students in your class. COULD NOT!

 

Me: So what genre books do you usually read?

Jessa: We love science fiction, like Hunger Games. It has to have romance and drama.

Katelyn: And dystopia like Hunger Games. I loved that whole series.

Rumneet: I also like fantasy.

Jaiya: Adventure, historical fiction and fantasy. Anything with zombies.

Euna: Romance, comedy and fantasy.

Kendra: Romance and realistic fiction.

Me: What about paranormal. Like werewolves and vampires, etc?

Katelyn: Oh yeah. We LOVE that. Hot werewolves.

Me: So what are some of your favorite books you’ve read this year?

Jessa: Delirium, Divergent, Hush Hush saga, The Host.

Katelyn: The Host, Hush Hush saga, Wake (series), Before I Fall, and the first Marked book.

Rumneet: Immortal Series and Eragon series. I also loved Shadow Falls.

Katelyn: And Raven. That one was so good.

Jaiya: Les Miserable, Origin, Mark of Athena, and World War Z.

Euna: Hush Hush, Child Called It, Harry Potter series, and Matched.

Kendra: Perfect Chemistry, Hush Hush, Chain Reaction.

Me: So what has to be in a book for you to want to read it?

Jessa: Romance, a hot guy, and drama. I also like my book to be a little steamy. I don’t mind description of kissing, I just kind of laugh.

Katelyn: I like my romance sweet. I don’t want to know all the details. There needs to be a good problem. Something that is hard to fix. And totally hot guys.

Rumneet: I like warm romance. In between. Not too much detail, but enough.

Katelyn: We like a girl POV because we like not knowing what the guy is thinking.

Jaiya: Relatable characters. They don’t have to have super stand-outish personalities, they should be realistic.

Euna: I like really good looking guys.

Kendra: Slow romance that you can tell is coming. Friends becoming more is cute. And what people are thinking. Lots of detail and descriptions.

Me: What are some of your favorite all time characters?

Jessa, Euna and Katelyn: PATCH.

Me: Why do you like him so much?

Katelyn: Because he’s hot. And dangerous. And protective. He will do anything for Nora. He’s mysterious. But the guy on the cover does NOT match what I have in my head. In my head, he’s way better looking. I also like Janie, from Wake. She’s responsible and takes care of her alcoholic mom. She’s independent and strong.

Me: Do you think characters like Patch border on abusive? There’s debate in the writing world about that.

Katelyn: No, not at all. I mean, he does sometimes become overprotective and he needs to let Nora do what she needs to. Like Scott, he needs to not be jealous of Scott. Scott’s a good guy.

Jessa: Ooooo. Scott. I love him. And Vee. I can’t believe who she turned out to be.

Me: *glares* DO NOT GIVE AWAY THE ENDING. (Finale)

Katelyn: Now Cable, from Wake, he is overbearing and kind of a jerk.

Rumneet: I really like Della from Shadow Falls. She’s smart and witty. I love her sexual innuendos. It makes me laugh and I like her humor.

Euna: Also Harry Potter but only in Goblet of Fire. He looked so good in that one.

Jaiya: Katniss, Marius, and Percy Jackson.

Kendra: Alex and Brittany from Perfect Chemistry. They have unsuspecting feeling of getting together.

Me: What are books you absolutely did not like?

Jessa: Cinder. I just couldn’t get into the whole robot thing. It was too weird. Oh and Shiver. I am not a big werewolf fan.

            Katelyn: Wait. Shiver has werewolves?

Jessa: Yeah, the guy is.

Katelyn: I have to read it. I did not like Beautiful Creatures. It just didn’t start fast enough and I am not a fan of witches. Except Raven. That one had witches, but it was different.

Jessa: They’re not witches, they’re Casters.

Katelyn: Whatever. I don’t like them. I also didn’t like Matched. The whole dying thing and the fact that they couldn’t choose their life, was unrealistic.

Rumneet: I liked the first Beautiful Creatures ok. But the second one just was slow. I had to rush through it, and I didn’t end up picking up any others.

