So this is weird: the winners of the CYCLER Giveaway are the first and last comment: Elizabeth M and Jen. Drop me an email with your address to receive your prize.
Thanks for participating in the giveaways, guys! I hope I’ve introduced you to some great new books. There will be more coming up in the next month. That’s why my TBR pile is the mess it is.
In other news, I’ll be speaking to the Washington Romance Writers at the Centreville, Virginia Library next month on incorporating folktales and mythology into your writing. Details here.
I’ve had some questions recently about the release dates for my next two books: Tap & Gown, and Rampant. They are both out next summer. When I have firm release dates, I’ll announce them, but these things change, so I don’t want to confuse anyone. (My first book, the release date was pushed back almost a month only a few months before the planned release, so trust me, these things happen!) However, both books are “in production” as they say, and I’ve seen some really great flap copy and an early cover for one of them, so that’s very exciting! I can’t wait for next summer: to introduce you all to Astrid and to reveal the conclusion of Amy’s story. It’s been hitting me very hard recently that this is the end of the Secret Society Girl series, and it’s the end of Amy. Well, “the end” metaphorically. I’m not killing her off or anything.
Probably. 
The other thing I’ve been thinking about a lot is guys, and the role of the romantic interest in my books (and in other people’s books — like one of my CPs who I really can’t discuss because huge spoilers but WHOA, NELLY!). I think it started after I read this post by Reviewer X. Now, as many of you know, I have long been a member of RWA and in the romance tradition, there’s a long-standing maxim that “the heroines be relatable, the heroes be larger-than-life.” When I talk to readers about why they like romances, this is often the reason they give. When I speak to teenagers about why they like TWILIGHT, this is almost *always* the reason they give.
“Bella is so normal, and yet Edward [read: beautiful, brilliant, gorgeous perfect, dangerous, exquisite, powerful, larger-than-life Edward] loves her more than anything.”
Not going to deny it: that’s a powerful meme. A huge fantasy for a lot of young women who live in a world where “he’s just not that into you.” But I don’t think it’s only a female fantasy. The other day, I was watching Superbad, in which three normal-to-extremely-dorky guys manage to attract/make out with/have sex with three beautiful, popular, extremely cool, with-it girls. In fact, one could argue that the popularity of these guy-focused romantic comedies sweeping Hollywood (Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall*, etc.) are entirely predicated on the fantasy of this “normal” guy landing the beautiful goddess.
And they call them chick flicks.
So the fantasy works both ways. And I’ve even written that fantasy. Amy is bowled over when the gorgeous, perfect, unattainable George Harrison Prescott shows an interest in her. But Amy is also a bit on the cynical side when it comes to relationships. She doesn’t know if George thinks she’s special, or if she’s just a new challenge. And then of course there’s the whole question of what happens when you are with perfection. What happens to you, by reflection, and also what happens to your sense of self. (There’s a very good exploration of that in Holly Black’s new graphic novel The Good Neighbors — check it out!)
I’ve been talking a lot with one of my CPs about the “reason” that one person falls for another. I’m a big believer that there has to be a reason. I’m not entirely sure yet whether the reason needs to be something that is understood by which combination of the reader, the character, and the author.
What do you think? And what do you think about the “perfect guy?”
______________
* Of course, I think Jason Segal is cute as a button and have even gotten into arguments with my sister-in-law about whether or not she and my brother or SB and me are more like Marshall and Lily on HIMYM. However, he was really pushing his “normal schlub” qualities in Sarah Marshall. He even says about his famous, pathetic nude scene: “When a woman does nudity in a movie, men immediately switch into a sexual mode. For women, from what I understand, it’s not like that. They see a naked, out-of-shape man crying and it’s funny — something weird, disturbing and disgusting we can all laugh at.”
contemplative
September 23rd, 2008 at 9:36 am
[...] Posted on September 23, 2008 by Anna Jarzab This morning, Diana Peterfreund posted about the idea of the “perfect” mate in our romance culture–in literature, movies and TV. I’ve actually given this a lot of [...]
September 23rd, 2008 at 10:10 am
Perfect Guy - you’re talking about me - right?
(Like you didn’t know that I was going to say that. Perfect, yet somewhat predictable.)
September 23rd, 2008 at 10:53 am
Awesome! I won! (And I actually find Jason Segal adorable as well)
September 23rd, 2008 at 12:36 pm
On my blog, this is the function that my tag “popular boyfriend” serves. And it can be fun, offering a vicarious thrill. But personally, I only enjoy it when it’s offered up as a youthful fling (I was prettier than I was popular in high school and so I dated a couple of ridiculously popular boys, and it was never actually a fun experience) and not true love. “Perfection” is boring.
