Back in the Saddle...?

Well, maybe. 

Haven't posted in a long time. This thing lost its glamor, but I may pop back. Just feel like I should be promoting this more, but really I want to kind of keep it for myself for a while until I'm sure what it is I'm trying to accomplish here. A lot of everything besides writing is happening here so I'm not sure how on board I am with complete strangers seeing what I'm thinking.  

Anywho, I did want to go on about YA love interests. 

Why? Well, I'm reading a lot of YA lately (kind of...I have a lot of books I requested through my college library that I plan on reading along with two books, Feed by MT Anderson and Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta--both of which I've barely begun) but I'm trying to sink my teeth into them hoping to both gain some clarity on a market I may one day be publishing in and to recapture some of my lost adoration of the genre (or market). I don't know...it's both a guilty indulgence and engrossing study. 

So the love interests. Yeah. What's up with those? 

I think the general consensus is that we've got too many love triangles and swoon-woobs going around. Our main character is either a very independent, gruff wrench wench who is so able to tote her own load that she has no need for anyone's help, or she's the self aware, cute, snarky, "plain" heroine who has a magically destiny power thingy that she didn't know she was born with and the guy who comes to guide her is a hot angel/demon/vampire/werewolf/elf person with a body too hot to handle and---you get the idea. 

I think it's a lot of wish fulfillment on the author's part. She's not so much crafting a character as she's inserting some dude she'd desperately like to be in love with. That, or she/he is catering to the demographic in a way they think is effective, given that, yeah, a lot of teen girls (and boys) like the idea of a hot guy being at their side when peril is afoot. Sometimes I wonder if it's a security thing on the girl's part (boy's too depending). I mean, when I was a teen I kind of fell head over heels with characters whom I viewed as strong and supportive because I always felt so alone and in need of company. I don't know...when these male love interests are so strong with rippling pectorals and shimmery green aquamarine eyes that shoot out lasers, I can't help but feel that some of the appeal is in their ability to protect. 

Moving on. I haven't really ran into a very well crafted male love interest as of yet, though I will give a quick shout out to Peeta Mellark of the Hunger Games fame because I've come to realize that in the course of my retrospective analysis of the series (retrospective?) that he's the most...well...down to earth love interest I've seen in a while. He doesn't have super powers, a really hot bod, he's not dark and angsty. He's humble, really sweet, and kind of solemnly accepts that Katniss has her eyes on some other dude and that he may only ever contend for second. This quote: 

“We were five. You had a plaid dress and your hair…it was in two braids instead of one. My father pointed you out while we were waiting to line up. He said, ‘See that little girl? I wanted to marry her mother, but she ran off with a coal miner.’ And I said, ‘A coal miner? Why did she want a coal miner if she could’ve had you?’ And he said, ‘Because when he sings…even the birds stop to listen.’ So that day, in music assembly, the teacher asked who knew the valley song. Your hand shot right up in the air. She put you up on a stool and had you sing it for us. And I swear, ever bird outside the windows fell silent. And right when your song ended, I knew -just like your mother- I was a goner.”

Yeah. THAT quote, sums him up perfectly. I like that it isn't overly sappy (not completely) and he's not paying homage to her hair and eyes and cute face--Peeta loves her, but he realizes that he may never have her, so he decides to just be there for her in anyway possible, waiting. THAT's romantic because it's a little more realistic. It's not vain in the Bella/Jacob way where she plays Jacob like a fiddle when Edward is gone only to tell him that he'll always be last to her when she's clung onto his nutsacks for over a damn year (or something, the time flow in those stories are really fucked up). 

In class last week, we had this discussion about authors writing for different genders or merely sticking to their own gender. I mentioned that in YA last year, I was asked a lot about the female characters in my stories because they were featured less prominently than my lead males were. As of now, I have a bit of a better handle on some of them (at least one) but before I never really looked at it as a kind of exclusion thing. I write for two male characters in one of my stories, but I don't really see it as that. I'm just writing about two characters. Who happen to be male.

I DO have issues with one of their love interests however, and only because I have no idea how she fits into the story or if I even want her there anymore. She's just this rude, violent, mute being and I don't really know her purpose, but that's for the writing to ultimately decide, I guess. It'll all come to me eventually. 

But, yeah. My point is that love interests or--well, if you have a character that is merely functioning as a love interest than you have a problem. If their sole function is to stir your lead's loins and provide eye candy for you readers, then you have a problem. If you can't help but include some needless reminder about their beauty and sexiness and awesomeness--yeah, you have a problem. A vanity problem, possibly. 

So my advice? Examine what they're REALLY there for and think about their purpose. What do they want outside of pleasing the fem/male lead? What about their lives, dreams, wants, needs, goals? Can they stand on their own as a character? Do they have a favorite food or TV show or song they're embarrassed to actually like? 

Would Bella or Edward be half as interesting on their own without one another? Hmmm? THINK about it.