Kiersten White, author of Paranormalcy (which is at the very top of my wish-list and I am so desperate to read) is hosting a really fun competition on her blog, Kiersten Writes, in honour of the ever-closer release date of the sequel, Supernaturally.
The object is to write a FAKE synopsis for Supernaturally based on this gorgeous poster:
Hop over to her blog to read the other entries.
The contest is one of those rare international ones, and because I’m so excited about Supernaturally’s release I’m posting my entry here, as well. The deadline is the 15th of June.
Sarah Walker has always been a natural blonde, but because of the stigma and the constant teasing of her classmates, she covered it up with crazy coloured hair dye. Even her sweet but dopey boyfriend, James, preferred her blue and green hair to her natural shade. She and the rest of her clique piled on the make-up and forced themselves to look like raccoons and act like buffoons to please their peers. She’s always thought it was a little stupid, hiding who you are to impress others.
Now Sarah has moved to a new town and a new school with her father and his new tax-man boyfriend. Sarah is sick of hiding who she really is, and vows to be accepted as a smart blonde. She’s washed off all the make-up and the hair dye. She’s ready to face the world – super-naturally.
Remember in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, when Belle is practically besieged by that ‘boorish, brainless’ Gaston? Remember how he’s the handsomest, manliest, most desirable man in the village? And remember how Belle refused him and fell in love with the gentle, kind, caring, yet ugly Beast?
Whatever happened to Beauty and the Beast ideals in Young Adult fiction – particularly paranormal romances?
Passive, Romantic Heroines
ZOMGSHINY!
Nowadays, heroines like Bella, Luce and Nora choose to be with men far too similar to Gaston (drop dead gorgeous, way too controlling, and no outside interests besides their woman!). All we ever read about is how they’re so in love with their boys for no reason other than their looks. Their romance scenes are so charged up with sexual tension, and neither has any outside interests apart from each other. There is never any mention of the boys being sensitive, patient, kind, caring, gentle, a good listener and a million other attributes girls should fall in love with boys for. It’s only ever about their looks. Their personalities are never desirable either: Edward terrifies Bella with his mood swings and controls her every movement; Daniel constantly keeps Luce in the dark and swings violently between hating her and kissing her in unfulfilled passion; and Patch is a psychopath stalker who wants to murder Nora. And the thing is, these girls are more than happy to fall into the role of ‘damsel in distress’.
Hey, you're not my ShinyBoi. You smell like wet dog. Get away from me.
The girls I mentioned above aren’t in control of their own stories and are too often a victim of circumstance. They would never choose the same things Belle chose. Belle chose not the marry Gaston, to go after her father, to enter the castle and take his place; and then she chose not to go to dinner with the Beast which led to her choosing to leave the castle when he bellowed “Get out!” and ended up being attacked by wolves. Can you see Bella Swan making any of these brave choices?
And so the Lion fell in love with the Lamb... and it was tasty with mint sauce.
Me either.
She fell for the hottest guy in the village school before she even knew anything about his personality – and also, when she already had whiplash from his mood swings and his “Let’s be friends/actually you need to stay away from me.” Would Bella/Luce/Nora fall for Gaston?
You're ugly. I can't love you. You respect me too much. And you're not even shiny.
Yes.
Asshole Heroes
And then there’s Gaston, who, once refused, tries to force Belle to marry him by putting Maurice in an insane asylum to force her hand. Gaston is just like the boys of YA paranormal romance I despise, trying to control the girl he wants, even if it impacts on her negatively. He doesn’t care beyond making Belle ‘his’ and he’ll do the most despicable thing to earn her: including eliminating the competition.
"Gaston... Bruce Campbell called... He wants his chin back."
Now, while the love triangles in YA paranormal romance don’t often go to this extreme (the boys don’t often want to kill each other), they do play dirty. Edward gets his sister to kidnap Bella to keep her away from Jacob, and Daniel actually fights Cam, if my memory serves me right (I don’t remember it very well, because I’ve tried to wipe Fallen from my memory). Patch even sexually assaults Nora, and plots to kill her. What kind of a role model is this, who goes back to him after being mentally and emotionally abused? What kind of role models are Daniel and Patch and Edward to aspire to – men who tell their women what to do, emotionally abuse them, and control them as if they have no will and autonomy of their own?
Let me reiterate this to you, ladies of the 21st century: Assholes are not sexy.
Assholes. NOT sexy. End of story.
