5 cliches you need to avoid in YA novels

17 Mar

msproulx |  March 17th,2011 | Cliches in literature, Great characters, Source of inspiration |  4 comments

Don’t get me wrong, I love young adult literature. I go through these books as if I was still a teenager and they are, in my opinion, very entertaining. I read the Twillight saga in less than two weeks and was almost screaming like a little girl every time a new Harry Potter came out, to mention only a few. I cannot wait to read The Wolves of Mercy Falls Trilogy written by Maggie Stiefvater and many mores.

The only problem I have is that, even if they feel comfortable as a cafe latte on a Sunday morning, the use of cliches is getting a bit frustrating, in my opinion. I’ve come up with a list of the ones that we need to let go once and for all.

  1. An immortal a couple of centuries old falls in love with a bright and independent teenager: Let’s get back in real life for a moment. An adult man falling in love with a teenage girl is purely creepy, not to mention illegal. An immortal has to be how old so that those rules do not apply to him? Is 100 years old enough?
  2. An immortal a couple of centuries old falls in love with a bright and independent teenager: Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. I know. It’s identical to number one, but I believe this one is twofold. How come a more mature man who has lived through different eras and who has seen and lived some many things can fall in love with a teenage girl? Have you ever seen a teenage girl? The drama, the makeup, the cell phones, the gossip. OMG, how can someone over 20 years old deal with that or even fall in love with that? I have to admit that I’ve added this one out of jealousy. Damn you Edward! How come you did not choose me?
  3. The almost inevitable prophecy: Too many have fallen for this one. It is easier to write about an old prophecy to give your main character an edge than to develop your story. I get it. I’ve done it. However, it brings nothing new to the table. It’s been done a million times already, and if you are not able to do it as good as J.R.R. Tolkien in Lord of the Rings than don’t do it.
  4. The chosen one: She/he lives a normal life until things start falling apart and he/she learns that she/he is the ”chosen one” that will save them all. Sounds familiar? This one often goes hand in hand with number 3 (The Prophecy). The character then goes on finding a force that she/he did not knew that she/he had before all of this began and usually triumphs in the end fulfilling the prophecy of being the chosen one. Which makes me wonder, have you ever read a story implying number 3 and 4 were the character did not fulfill his destiny ultimately? (feel free to discuss this in the comment section)
  5. The young brilliant, mature and witty teenager that seems like an old soul: We sometime feel as a writer that we need to emphasis on the maturity and the ”out of the ordinary” aspect of our main teen character. However, I read a book recently that made me think otherwise. The book is called Alyss and is written by a French writer from Quebec, Patrick Senécal, that I love. I would describe this book as a strange version of Alice in Wonderland. His main character, Alice is an eighteen years old girl that just left her parent’s house. She talks like a teenager, and she acts like one. She has the revolutionary ideas that a normal teenager would have but that will not stand the test of time. She is what she is, and she is interesting that way. My point is, teenagers are great creatures whom we need to depict as they are, and not as we would like them to be from our adult point of view. Sure I would like to be the mother of a mature, intelligent and witty 16 years old that loves to read classic literature. That might be the case, but in real life, teenagers are  conflicted, they feel misunderstood, and they sometime act without thinking. And that is what makes them great! They should not be depicted as thirthysomethings who are attending high school.

That being said, I am not here to judge. Many writers will use these cliches and transform them into something wonderful. We just have to think of so many characters that have won our hearts even though they fell under one or many of these (Harry Potter, Bella/Edward, Frodo, etc.).

Heck, the first novel I wanted to write was based on a sixteen year old girl, a.k.a. the chosen one, that needed to fulfill a prophecy to save the world but could rely on her matureness and intelligence to seduce the immortal who was sent to kill her (not to mention that this guy was almost 500 years old!). This novel was never finished. I decided that at one point it felt too familiar, and that I did not bring anything new to the table.

It would not be fair to say that cliches should not be used at all. Use them if you strongly believe that they are absolutely necessary to your story line. Try to turn them around and see if you can make them truly unique in your own way. Maybe the prophecy will not be fulfilled, or the chosen one might not be the only solution to the whole situation. In short, be creative!

 

 

Who’s your favorite character portraying a writer?

02 Mar

msproulx |  March 2nd,2011 | Great characters, Source of inspiration |  No Comments »

When I reflect on what made me want to become a writer (other than the fact that I am a book worm), I cannot pass on the strong portrayal of countless writers in many books, films or television shows. They have of course influenced the vision I have of the profession itself by dressing a depiction of what a writer should be. How he should act. What will inspire him.

What drawn me the most to the profession was probably the liberty that came with it. A writer does not answer to anybody (or at least in my imagination he doesn’t, in real life he does answer to his editor, his agent and of course his readers). He is the master of his own life. He creates so that other can escape their every day life. There would be no entertainment industry if there was no writer. No books. No television shows. No movies. No fun! This makes him an essential part of our community.

That being said, I thought that it might be fun to discuss those characters portraying writers in every medium. I’ve narrowed it to three different characters (2 in books and 1 on television) that I deem worth discussing in today’s blog. I might add others along the way and feel free to give your suggestions in the comment section. Please note that I do not admire these characters and I do not take them as an example of what my writing life should be in any way. These are basically characters that I liked, and I enjoyed reading about or watching in action. And believe me, there is no way I would trade my life with Jack Torrance or Hank Moody, but I find them intensely interesting!

