The Story Behind The Popularity Games

The Popularity Games evolved a lot from its first incarnation. However, it was always going to be a mystery novel. I loved reading Nancy Drew and learning about true cases growing up, and I went through a detective phase where I would carry a magnifying glass around and search around the pine trees outside in the pitch dark back when I lived in a brown and orange house before it got flooded out when I was eight. It may have been short-lived (I only filled out two diary pages as a kid about imaginary cases and perhaps real ones in my life), but it's always stuck with me. I don't know if I've read a full-fledged mystery novel in a long time (This Is Where the World Ends may count),

However, my narrator wasn't always going to be a snarky redhead with a courageous drive to figure out who murdered the popular girl in school. Yes, the original TPG was about the death of #1 at a high school, but the original redhead wasn't going to be at all strong. In fact, she wasn't the only narrator. It also wasn't originally supposed to be humorous or even have some of the snappy dialogue that I've included in the final product of the first draft.

Do you wanna know what the original TPG was going to be about? My 13 year old self was proud about it, but the me of now? I kinda just want to cringe thinking about this.

Here we go. Brace yourselves *takes deep breath*. The Popularity Games was originally going to be about four high school girls: a rebellious tomboy who played football, Ann; a supermodel (that's all I got), Joana; the principal's secret daughter who was called in from overseas to investigate something, Riley; and the BFF to the most popular girl in school who was nasty yet had a soft side to her, Star (I think her real name was Stacey). Combine those four first-person point of views with an incredibly prestigious private school called Robin Crest (which was borrowed from something I tried to write in fifth grade that was more of a slice of life drama, Little Rock, which was also just as tacky; there was a girl named Falcon) and popularity being a literal game (probably my favorite part of the original concept), and we have our story, ladies and gentlemen. Think of it like Pretty Little Liars meets whatever thriller you can find, and presto! Instant classic!

Luke's Book Reviews #8: This Is Where the World Ends by Amy Zhang

Do you ever have those authors who wrote a first book that you absolutely loved, and because of that, you wait for their next title with bated breath? That happened to me with Amy Zhang's debut Falling into Place, a skillfully written novel about the most popular girl in school attempting to commit suicide following Newton's Three Laws of Motion. Not only was the novel published when Zhang was only 18 (*applause*), but I remember sitting on the couch back in December 2014 and reading the last 100 or so pages while holding back tears/squealing because I loved it so much. The book was written in an interesting fashion, utilizing the nonlinear style and an interesting narrator to tell the story from multiple points of view. Although the subject matter itself had been seen before, it was done in such a unique way that I couldn't help but find it a gem.

Due to my love for her debut, Zhang's second release was eagerly awaited by me, and although all it had was a title for nine months, I was excited nevertheless. When the cover came out, I was more excited than ever because a) LOOK AT THE PRETTY! and b) the synopsis sounded amazing. However, reviews for the ARCs started rolling in a couple months later, and a lot of people had mixed feelings about it. For one thing, they said that the synopsis actually had a huge spoiler in it (you might be able to guess it from the cover), and that although the writing was good, they didn't seem to like our characters and found them really unlikable. I was surprised by these reviews, most notably because I wasn't getting any particular predictable vibes from the novel, and the fact that Zhang had made Liz sympathetic in Falling into Place even though she could be incredibly cruel to her fellow classmates and even her friends. I had some mild hesitation going into this, but I still had high hopes, and once this came into the library on hold for me, I swooped it up and immediately dug in.

So, how was This Is Where the World Ends? Was it on the level of Amy Zhang's debut novel, or were there some pieces missing to make everything complete?

Luke's Anime Reviews #2: DRAMAtical Murder

DRAMAtical Murder is perhaps one of the most well known video games of this decade. Originally released in March 2012, this BL (abbreviation for boys' love) R-18 (not for the kiddos) visual novel catapulted to the tops of Tumblr blogs and wedged a way into the hearts of fangirls everywhere. Following a young man named Aoba Seragaki, players were put into his shoes as he tried to take down a utopian society. However, that wasn't what was on everyone's minds while they were playing it or watching walkthroughs on YouTube.

The choices that the player makes as Aoba in the game also influences which of four guys could be his lover for life. You have the token best friend character who's very protective, the seemingly cold and aloof guy, the adorable and upbeat guy who calls Aoba by a nickname, or the tough and actually cold older man who doesn't seem to care about anything. Besides trying to figure out the best way to take our villain down, Aoba will also kiss and have sex with all of the guys at some point during the routes while dreamy music plays in the background and pixelated penises appear on screen (because Japan censors genitalia due to a complicated reason I don't know). Depending on additional choices you make, you can also have a happy ending or a bad ending for each character, and then there's a hidden route where you can become lovers with Aoba's dog AllMate who's actually something more but I can't reveal spoilers, and then there's the sequel game where there's extended good endings, and then there's the drama CD's....

