Saturday, February 25, 2017

Crazy Stupid (Problematic) Teenage Love | Olivia J

"Never annoy an inspirational author or you will become the poison in her pen and the villain in every one of her books," -Shannon L. Alder

Happy Belated Valentine's day post, I guess? Except I despise Valentine's Day, even when I had a significant other. Beside the point. 
~

As a crazy, stupid teenager, I consume a lot of stories with crazy stupid teenage love. 

Like the name implies, a slew of teenage love stories are, dare I say, problematic. They're only problematic because of the negative effects they have on our ideas of love, and, more importantly, teenage relationships. 

Unfortunately, this was inspired by the trailer to Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon. Granted, I have yet to read or watch this story. However, while I was watching the trailer, I was struck with this repulsive sense of familiarity. This predictability that infects YA romances. While the genre has become more creative over the years, moving from basic rom-com setups to having more inventive premises and spins, a few things still permeate the genre, as well as how it's worked into stories as a subplot. 

Hence, this is me bitching about YA romances.



1. Love Triangles

Let's get this one out of the way. The most obvious and terrible trope of 'crazy stupid teenage love' is love triangles. Two people are madly in love with one person - or find them just super hot. 

-Why It's Problematic

Very rarely do love triangles like the ones seen in YA fiction develop in real life. Surely, two people can like one person, but most of the time, the person caught in the middle is not so indecisive. If they are, it's a general rule that people dislike to be strung along like the way they are in YA fiction, so one base of the love triangle will drop off. They realize that the pursuit is useless. 

Love triangles are only used to create drama, and to appeal to everyone's  - especially girls' - desire to be desired, and this becomes wish-fulfillment. Don't use them, unless you put a unique spin on them, because most readers can see a bad love triangle forming from a mile away. 

-How We Can Change It

Observe how 'love triangles' form in real life. See their nuances, and how un-dramatic they really are. Stay away from the stereotypes. Realize that there are very few times that you should employ a love triangle.


2. Misunderstandings

You know how it goes. Information gets omitted, people read into meaningless things, and suddenly, the girl thinks he cheated, or some variation thereof. 

-Why It's Problematic

It's extraordinarily frustrating for the readers, because they know the whole story, most of the time, or they realize how ridiculous the reactions and emotions of the characters. This portrays that misunderstandings are an integral part of relationships, and that they always must be this dramatic. That every little glance means he's cheating. That every little comment means she doesn't like him anymore. It portrays a hyper-dramatic, unhealthy relationship that only breeds fighting.  

-How We Can Change It

Realize that misunderstandings do happen in relationships, but never make them the central conflict. When they arise and are resolved, make sure your characters learn from the. Never use it as a way to create unnecessary drama. 


3. Lack of Emotional Connection

This is when no reason is given why these characters are able to connect. What are their shared experiences? Common interests? All too often, the author never gives the reader a clear reason on why these characters are connected emotionally and mentally. All we're given is that "they make me feel all fluttery inside" BS. 

-Why It's Problematic

Not establishing a strong emotional connection between characters gives the idea that romantic relationships are only based on good feelings and attractive people. This is so unrealistic, because if we only gravitated towards friends because they made us feel good, then we'd leave them if and when that feeling subsided. Relationships - any relationships - are based on emotional and mental connections. What differentiates platonic from emotional is the phsyical attraction factor, which should not be the defining factor in a relationship. 

-How We Can Change It

There's no real other way to change this than to create a way that your romantic interests have an emotional connection. Think about why you connected so well with your friends or past or current significant others. Was it because you have the same morals, or sense of humor? Make sure there's an emotional and mental connection at the same time, if not before, a physical one. 


4. The Manic Pixie Dream Character (MPDC)

Definitely the most critizied of tropes along with love triangles, the Manic Pixie Dream Character serves to only further the main character's emotional journey. I've already written a whole post dedicated on how to avoid this trope - check it out here!

But alas, I'll go over the basics here. 

-Why It's Problematic

This sets up the idea that there is this perfect person out there who is just waiting to fix us. That another person can cure all of our problems, and show us all there is to life. And surely, people can teach us lessons. But the problem happens where the MPDC devolves into a plot device, and become two dimensional. 