Brooding Beasts
Where are all the boys who are more like the Beast? Someone who is gentle and caring and will let you go if you need to. Someone who waits for you. Someone who won’t abandon you no matter what, and has no interest in anyone else (romantically) besides you? A boy who will not try to control you (he let her go, didn’t he?) and after Belle ran away from the castle, I’m pretty sure (as in, I know) she came back of her own free will and chose to stay there. Even though the Beast says, “You’re no longer my prisoner,” she hadn’t been his prisoner for a long time. Sure, at first she was a prisoner, but even so, the Beast treated Belle with a lot more respect than a lot of YA boys do their own women. And what happens when Bella meets Jacob and Luce meets randomly-created-love-triangle-guy (had to look up his name, it’s Miles)? They’re both sweet, caring, lovable guys. In fact, Bella ends up falling in love with Jacob. She just loves Edward more. Because he’s shiny. And she’s a twit. Luce feels the need to kiss Miles even though she’s so sure she’s in love with Daniel – because he’s shiny. And she’s a twit. Are you seeing the pattern here?
I don't know about you, but I always kinda preferred him this way. I think it's the cloak. Or maybe the horns.
Inevitable Love Triangles
Where is the beauty in falling for a gorgeous hunk of manliness who wants nothing more than claim you for his own? So he’s hot: does that give him the right to be a chauvinistic narcissistic prick? Some girls would love this: some girls aspire to be trophy wives. That’s fine, if it’s your thing. But I don’t want to see millions of girls reading these types of stories and thinking that the only thing they need to aspire to is to be in a relationship with some really hot guy with no personality.
I love ME! Who do YOU love?
You know why these girls always end up in love triangles and genuinely can’t seem to choose for a while which guy they want? Because the ZOMGSHINYTRUELOVE4EVA guy isn’t really that great. That’s why Bella kisses Jacob, and Luce kisses randomly-created-love-triangle-guy (Miles). If Belle was as stupid as these YA heroines, she’d make out with Gaston for a while because ZOMG HE’S SO HOT!!!
What do you mean, I'm not your type?! I'm EVERYONE'S type: I'm gorgeous!
Actually you know what? If you wanna be stupid and go fall in shallow, materialistic, looks-based love, go for it! You can take Gaston and become his baby factory to his ‘six or seven strapping boys’ and massage his stinky feet. I’ll live with a gentle, kind, caring man who turns out to be the prince that learned to love.
You mean, you're not a big brooding beast? Oh OK, I'll still take you.
Ladies of YA paranormal romance, for the sake of my sanity, please find a real man that isn’t afraid to show you he cares, to open himself up, and can be a weathered rock in a storm. Give me a Beast any day and let the Gastons, Edwards, Daniels and Patchs go back to being an annoyance.
My newest short story based on fairy myths called ‘Round, Round, The Fairy Ring’ is finally done. That also means that the first draft of the Tina Storm: Demon Hunter short story collection is also complete! *runs excitedly in tiny circles*
Abigail likes her new house, but not her new baby sister. She’s sick and cries all the time. Then Abigail discovers that Sarah’s miraculous recovery is the result of the fairies that live in the forest outside her new house, and she knows that she is the only one who can get rid of the changeling imposter and bring her family back together.
As a side note, I was trying to rewrite a story I wrote when I was a teenager about a witch that visited the Underworld, but it just wasn’t working. So I gave up and decided to write an new urban story. After all, there is great joy in writing something entirely new.
My newest story is about fairy changelings. It’s my first fairy story ever, and I’m very excited about writing it. Once again, like Don’t Even Peep and The Archive of Lost Dreams, the protagonist is a very young girl. I think she’s seven or eight – these things can be hard to judge, and unless she turns around and tells me exactly how old she is, I’m not going to know for sure (much like Susan in Don’t Even Peep).
I’m focusing on producing classic types of stories for the collection, because short stories can be hard to sell (especially if it’s only a small collection). I’m using elements everyone recognises such as vampires, werewolves, and sirens; as well as lesser utilised demon types such as djinn (genies) and reapers.
Hopefully this small collection will bring new readers to my larger books, even though none of them are very mainstream.
Found a beautiful little quote that every writer should keep in mind when they’re writing conflicted/broken characters – often villains looking for motivation.
There’s a story behind every person. There’s a reason why they’re the way they are. They aren’t just like that because they want to [be]. Something in the past created them, and sometimes it’s impossible to fix them.
Lissa Bilyk 