Murakami wisdom, Tinder shenanigans and book talk

1. How girls talk:

That conversation came about after my girlfriends and I piddled around the Tinder app and were trying to figure out what a guy might mean when he doesn't respond to an emoticon. And people say GIRLS are hard to figure out.

Our responses to the faces we see on Tinder range from this:

To this:

(All the dudes baring their pot bellies or flexing their gargantuan muscles in minimal clothing, you know who you are!)

Occasionally, we're like this:

(There ARE some cute, non-creepy ones on the app, after all! Faith in humanity restored.)

But more often it's this:

(Why would you put a shot of yourself sitting on the edge of your bed in your boxers eating half a watermelon as your profile picture???)

By the way, can I just say that Tinder still has a lot of room for improvement? Not only are we unable to scroll back to the person we might have accidentally rejected, we are unable to go back and view the profile of someone we have approved until he approves back. Apparently not a fan of hindsight, this Tinder.

For now, though, while my friends have run out of guys to pick from, I'm still highly entertained by the different types of profile pictures (supposedly) single guys choose of themselves.

And because I think I'm permanently scarred by the sight of this one guy in a pair of green floral shorts hugging a huge block of cheese (another head-scratcher), THIS is very much welcome:





Ah. Much better now.


2. Anyway, speaking of wisdom, here are some snippets of wisdom - so profound, but never self-righteous or self-important - from "the Yoda of Japanese literature", author Haruki Murakami:

"Life's no piece of cake, mind you, but the recipe's [your] own to fool with." ~ Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (1985) 

"If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking." ~ Norwegian Wood (1987) 

"For 'a while' is a phrase whose length can't be measured. At least by the person who's waiting." ~ South of the Border, West of the Sun (1992) 

"Even castles in the sky can do with a fresh coat of paint." ~ South of the Border, West of the Sun (1992) 

"A person's destiny is something you look back at afterwards, not something to be known in advance." ~ The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1997)  

"Understanding is but the sum of misunderstandings." ~ Sputnik Sweetheart (2001) 

"In this world, there are things you can only do alone, and things you can only do with somebody else. It's important to combine the two in just the right amount." ~ After Dark (2004)

I read After Dark a few years ago, in my freshman year at university, and I remember being taken by sparse, beautiful and heart-breaking prose.

Murakami's characters are always diverse and complex, even when the things they say and the conversations they have seem surface. Plus, there's something tragically lonely about the characters and their voices, and uplifting about the way they found each other - which, I realise, can be applied to Norwegian Wood too. But while Norwegian Wood got a little draggy for me, I didn't want After Dark to end.

Go read all 30 of them!


3. Romance writer Jennifer Crusie on how to create conflict in romance novels:

Conflict in general is pretty simple ... The pursuit of these goals brings your protagonist and antagonist into direct conflict because neither can achieve his or her goal without blocking and thus defeating the other. 

The romance plot has a protagonist and an antagonist (or vice versa) who are drawn together and who, during the course of their story, move through the physical and emotional stages of falling in love ... Over the course of the story, they change as people so they can connect, learning to compromise and forming a bond at the end that will keep them together forever. 

The hard part [is] taking the romance plot and giving it conflict. A good conflict has the protagonist destroying the antagonist completely (or vice versa). A good romance plot ends in compromise with both protagonist and antagonist safe, happy, and bonded. Trying to navigate the space in between causes most of the problems in romance writing. 

Romance novels aren't just the usual, fluffy boy-meets-girl, done-to-death stories that everyone thinks are so easy to churn out. (Well, there are some stories that go like that, but we try not to emulate them.)

Romance novels are, in essence, highly character-driven, and that's what makes them so tricky to write. What makes this character different from another? Why choose to write his or her story? How do they grow as a result of each other? What do I want them to become at the end of the story?

My characters usually end up sitting around talking, so I try to toss in some action that is totally lame and pointless, and it all ends up looking contrived and my characters get really confused and annoyed with me.

Still, it's just the first draft, Joyce. Just the first draft. You can rewrite and edit the shit out of it later.


4. And from a literary agent's perspective, Carly Watters believes writers should compete with themselves and not with other writers:

It doesn't make it easy when you know how many other writers there are out there trying to get published, too. But that information has to light a fire under you and make you want to revise and want to write the best book you can. Competition is about writing better than you did the day before, and the book before this. You are your own competition. Make that your mission.

Also, she offers candid insight on what publishing requires from a writer:

Publishing is where creative writing meets Hollywood: Does it have a hook? Can you sell it in a sentence? Are the characters memorable? Is their journey compelling? Does it start when we meet the characters at an interesting point in their lives? Getting published requires some stripping down of overwriting and self indulgence. Getting published is about making your writing accessible to mass readers.

For more advice, go here!