Jaiya: I don't have any books I really don't like. (this girl is a DREAM READER)

Euna: Esperanza Rising. I didn't understand it and there was no romance so it wasn't interesting.

Kendra: I don't think there has ever been a bad book. (another DREAM READER)

Me: So, when you are choosing books, what do you look for?

Katelyn: I read the back. I look at the loglines. Like Wake says Open Your Eyes. But she’s blind. So that makes me wonder.

Rumneet: I read the blurb, but then look at the cover. It has to have some mystery I want to solve. Something that makes me have to know what it means.

Katelyn: And two people almost kissing. I love that.

Jaiya: I read books that people recommend to me. Usually they are right.

Euna: There has to be some kind of love triangle, the guy has to be really good looking, and the girl has to be normal.

Jessa: I read the blurb. When I want a good book, I come to you, Mrs. Torgesen. You know all the good books.

Katelyn: Yeah. Me too. I come see you.

 

Me: J YAY! (I totally lurve when they like my recs. It gives me ALL THE FEELS)

Euna: Is that a gif? It's from Friends. It's Chandler.

Bonus points for Euna.

Jessa: I also look for hot guys. It has to have hot guys.

Kendra: I look at the title and the back. Something needs to be interesting and pop out at me. Something that surprises me.

Me: Describe the perfect book.

Girls: It would be about a girl. And there would be love. And multiple guys would be fighting for her and she would have to choose. But she would choose the right one, which is not necessarily the good guy. He would be a little bit bad. And dangerous. A forbidden love. She would follow her heart. And there would be family secrets. They would be in a small town because there, secrets are harder to keep because everyone knows everyone else. There would also be a villain. But it wouldn’t be an obvious one. Like a friend or something. It would have to be paranormal. That would be the best book. You need to write it.

Me: What would the perfect MC be like:

·         Secrets

·         Dark past

·         Not too much of a goody-goody

·         Mystery

·         Long hair

·         Brunette

·         Bright eyes

·         Worrisome, cautious

·         Special

·         She would be independent

·         Could fend for herself

·         Smart

·         Quick thinker

·         loyal

The perfect Love Interest:

·         mysterious

·         dark and dangerous

·         good looking

·         tortured past

·         forbidden love

·         smart

·         funny

·         sarcastic

·         strong

 

      ·         muscular

·         tall

·         brave

·         alluring eyes

·         protective

The perfect Villain

·         false/pretends to be something else

·         mysterious

·         good looking/gorgeous

·         devious

·         manipulative

·         dark

·         quick thinker

·         always has a plan, ahead of the game

·         tries to be a friend/love interest

So this is what teen girls are looking for in a good book. Nothing groundbreaking, but it’s something to chew on. Do your books include these critical things? Are your characters lacking any of these characteristics?

Is paranormal dead? These girls would say otherwise. I will say the books that fly off my shelf and the ones that frequently have to be replaced are almost all fantasy/paranormal romance.

So, next time, what are teen guys into reading? Would that be a post you’d be interested in? Any other questions you have for the teen reader? Post them here.

 

The Ever Elusive Theme

 Why do we read? I ask this question to my 8^th graders at the beginning of every year. The answers always vary from person to person, and from year to year. But essentially, the following are always the reasons given:

·         Because I like living through another person’s eyes

·         Because it’s fun

·         It helps you learn vocabulary

·         It teaches you about the world

·         It lets you see other cultures

·         It’s like a movie in your head

·         Because it takes me out of my life for as long as I need it

·         It makes me a better writer

·         It teaches you about life

I want to take a moment to talk about that last one. Life. There certainly many things to learn about it. Every day I am learning about how to deal with the twists and turns it deals. And even at this point, when I feel like I should pretty much have a handle on things, something happens and I find myself saying, “What the heck?” “What am I supposed to DO with this?”

Life. The commercials stated we could be a winner at the game of Life. I’m still waiting. And my car is getting emptier, not fuller. Those who’ve played the game, totally know what I’m talking about. But why are you talking board games, Carey? What in the world does this have to do with why we read?