 

Number 1: Jack Torrance (The Shining/novel written by Stephen King, 1977)
Aspiring writer and temperamental alcoholic

Jack Torrance is probably the archetype of the tortured writer : an aspiring writer struggling for inspiration. He drinks too much when he is in a dead end, and he does not know how to deal with his own failure in life. Of course, the masterpiece written by King (one of his best work, in my opinion) plays on the instability of Jack’s character. This character was masterfully played by Jack Nicholson in the movie adaptation.
What I like: The tortured part of the character. The struggle. The crazyness.
What I don’t like: The fact that he would even consider bringing his family to this creepy hotel for the winter.

 

Number 2 : Hank Moody (Californication, a television show created by Tom Kapinos, played by David Duchovny, 2007-today)
Renowned writer proned to scandalous situations

Hank Moody is the rock star type writer. He lives the life and enjoys it. His past work was a success, and he now found himself without the need to write to make a living. He has lost part of his inspiration and do not plan of trying to figure out a way to get it back.
What I like: The rock star thing. He’s a smooth talker but the character has a lot of depth. Not to mention also the bromance with Evan Adler’s character, Charlie.
What I don’t like: At some point, you will find yourself wanting to scream at the television set “What the hell are you thinking?”

 

Number 3 : Mikael Blomkvist (Millennium series, written by Stieg Larsson, 2005-2007)
Journalist, writer, investigator

Larsson trilogy is driven by two characters, Blomkvist and Salander. Blomkvist character’s is one that do not easily let go. He is depicted as a true investigative journalist who has a habit of bringing to light suspicious transactions and shady businessmen.
What I like: The integrity, the incorruptibility, the loyalty.
What I don’t like: The lack of glamour. A bit too straight for my taste.

There are tons of other examples out there. How about you gave me your taste in characters portraying a writer? See you in the comment’s section!

Great things can come from nothingness

01 Mar

msproulx |  March 1st,2011 | Source of inspiration |  No Comments »

The other day I was diagnosed with an eye infection, or as the eye doctor told me an infection set in the lashes (how weird is that by the way?!?). This condition affected greatly my vision, and I was basically stuck doing nothing. Something as undemanding as watching television came with excruciating pain. Working was out of the question so did writing or reading.

As a well trained adult, I started to panic at the fact that I couldn’t do anything. Our parents have thought us, since we were young, that we should not be waisting time. So did our teachers, bosses and other figures of authority over time. This had a tricky consequence on all of us that we only notice once we are in the gutter not able to perform as we usually do.

For me, it hit me in the face when I was laying down in the darkness of my room in the middle of the afternoon doing nothing. My brain was racing like crazy thinking about all of those things that were pilling up. All the laundry that I was not picking up. My Inbox from work was probably going to explode soon enough. And the kids… What will they think if they saw me doing nothing. On one hand, I had a pretty good reason for doing nothing. I had difficulty opening my eyes, which can, believe me, affect a lot of things in your everyday life. I felt helpless. At some point, I remember talking to myself that all of this pressure was too much and that the situation was clearly out of my control. Anyway, no matter what I would have done, I would remain almost blind so that settled it!

And there it was. A flash of genius. A momentary lapse of judgement. Or simply just plain old good sense. My brain shut everything off. All of the tasks that were not done. All the work that was piling off. Everything was gone. All that was left was me, my bed and my imagination.

My mind started to wander like it used to when I was a kid. For a couple of minutes, I was some kind of warrior in a post apocalyptic world. Then I was a witch in some sort of medieval tale. I was even for a moment a published writer negotiating the rights to the cinematographical adaptation of mybest selling novel (boy, did that last one felt good!).

At some point, I did slip back into reality. However, it was with joy and gratefulness that I did. It made me remember how much I liked leaving my mind wander when I was younger. And it felt good to do it again, almost as it did when I was younger. I realized how much this process can become a great source of inspiration and a tool for my future projects. It helped me complete a scene in one of my ongoing novel that I had difficulty with because I was able to let my mind create from nothing.

How about you? How do you cope with doing nothing for a while? Feel free to vent below in the comment section.

The need to write

25 Feb

msproulx |  February 25th,2011 | Welcome |  2 comments

I’ve chosen this title as an introduction to this blog because a lot of writers can relate to it. We all have it deep inside ourselves, but we do not always know how to deal with it. We struggle. We survive. We sometime deliver. We sometime fail. But in the end, we cannot dissociate ourselves from this need. Overall, I thought it was a good way to start this blog and to bring to life the Indie Writer.

However, what I would like to explore here today with you is from where all of this comes from. All of you writers or wannabe writers out there, sit down and take a minute to reflect on the exact moment when you first realized that you had the need to write. Or maybe just a feeling that it might be something that you would like to pursue at some point in your life.

For me, it came very early on. I am pretty sure I could read before they taught me how to in class. Or maybe it was just because I bugged my mother to read me the same stories over and over again every single night. Going to the library was one of my favorite getaway. One thing for sure is that I’ve always identified myself with writers and characters based on writers. This is what I wanted to do. This was a lifestyle I could live with. Even though it was generally associated with a lack of money and not much to eat. But life decided otherwise and the responsibility of having a family took over this big project of one day becoming a published writer. Don’t hear me wrong, I love being a mother and a wife. No complaints on that at all.

Good news is the Web gives us nowadays many opportunities to express ourselves and write. So, here I am. A new blog just fresh out of the oven still figuring out where I will go from there. But one thing’s for sure. I do have the need to write in me and will definitely explore it here as the Indie Writer.

Indie Writer

Everything you need to know about being an unpublished writer