08 April 2011 @ 03:28 pm
 
So you know the trope of the girl who falls in love with the magical dangerous boy and she just can't help it, because there's some sort of magical or destined compulsion going on? (The trope that Twilight embodies, but probably didn't even begin this round of?)

Suddenly it seems I'm seeing pushback--stumbling upon books that are looking, in various ways, at what magically-ordained romance really means, and what it doesn't mean, and how it can potentially be problematic. blackholly's Red Glove, Nancy Werlin's Extraordinary, metteharrison's forthcoming Tris and Izzie (a terrific retelling of Tristan and Isolde).

It's hard to even talk about any of these books and the different ways in which they handle this without being deeply spoilery, but they each come at it in a different way and have different things to say about it; and they all also find the idea of magically-compelled love problematic in the end.

I think that's pretty cool, partly because I think it's a conversation very much worth having, and partly because it's always fascinating how writers do wind up in conversation with each other, without even intending to be.
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( 13 comments — Leave a comment )
Sherwood Smithsartorias on April 8th, 2011 10:30 pm (UTC)
Beginning to see? It's been around for a while--just, the paranormal in YA sub-subgenre seems to have caused a resurgence.
Janni Lee Simnerjanni on April 8th, 2011 10:33 pm (UTC)
I'm being unclear. I don't mean beginning to see the trope--beginning to see the pushback. (Goes off to edit for clarity.)
Sherwood Smithsartorias on April 8th, 2011 11:09 pm (UTC)
AHAH!
R.J. Anderson: Knife - Official UK Coverrj_anderson on April 8th, 2011 11:18 pm (UTC)
Much could be written on that whole pushback phenomenon, to be sure -- I know that at least one of my books probably wouldn't have been written (or at least not written anything like the same way) without it. It really is an ongoing conversation -- and at times, a heated argument. :)
Janni Lee Simner: Faerie Winter snowflakejanni on April 8th, 2011 11:22 pm (UTC)
Yes, to both!

I see elements of that conversation in my current book, too.

And every shared world story I've written has, in some sense, been part of a discussion with the original work, too.

Heated arguments -- especially ones conducted in the pages of our books -- can be fun, too. :-)

Edited at 2011-04-08 11:22 pm (UTC)
We Were Like the World's Gayest Ninjasthunderemerald on April 10th, 2011 06:54 pm (UTC)
I really, really like that there's this kind of pushback. RED GLOVE, especially, is really amazing in the ways that it handles the nuances of that particular trope.

Me, I'm just constantly on the lookout for normal-girl-magical-boy where there ISN'T some kind of supernatural compulsion going on. It's harder to find than I thought!
Janni Lee Simner: duckstoryjanni on April 10th, 2011 07:41 pm (UTC)
I wonder if it's tied to the ways in which we act like true love always has to be a meeting of eyes and a magical sizzle ... when, while maybe it can happen that way, there are also slower, more grounded (I want to say realer -- my biases?) ways to fall in love.

The moment in Red Glove when (spoiler character 1) told (spoiler character 2) that it hurt not to be near him, was the moment I realized the book was taking on the trope ... and then began to see other books doing it, too.
We Were Like the World's Gayest Ninjasthunderemerald on April 11th, 2011 04:19 pm (UTC)
Ohhh yes. That moment in Red Glove. YES YES YES.

But yes, I definitely think that trope has to do with the Love At First Sight / Some Enchanted Evening thing. And there are ways in which it can work, but I'm just so tired of seeing it without consequences.

I'm not that far into Faerie Winter... but I see you're playing a little with that trope too. NICE.
Janni Lee Simnerjanni on April 11th, 2011 04:38 pm (UTC)
I think falling in love can be at first sight, but that it can also be a slower thing -- the slow drifting way is the only way I've ever fallen in love, so I like seeing it explored in fiction more, too. I know that I tend to trust it more in the real world -- by time you get to love, you actually know something of who who the other person is and all.

And yes, on my playing with the trope. :-) It was one of the reasons it really caught my attention when I realized others were playing with it, too!
We Were Like the World's Gayest Ninjasthunderemerald on April 11th, 2011 04:40 pm (UTC)
Haha, yeah, that makes sense! I'm really excited to see what you do with it. Why can't work be over so I can go home and read more?!
Jodi Meadowsjmeadows on April 11th, 2011 01:10 pm (UTC)
I love pushback! My brain tends to provide me with stories when I get annoyed at certain tropes. :)

Is EXTRAORDINARY okay to read on its own? I keep looking at it, but I thought it was second in a series. I don't think I've seen the first in my bookstore, and I never think to order it. But it sounds *so* neat.
Janni Lee Simnerjanni on April 11th, 2011 02:00 pm (UTC)
Extraordinary is totally a standalone, as it turns out--and a very different book from Impossible, though apparently the author has a new book in the works that's in some way a sequel to them both.
Jodi Meadowsjmeadows on April 11th, 2011 02:02 pm (UTC)
Thanks! I'll pick it up next time, then. It looks very good.
( 13 comments — Leave a comment )