-How We Can Change It

Give the character a goal in the story that doesn't concern helping the protagonist. More on that in my previous blogpost, Writing People Not Plot Devices


5. The Magnum Opus

This is a Latin phrase meaning 'greatest work', as in reference to an artist's most successful accomplishment. But in this context, it means - or rather, I want it to mean - is that "this high school romance is the best it's ever going to get and I'm so in love that nothing could tear us apart so dramatic much sappy". In other words, that the romance that these teenagers are experiencing is so world-shifting and heart-wrenching that it could never get any better and that it will last forever and ever. Right. 

-Why It's Problematic

You're seventeen. How likely is it that this cute boy from your math class is your soulmate? Yet again, this portrays the idea to teenagers that high school romances are so important and detrimental. Acting so dramatically about relationships at such a young age exposes the heart, which isn't always a good thing, because people sure do love to step all over hearts, and crush them. They make good doormats. 

-How We Can Change It

Don't make everything so serious. The characters are young, probably in high school, and, realistically, immature, relatively speaking. Realize that a lot of what teenagers focus on in relationships are feelings, despite whether this is a good thing or not. 

And most importantly, if you take all of the above advice and culminate it in your story, you can probably avoid the "Magnum Opus" trope all together. 


~

Surely, not all of these apply to every YA romance on the market, but a good handful of them do. Hopefully, we can eliminate these annoying stereotypes - which are mostly wish-fulfillment - and write real romances. 

~The WordShaker

Saturday, February 18, 2017

It's More Fun If They Die at The End | Analysis of The 100's Season 4

"The worst thing you write is better than the best thing you did not write," -Ellen Jackson



PSA: Sorry there was no blog post last week. Life caught up with me, and I ended up having NO time. Hopefully that won't happen again. On to this week's post!
~

It's more fun if they die at the end. 


While this isn't always the case, in many post-apocalyptic or science fiction stories, it should be the case, especially when the situation is hopeless. 


Where shows and books write themselves into a corner, is that they set up this hopeless situation, creating this plotline that drives the story. However, what all too often happens is that the infamous plot device deus ex machina quite literally pops up. 


A deus ex machina is where a seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly abruptly resolved by the inspired and unexpected intervention of a new event. Thanks, Wikipedia. 


The way that Season 4 of the 100 is progressing is that the radiation is exponentially growing, and will wipe out 99% of life on earth, as claimed by the show. The main plot involves them trying to find ways to either stop the radiation or protect everyone from it as it ravages the earth. Our favorite flawed leaders, Clarke and Bellamy, are trying to save the day, along with a neurotic Raven. 


In this past week's episode, there is almost a hope of having another bunker, built by a religious zealot. My initial thoughts during the episode consisted of "oh no, this place is going to be habitable, and then the rest of the season is just going to be them fixing it up and making it usable."


What the episode beautifully pulls off is convincing the audience that this place would be intact and able to support the earth's populous. When this doesn't end up working out for our fatal heroes, I felt almost a relief. 


Why?  Don't I want everything to work out peachy and for everyone to survive?


No, not in this case. Because if another deus ex machina comes in and saves everyone, then there will be no point, the cycle of surviving and killing that The 100 has found itself in will only perpetuate. 


My projection is that this season will be The 100's last. I almost want it to be it's last season, because it will create a beautiful story arc with my predictions. 


1a. Clarke and Bellamy are unable to find another place except the Ark to hold 100 people, almost poetically. 


1b. 100 people, hopefully not our main characters, hole up in the Ark and survive the nuclear meltdowns. Our main characters die happily, having fulfilled their mission and resolved the conflict, and the human race lives on. 


2a. The Ark is somehow damaged beyond the repair of fixing in time. There is no place to hide. 


2b. 99% of the human population dies. However, our characters accept their death and live their last, sick days to the fullest. Or, they put themselves out of their misery via group suicide. 


I want my beloved characters to die because it will wrap up the story. Truly, I see almost no way out of this situation. The only other avenue I could see is if Season 5 would cover the straggling survivors on the Ark. 


However, the ending of the series would be much more impactful if it ended here, and in the two scenarios I provided above. 


It would be more impactful because if everyone or our beloved characters died, then it would give the message that you can't just live life by surviving, and sometimes dying can be more fulfilling than living. If everyone died, it would be poetic justice. The Arkadians sent down the 100 to die, they didn't die, but later, they ended up dying from radiation fallout, having learned all they could on the ground. It would be a fulfilling and timely death for all of our original 100. 