5. Due to the slew of less-than-glowing book reviews that have popped up, particularly on sites like Goodreads, some folks are starting to question: Do we really need negative book reviews?

Of course, the first reaction would be to say no, that it's unnecessary and let's just all talk about books we love and enjoy instead of directing attention to the "bad" ones.

But without criticism, how are we writers going to learn what works or what doesn't? I'd much rather be told candidly why my book is mediocre than be assured that it is deserving of critical acclaim if it isn't true, even if the criticism may be harder to stomach.

Of course, if the negative review is mean for the sake of being mean and getting some laughs at the expense of the author, then please fold some origami and shove it up your pie-hole because the world doesn't need more bullies.




6. I don't want this post to end on that note, so here's some happy:

The Infinite Gallery : Cornwall, England

Okay, okay. Off to do just that now! Happy mid-week, everyone! :0)

k-dramas: the winning formula (plus, Monday mood-lifters!)

Despite my efforts to focus on writing Neverland, I finally decided to watch You Who Came from the Stars last week.

(Not that I'm validating my drama obsession, but I've found the more material I expose myself to - be it books or TV shows or music - the easier it is to coax the plot bunnies out, and the easier the words flow when I work on my stories. So I shall stick to this line of reasoning whenever I feel guilty about watching dramas when I could be writing. At least I'm not obsessively watching all the episodes in a day! Right? I totally pace myself - one episode a day - if only to make the show last longer.)

So it's no secret that ever since Secret Garden,

I've been properly sold over by Korean dramas. I don't watch a lot of them, though, just those that come highly recommended - and even then I don't always follow through *cough* 49 Days *cough cough* Lie To Me.

But Secret Garden was INCREDIBLE. Thanks, Felicia, for recommending it! I am forever grateful.

It had a great story line: an arrogant CEO who, due to an fateful misunderstanding - falls in love with a poor stunt-woman?

Toss in a narcissistic washed-out pop star:

A body switch (a plot device done to death, but so funny in the hands of scriptwriter Kim Eun Sook):

A traumatic repressed memory that links the two leads together dramatically and you get a recipe for an undeniably entertaining series.

Plus, it's got one of the most beautiful soundtracks I've ever heard for a k-drama - perhaps even THE most beautiful:

And a very watchable cast ... by which I mean:

Hyun Bin! ❤

And, okay, her too:

Ha Ji Won

And the dialogue is simply hysterical:

It was all SO ENTIRELY PERFECT that I wrote a script for EN3271 Advanced Playwriting influenced by the mood of Secret Garden, and a novel, Until Morning, that was - I hope! - as funny and bittersweet and dramatic and whimsical as the drama.

Don't you just love stories that inspire you to write your own stories?

Anyway, after Secret Garden and Heirs, I hadn't really found another drama that I HAD to follow, mostly because I'm picky when it comes to dramas (and wouldn't you be, if you were going to spend hours watching an entire series?): is the cast watchable, are the characters layered, is the story cliched, is the dialogue snappy or funny or insightful? I've tried watching a few since Heirs, including Bel Ami, starring Jang Geun Suk, but got bored after two episodes.

You Who Came From the Stars, though, is funnier and more gripping than I'd expected. I thought it was completely ridiculous at first. A 400-year-old alien (yes, really - think Clark Kent instead of E.T.) who is stuck on Earth and is finally about to go back to his own planet, but then he falls for this narcissistic actress who reminds him of his first love and things get complicated?

But with a murder subplot to keep things moving and raise the stakes, I haven't been able to extricate myself from the drama since episode 2!

Actual dialogue from the drama! The female character is a bit on the psychotic side.

I'm on episode 13 now, so no spoilers if you've watched the latest episodes already! I'll have to start looking for the next drama to get sucked into, though.

Find another, that's what!

Any other recommendations?

While we're on the topic of the success formula of k-dramas, here's another cogent breakdown.

*

Also, I started reading Fathomless, by Jackson Pearce over the weekend.

And can I just say, I am SO in love with this book! I read her earlier novels, Sisters Red (Red Riding Hood retelling):

And Sweetly (Hansel and Gretel retelling):

They were enjoyable enough, but didn't really wow me in terms of plot or prose. Maybe because I have an obsession with mermaids - along with Peter Pan and the Little Prince and winged beasties - but Fathomless TOTALLY does it for me.

Plus, the prose is so much prettier this time, the setting painted more vividly. Jackson Pearce's niche is fairytale retellings, and even though Fathomless is a retelling of The Little Mermaid, it has a very original plot without veering too much from the original story.

Jackson Pearce, nailed it



So I raced down to the library yesterday and borrowed Cold Spell (The Snow Queen retelling) too:

Can't wait to delve into this too! Big yay for folks who write good books!

