Paper Towns Challenge

YOU GUYS.

I’m in LA!

I’m here for the #LA15SCBWI Summer Conference, and I couldn’t be more excited to be here! There are SO MANY sessions... I’m focusing on craft, and WOW. Meg Wolitzer... Varian Johnson... Jordan Brown... Julie Strauss-Gabel...

*hyperventilates*

ANYWAY.

I got here Thursday night, and since I’m here for a kidlit and YA writer’s conference,  I thought the best way to spend the evening would be by watching an adaptation of a YA novel with my someone who really knows her YA.

So my critique partner, Lindsey Carmichael, and I went to see Paper Towns together.

I have to say straight out that I loved the book, and I thought the movie was an excellent adaptation of the book. Also, seeing the movie with all its elements laid out on screen - the sidekick (who happens to be black), the binge drinking, the misogyny, the Confederate Flag on a t-shirt, the Manic Pixie Dream Girl that people are arguing about (did John Green dismantle the trope, or perpetuate it?) - made me realize two things.*

One: One book cannot address All The Things, nor should it.

and Two: I don’t think it’s possible to dismantle a trope as deeply ingrained as the Manic Pixie Dream Girl.

I want to discuss Point Two at greater length with you guys, but first, you have to see the movie.

So that’s your challenge.

Some time in the next two weeks, go and see the delightful hilarity that is Paper Towns. (Seriously, it’s a GREAT adaptation.) Let me know in the comments to this post that you’ve seen it. And then we’ll talk about the mystique of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl.

*Okay, more than two things. But I’m writing this at 1:40 in the morning and two things are all I can think of right now. And two things are enough for one blog post, anyway.