Compare this to the movie Passengers, starring Christ Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence. They are faced with a spaceship that is breaking down, and they have woken up about eighty years too early to arrive at their destination. After fixing the ship, and, of course, realizing they love each other, they accept their fate, which is that they won't be able to reenter cryogenic sleep. So, Pratt's and Lawrence's characters 'bloom where they're planted' so to speak, and live out the rest of their lives, alone on the ship. This is the impactful, deep, and emotional ending I have envisioned for this series. 


I suppose I wouldn't be mad if Season 5 continued on with some of our main characters inside of the ark riding out the radiation, but then, that would definitely have to be the end, with the remaining survivors barely scraping by to rebuild civilization. However, Jasper, everyone's favorite drug addict alongside Charlie Pace, has been the ringleader of what I want to happen. 


The characters learn to live, not just to survive, accept their inevitable death, and find peace within themselves. 


A hesitant watcher because Jason Rothenberg has hurt me too much already,


~The WordShaker

Saturday, February 4, 2017

Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman | Book Review

"I write to live and I live to write," -Unknown

 If you follow me on social media - which you should - you'll know what I've been ranting and raving about how beautiful Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman is. 


follow me on snapchat @hootowltree

This is the second book that I've read that's been on my TBR. And I'd have to say it's one of the best books of the year. And since I've only read three, that probably doesn't say much. 


follow me on instagram @olivia.j.the.wordshaker
The cover is gorgeous though.  Hopefully, it's as hot on the inside as it is on the outside. 

Commencing with the review. Spoilers, duh. 


The Bad

1. The Plot Twist

This truly was the only thing I didn't like about this book. It partially came out of left field, and it didn't make much sense. While it did serve it's purpose in adding the shock factor, it took away from the overall intensity of the story and badness of Waylan Rose. It over-complicated the story where it didn't need to be. 


The Neutral

1. Kate and Jesse's Relationship

I adored Kate. She was sensitive and badass and sassy and was made of pure iron. Jesse, while he was an interesting and complex character, I didn't love him. I loved Will much more. He had an edge, a humor that made his asshole nature likeable, whereas Jesse was a brooder. For three fourths of the book, they hated each other, could barely stand in the same room without bickering, and Jesse and Will betrayed her. And I understand why Kate's revelation of her caring about Jesse came when it did, but I didn't adore their relationship like I felt I should have. Fortunately, her romance with Jesse never deterred her off of her mission, which is what I was afraid of. 

2. Dated


This is a little nitpicky, but at times, there were a few lines that indicated that this book was written in the twenty first century, like comments about sex and race. Progressive thoughts, especially in Kate's head, jarred me out of the story at times, because even though Kate was a good person, and these are thoughts that someone of today would have thought, even the most upright person probably wouldn't have considered back then. That just wasn't how most people thought, or acted. 


The Good

1. World-building

This was the strongest selling point of the novel. The hot Arizona sun, the dialect, the setting, the descriptions of the shootouts, the saloons, everything was perfect and immersive. It revealed this rich, otherworldly culture of the Old West not usually seen in young adult novels. It was beautiful and saturated with life and spunk and color. 

2. Character Arcs

This aspect really added a surprising and pleasant depth to this Western. They're usually stereotypically portrayed with more of an external plot, and these stories don't focus on an internal struggle. But Kate's arc of letting go of her pain was sprinkled in just at the right time, and never deterred from the plot. Jesse breaking down at the loss of his brother was perfectly emotional. This book struck a unique emotional chord, because while the driving force behind it was revenge and anger, it was beautifully executed and resolved with forgiveness and letting go. 

3. The Action


Another stellar part of this book was the action, most notably the saloon scene. It clipped along with a beautiful narrative, and was tension-filled and gritty and violent: everything anyone would ever want in a Western. My only complaint is that I thought the climax would come sooner. With Kate alone, and Will's death, and the ransom note, I was sure that this was the setup for the climax. But Jesse is just injured, and they escape, releasing the tension, leaving me unsatisfied. A slight misstep in a solid, heart-pounding streak of gritty action. 

~


This will be the book that gets teenagers into Westerns again, or at least, historical fiction. It's got that gritty ass-kickage that will entertain you, with just enough historical flair to transport you to another world. 

Overall, this book is like gold ore, solid and great and almost perfect. I enjoyed every second of it, and it truly fulfilled my expectations. 

8.75/10 would recommend. 

~The WordShaker