*

A little random, but lately, there's this song that keeps buzzing in my head:

Gulliver, by Super Junior

I found this song COMPLETELY IRRITATING at first. But after hearing Donghae's rapping bit at 1:15, I can't get it out of my head. Dayyyum, that voice! (He's the one on the left with the pretty face and nice guns, in case you're wondering.)

Okay, okay. I'm done fangirling.

*

I'm still not done reading Laini's old blog - there are just too many things to learn from her, too much to enjoy!

For today, this:

Laini on keeping the love for your story alive: 

... be willing to change anything and everything about the idea you thought you had. Nothing is set in stone. There's a natural impulse to grip onto whatever your initial idea for the story was, but don't. It may be that the reason you're stuck is that there wasn't enough there to begin with, or that it wasn't quite right. If it was, you wouldn't be stuck, right? 

You have be rigorous. You don't sit around waiting for the perfect idea to land on you like a butterfly. You go after it with a net. You climb out to the end of slender tree branches reaching for it.  

Basically: think think think. Think in writing. Think far past anything you've come up with so far. Be willing to discard any of your fixed "sacred" ideas. Be willing even to tear down the very foundation of your story and replace it with something new, if that's what you have to do. 

I don't know if she'll ever see this, but THANK YOU, Laini, for sharing all your writing wisdom with us, and all your encouragements. I ❤ you big time.

*

And now for some pretty:

Tsaritsyno Park in Moscow, Russia

Umbrella lights!

And some happy:

Owl cookies!

And some funnies:

Miss The O.C.!

Have a great week, everyone! :0)

8 swoon-worthy male characters in YA fiction

Yes, I am unabashedly in love with Young Adult (YA) fiction.

I think adolescence is a wonderful period to write about because the characters are at the most pivotal stage of their lives, still impressionable enough to change for better or for worse as they try to find and define themselves with a particular identity. In fact, some of the characters in YA have been the most memorable ones for me. Some of them also made me fall head-over-heels in love with them because of how layered and conflicted and real they are.

In YA fiction, as Laini puts forth here in this powerful post in defence of YA (it's awesome - go read it!), "the subject matter is vast, and transcend all genre borders."

Plus, as this post argues, "the attraction isn't just related to the fact that young adult novels tend to have faster-paced narratives. Many of these crossover "teen" novels are satisfying to adult readers because they tap into ageless themes, namely the sense that each of us longs to know who we really are in a strange, confusing and sometimes otherworldly world. As it turns out, the search for self is a lifelong one."

Okay, serious stuff out of the way, here's a list of boys in YA fiction that I've swooned and gushed over, and been irrationally legitimately obsessed with:


1. Wes from The Truth About Forever, by Sarah Dessen

Still my favourite Sarah Dessen book, despite subsequent ones such as What Happened to Goodbye and Lock and Key that are just as beautifully written. Forever is something special, maybe because I can relate to the protagonist, Macy, so well, since she's really close to her father and afraid of meeting new people too.

Who? Wes is your regular boy-next-door who prizes honesty - to everyone else and to yourself - above everything else.

Why? He looks for imperfections, appreciates them, even craves them. This is evident from the art he makes. (Yes, a boy who makes art. What's not to love, right?) He uses scrap materials like wood and glass to create beautiful display pieces that are perfect in their imperfection.

Plus, he's infinitely patient with his nerdy, overwrought little brother, Bert. Oh, and he helped the protagonist, Macy, move on from the death of her father. Yes, he's a patient one. Perhaps boys who make art are usually this way?

Also, he is everything Macy needs to break out of her comfort zone (albeit with baby steps). He is responsible, reliable, has a great sense of humour and never gives up on you. It doesn't feel stressful in his company.

In short,




2. Sam from Shiver, by Maggie Stiefvater

Oh, Shiver. How I love you! I wish I could kiss you and have you turn into a boy as beautiful at heart and as sweet as Sam. The prose is honey and clove, bittersweet but not too cloying, and the setting just as heartbreakingly beautiful. I don't think I've read another YA fantasy romance that made my heart swell and flutter and do all sorts of gymnastic feats the way Shiver had.

Quote from Shiver

Sam and Grace artwork for the book

Who? Sam is a sweet, soulful boy who turns into a werewolf when the weather dips and is desperately trying to cling on to his human form to be with the girl he loves. Also, he's a little damaged: (*SPOILER ALERT*) when his parents found out he was a wolf when he was younger, they tried to slit his wrist and drown him in the bathtub. (Yes, lovely people, they are.)

Why? He writes poetry. He writes songs. He reads. He works at a bookstore. He reads Rilke (OH, RILKE!). He's damaged, but is capable of love. He loves life, cherishes it, because of how fragile his humanity is. Need I say more?

3. Ian Waters from Wild Roses, by Deb Caletti

My favourite novel from Deb Caletti so far. Also the first one from her that I read. I loved the prose, the narrator's voice, the romance, the drama of the entire story ... but mostly, I loved Ian.