September 23rd, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Ah, now I see why UTR got that tag, Jennifer. That’s about right.
I don’t know about you, but I think I’d classify “dating a couple of ridiculously popular boys” as being popular. Things weren’t so stratified at my school. Or at least, not stratified the usual way. A friend of mine used to joke that only at our school could the jocks be the open, accepting people and the theater folks be the clickish, mean-girls sort! (naturally, I was a theater person who WASN’T in the clique!)
September 23rd, 2008 at 2:57 pm
I keep meaning to make a post explaining the logic behind some of the tags, that and “sex with adult” are broader than is obvious. As for me in high school, I had friends but not status. Being friends across clique lines was more acceptable than dating across them, and I know at least one guy was pressured by friends to stop seeing me. But now he works for the Catholic Church encouraging abstinence, so I think things worked out okay for me with that one.
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:24 pm
I am vastly curious about the “sex with adult” tag, I admit. I can’t believe someone pressured your boyfriend to stop seeing you!
I never actually dated anyone in my high school class, or dated much at all in high school. I was pretty abysmal at it. My specialty was forming crushes on unavailable guys. (Especially guys who were dating shallow/dumb-but-pretty girls and who loved to go on forever to me about how they just didn’t have ANYTHING in common. Clueless as I was, I didn’t understand why they were dating them. Big duh.)
September 23rd, 2008 at 5:57 pm
What?@?!? Someone beside me had ’save them from their horrible relationship’ syndrome in high school?
September 23rd, 2008 at 5:58 pm
That was totally my operating style in High School too, except that all my crushes were movie stars somewhere around twice my age.
They were really the perfect teenage boyfriends, not a single one of them broke my heart…
September 23rd, 2008 at 8:06 pm
[...] boyfriend: Tied to this post from Diana Peterfreund. It applies when the main character has a relationship with someone of [...]
September 23rd, 2008 at 8:13 pm
I don’t think I was trying to save anyone from a horrible relationship. I was just trying to date them. But I didn’t understand why, if they were constantly complaining that their girlfriends didn’t understand them, that they could never have a conversation with them the way they could with me — why they kept dating them.
I’m pretty sure, looking back, I hadn’t the foggiest that there was something more pressing on their minds than good conversation.
September 23rd, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Uh, right. never mind then.
September 24th, 2008 at 7:50 am
I would not call any of those movies you listed as ‘chick flicks.’ Unattractive, almost piggish guy wins the gorgeous girl? Uh, no.
Chick flick to me is “Bridget Jones’s Diary” where the not so perfect girl finds the love of her life. Which is not really fantasy…because the imperfections are there. I think it’s more like a ‘little better than reality’ type thing.
I don’t want to watch beautiful women winning gorgeous men. This is why a movie like “27 Dresses,” although cute, will never resonate with me as much as “Bridget Jones.” Katherine Heigl was too perfect, too pretty, and too ‘wah me’…when in real life, she would be dating any man she chose. I want a heroine to be a little on the awkward side, or a little on the heavy side, or a little something not so great…that makes for a good chick flick character.
The movies you listed, in my opinion, were male fantasy romances.
September 24th, 2008 at 7:56 am
I agree with you on the male fantasy romance thing, Kristin, but at the same time, they ARE “chick flicks” in the industry sense — rom coms have been traditionally considered as part of that scene. What’s been fascinating to Hollywood is that these new “guy” focused rom coms are not showing the same demographics as traditional romantic comedies (i.e., primarily female audiences) but instead being highly attractive to a male audience too. usually, guys only see rom coms if their dates drag them to it. Guys will go see the Judd Apatow films with other guys.
There have also been a lot of articles written about how unflattering and flat the female characters in these films seem — however, I thought Heigel played a far more interesting character in Knocked Up (however shrill and unlikeable she was) than she did in 27 Dresses. And it was nice to see Cyclops get the girl — for ONCE.
September 24th, 2008 at 8:01 am
Hm, now that I’m re-reading your post…maybe you actually were agreeing with my comment. You meant those were ‘chick flicks’ for guys?? Okay, then I’m on board! LOL!
I was shy in high school. I assumed the guy would be obvious with his attractions and just waited for it to happen. Subtle clues went right over my head. Now that I look back on it, the 3-year crush I had an my friend’s older brother that I thought was unrequited…was totally the opposite. But I was too stupid to know what to do. Dumb me!
I didn’t officially ‘date’ until college. And even then, I was pretty bad at it. LOL!