Virgins in Young Adult

Once upon a time I wrote a book about a depressed girl named Blue who kept trying to kill herself only to be interrupted by a cute boy. I can’t remember the boy’s name or what happened to Blue. I’m not even sure what happened to the book (I not only have a crap memory, but I’m notoriously disorganized). Blue popped into my head recently and I put her back on the bridge ready to jump. This time supernatural forces are pushing her to die, but once again a cute boy stops her.
 

My first stab at young adult was Shadowburbia and the girls were virgins who met their forever guys and were lucky to get to second base. In Blue Sacrifice, the MC isn’t a virgin and she rounds home. Hell, the chick is a homerun queen for YA. I had planned to keep Blue solidly in safe YA virgin territory until I read reviews complaining about the constant virgin/manslut hookups in YA. I looked at Blue who was still in the planning stages and changed her so she wasn’t a virgin. Suddenly I had a lot more options and Blue made a lot more sense considering her back story.

The one benefit to being an indie writer is how I lack a publisher telling me what is acceptable in the market. When no one knows who I am, there are no rules to follow or expectations to live up to. This freedom allowed me to change Blue into the character she became and I really like the new Blue. I hope others do too.

Blue Sacrifice is the first in a two book series with the final book scheduled for release in early 2013. The book is now available at Amazon, B&N, and Smashwords.

Love Triangles

I admit I don’t mind love triangles. Well the idea of them anyway. Too often they serve no purpose besides making the MC look stupid, indecisive, or slutty. Done well though, love triangles can create true tension. The tension only works though if the MC is genuinely torn between two equally viable options. Unfortunately many love triangles involve the girl, the guy she wants, and her safety choice who looks like a loser for hanging around for scrapes.

So why would I sign on for a love triangle knowing how awful they can be and how much they can piss off readers?

I like to give my characters options.

I’m a little bored of reading books where people have a single choice and can only find happiness with that one person who they might not even like or have anything in common with. It’s like the “mate” and “instalove” ideas have taken the place of writing two characters who would fall in love even if the universe didn’t decree it. If I get bored of reading it, I’ll get bored of writing it. So I give my MCs multiple choices and let them pick the guy who makes sense for them. (Angelic Redemption series is the exception to this rule).

Writing Blue Sacrifice was tricky mainly because of the love triangle. One girl, two boys, many opportunities to make the girl look bad and the guys look like saps. Walking the tightrope of making her choices understandable versus selfish helped me appreciate the good love triangles out there. I am impressed by the ones where I can imagine either guy with the girl and the girl (the writer) isn’t merely dragging things out. Even if the guy I like never wins, I can still admire the skills that have gone into a sizzling heartbreaking love triangle.