Who? Ian is the protege of world-renowned violin maestro, the brilliant but disturbed Dino Cavalli, who is also the step-father of the protagonist Cassie.

Why? He plays the violin. He has a great sense of humour, totally on the same wavelength as Cassie. He is never attention-seeking or complacent - much less cocky - despite his talent. He's like snow that lands on the ground silently but beautifully. He's the first character named Ian I had ever known, and his image will always go with that name for me.




4. Mik from Night of Cake and Puppets, by Laini Taylor

Night is a novella from the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series by Laini.

You would think I'd be all over Akiva, the seraph warrior who is pretty much perfection embodied. But human Mik was who I fell for instead. Particularly in Days of Blood and Starlight, the sequel to Daughter, where Mik and Zuzana traipsed through the desert to find Karou, Mik was always attentive to Zuze, and very concerned about her well-being (is she dehydrated? bone-tired? in need of a good sleep?).

Plus, he and Zuze ended up being pals with the chimaera soldiers, who are basically animal hybrids. Monsters. They play well with monsters. Well, which monster can resist Mik's sweet looks and manners?



Who? Mik is the violinist with the dark, soulful eyes and flushed cheeks whom Zuzana is crazy about, and who turns out to be crazy about her too.

Why? He plays the violin. (I'm sensing a trend here.) He surprises her with cake and tea on an impromptu date on a rowboat. He gets her quirks, loves her for them, and comes with a few himself too (peacock footprints, anyone?).


5. Cole from The Road of the Dead, by Kevin Brooks

I read this book waaaay back in 2005, but I remember how smitten I was with him, because he was a bad boy who was very protective of his younger brother.

Who? Your quintessential bad boy, Cole is the older brother of the narrator, Ruben. He gets into fights often, but fights for the people he loves.

Why? Because we all love a bad boy with a heart of gold. At least in fiction.


6. Michael Moscovitz from the Princess Diaries series, by Meg Cabot

I know there are people who scoff at the series for being about a self-indulgent teenage girl who uses way too many exclamation marks, but this series was what made me start keeping a journal when I was 11 years old and for that I'll always be grateful to Meg Cabot. There is nothing quite as cathartic as putting your thoughts onto paper.

Who? Brother of Mia's best friend, Michael has had a crush on Mia forever, back when she hadn't ascended to royalty status.

Robert Schwartzman, who played the character in the screen adaptation

Why? He wrote a song for her, Tall Glass of Water. He supports her in her writing endeavours, is always eager to read what she writes, and gives sound, thoughtful feedback. He's really smart, but works his ass off to amount to something he deems worthy of Her Royal Highness, even if she doesn't care about their status difference.

Plus, his name just rolls off your tongue.


7. Luke Brandon from the Shopaholic series, by Sophie Kinsella

Okay, this one's not YA, but come on, isn't Luke swoon-worthy?

Hugh Dancy's pretty eyes aside, Luke has many qualities to love. I mean, he married Rebecca Bloomwood, for heaven's sake! Only a saint has that kind of patience. (No offence to Becky - I love her, but she can be tiresome at times.)

Who? Luke is the boyfriend - and later, husband - of Becky Bloomwood, a shopping addict and a pathological liar, but also a very loyal friend.

Why? He doesn't do grand gestures of love, but you can always tell he loves Becky. Besides, he puts up with Becky, LOVES her despite her crazy antics. Enough said, don't you think?

8. Jace Wayland/Lightwood/Morgenstern/Herondale from The Mortal Instruments series, by Cassandra Clare

Okay, I watched the movie before I finished reading the book, so the first face that comes to mind is Jamie Campbell Bower's. Which does not hurt at all.

Jamie + Lily = Jamily. They are SO cute together!

Who? Snarky, handsome, lofty and insouciant, Jace is a demon-hunting Shadowhunter. Also, a boy in need of love who failed to get any from his father.

Jace artwork

Why? He's the unattainable golden boy at school, the one whom everyone loves or loves to hate. He's gorgeous, strong, attractive and he knows it. But his confidence - though some would say arrogance - is to mask the broken, wanting boy within.


And as a shameless plug bonus,

9. Drew from Lambs for Dinner, by, um, me.

Who? Cole has a history of being abused by his father before he ran away from home. He is loyal to his friends and closest to his aunt, regards his best friend's father as his surrogate father, but keeps everyone else at arm's length.

Why? Because despite his (initial) belief that he is too damaged, too different, to love, that he is more Wolf than Man, deep down he desperately wants to believe that he is not only capable of it, he is also deserving of it. Which is why he gives his all to Skye, when he falls hard for her.

Also, because I wrote him. Ha!




So that's my list of swoon-worthy boys from YA fiction. Let me know if there's anything I missed out, in terms of characters or the things they did to make us fall in love with them!

Who are some of YOUR favourite boys from YA fiction? :0)