Because for me, and really for most people, I think why we read is because at the deepest level, we want to know that we’re not alone. And that there is hope. Because if some klutzy, normal, boring looking girl can snag a hot, sparkly vampire, then there is hope for us. If some boy who lives in a closet under the stairs can become a wizard that saves all of us muggles from the perils of the dark forces, then we, too, can overcome our obstacles, however brooding they may seem. At the heart of all books, all narratives really, be they memoirs or fiction, is the story of us. The human experience.

And we want, no we NEED to know that we are not alone in this. And that others have been there or have it far worse. Not to mention that these themes span across not only continents, but centuries. It is refreshing to know that while we pine and weep over love lost or the one that got away, or the one we hope is THE ONE, Jane Austen was feeling that same way. As was Fitzgerald. As was Shakespeare.

So, when writing it is important to keep your story, your characters, your scenes in check. But don’t forget the theme. It’s why your writing matters. It’s the whole point. If yours has no point, then why would we want to read it? How am I, as a reader, going to connect to it if there is nothing worth connecting to?

At the end of reading your novel, readers should be able to sit down and analyze character choices, and how what they decided led to the final outcome. But to really dig in, past the skin into the meat, the sinewy goodness that makes your novel satisfying to bite on, we need to know why those choices matter. And how those choices relate to our decisions.

So when teaching my students theme (which is HARD to do by the way), I ask them this:

What does the reader learn about life?

What does the reader learn about the world?

What does the reader learn about themselves or others?

These are the themes. If your novel does not answer one of these, you may be missing something.

Another good checkpoint. Ask yourself the following of your novel:

Who? (main character)

Wants What? (motivation)

But? (what gets in the way?)

So? (what do they have to do to solve the problem?)

Then? (what is the falling action, consequence, resolution?)

This teaches that? (THEME)

This should ensure that a) you have a solid plot and b)your novel has a theme.

I have compiled my own list of the most universal themes I have seen in my years of teaching and reading. Some are trite. Some are cliché. But you gotta start somewhere. See if any of these would work for yours.

·         Love conquers all.

·         Friendship means truly being there for another.

·         There is more to people than appearances.

·         Ugliness comes from actions, not looks.

·         Love makes us do crazy things.

·         Love is worth sacrifice.

·         Through adversity, we learn who we are.

·         Death is a part of life.

·         You can’t have friends if you don’t act like a friend.

·         You should always stand up for yourself.

·         Nothing worth having is ever easy.

·         All actions have consequences.

·         You have to find your own happiness.

·         Don’t be afraid to try new things.

·         Believe in yourself.

·         Be happy with what you have.

·         Courage is doing what’s right, even when it’s hard.

·         Love can be shown in many different ways.

·         Jealousy will destroy.

·         Appreciate what you already have.

·         Don’t give up on your dreams.

·         Sometimes what you’re searching for is in your own backyard.

·         The only one you can rely on is yourself.

·         Growing up means giving up on fantasy.

·         Your identity lies within yourself, not anyone else.

·         Sometimes everyone feels out of place.

·         Freedom is gained by imagination.

·         With determination, one could accomplish anything.

·         Sometimes we are the strongest when we remain quiet.

·         Accept that things change.

·         Most people have an inner strength, only not all use it.

·         Don’t let anyone hold you back from what you want.

·         Love can be shown in many different ways.

·         No one is stronger than nature.

·         Identity is determined by society.

·         Enjoy life now, because we all die soon.

·         By the time we understand life, there is too little left to live.

·         Live in the present.

·         Family comes first.

·         Family is who you love, not who you are related to.

·         In life, there must be balance.

·         To be mature, you must be responsible.

·         The choices you make determine the person you are.

·         Finish what you started.

·         Not everything is what it seems

·         Reliance on technology makes us lazy.

·         With age comes wisdom.

·         Having “things” won’t make you happy.

·         Whatever has been done, cannot be undone.

This list is not by any means all there is. This is just my list I have used. If you have any others to share, please post in comments! J thanks! And carpe diem.