Yeah, it would be an understatement to say that DRAMAtical Murder took off. It shot up to the moon and back exponentially, so it came as absolutely no surprise when an anime adaptation was announced in the spring of 2014. I didn't watch it while it was airing, but I did get the series for Christmas after Sentai Filmworks licensed it (with a dub, much to my brother and friend's frustration) and released it on DVD. I've been wanting to see this for a while, and I was expecting something good.

What did I find in DRAMAtical Murder? Was it an entertaining and exciting show? Or did it end up running on empty?

Luke's Book Reviews #7: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Complex or high fantasies are always polarizing for readers like me. On the one hand, they could have great characters and an interesting world with hidden cracks for people to discover. On the other hand, they can be incredibly slow in terms of their pacing and not have the right elements in order to really make them pop. Series like Throne of Glass or A Song of Ice and Fire are great examples of this kind of genre, and while they can draw readers in, they can also turn them away due to their lengths.

Leigh Bardugo's debut novel, Shadow and Bone, was a shorter high fantasy novel that proved to be a disappointment. While the Grisha and the setting provided some interesting imagery and characters, most of the book felt cliche and incredibly underwhelming. The writing was all right but average, the main character was annoying, and the romance/love triangle was even more frustrating (don't get me started on AlinaxMal). For me, it felt like a stereotypical YA fantasy that was perfect for a crowd who wanted the same old tropes but repackaged.

Meanwhile, Bardugo's newest book did not seem to have the same problems. Six of Crows looked exciting and thrilling based on its synopsis, but it also looked much more complex, and based on the incredibly positive reviews coming in, people were enjoying it. I had my doubts, but mostly I was excited to see if Leigh Bardugo had improved from her first work.

So, was Six of Crows a disappointment? Or was it everything I was hoping for, and maybe even a little bit more than that?

The Story Behind Duet

Duet started with my own personal need to write a realistic fiction novel. Despite writing two trilogies with fantastical features (one more science fiction and the other fantasy), I wanted to take a break from inventing new worlds and having people possess special powers. I wanted to write a novel that wouldn't be surprising to find in Sarah Dessen's collection, a novel where the setting was realistic (albeit with some minor changes) with a teenager going through a coming of age experience with a developing romance on the side (because you know I love my romance).

But there was going to be something different: the romance I had in mind was a gay one.

Gay romance isn't anything new in the YA market (I've stressed this before in my Boy Meets Boy review, where I also went into a brief rant about the unequal representation in mainstream New Adult and Adult fiction), and I have actually written three Bleach Hollow Ichigo (Hichigo) and Ichigo fanfictions featuring that explicitly (one was a one-shot called Beating Heart, and the other was a multi-chapter AU that I'm still incredibly proud of to this day, Claws of a Dragon; the third one is forthcoming). But I had never invented male characters who had feelings for other male characters, and this was a great opportunity to try this out. Plus, I wanted this to be a full-length novel of at least 50,000 words (much like the average length of a NaNiWriMo novel), not under 25,000.

But you may be wondering: why a gay romance, Luke? What was so bad about writing heterosexual romances? My answer to those questions is absolutely nothing, but it has to do with one of the key phrases I've kept in mind while writing this novel.

I've always said several times before that Duet is my most personal novel to date. Every single time I've typed in those words, I have meant it. Duet was partly inspired by my own questioning sexuality, and although it's played rather simply in the novel (Cam doesn't question his sexuality for one minute anywhere in Duet, only what his parents might think), it's been a lot more complicated in real life.

Luke's Book Reviews #5: Fans of the Impossible Life by Kate Scelsa

Realistic fiction has always been one of my biggest staples when it comes to reading. Sure, I like fantasy worlds and futuristic societies, but books about real life experiences set in the modern day will always stay close to my heart, especially now that I'm growing up. That's why most of the books I read are in this genre, this book included.

I was immediately sucked into reading this book via the tagline: "This is a story of a girl, her gay best friend, and the boy in love with both of them." The possibility of a bisexual love triangle was calling out to me, and the actual plot itself sounded interesting. Books about characters breaking out of their shells are always fun to read, and when I got this book from the library, I was ready to become a fan of Fans of the Impossible Life.

What exactly happened in Fans of the Impossible Life? Was it a rewarding, satisfying read that followed interesting characters and a heartfelt character arc? Or was it an average, run-of-the-mill realistic fiction novel that did nothing to stand out?

Luke's Book Reviews #4: Cut Both Ways by Carrie Mesrobian

Out of all the LGBT fiction books out there, bisexuality really hasn't made much of an appearance. From my perspective, half of the LGBT books have been focused on gay couples, 1/4 on lesbians, and 1/4 on the others, bisexual and transgender characters included. Don't get me right, I will be all over gay romance YA books in a heartbeat (and yes, I'm not ashamed to admit that), but there's always more room for diversity, you know?

When I first read the synopsis for Cut Both Ways, I immediately hit the TBR button on Goodreads. I mean, I rarely see bisexuality in any of the books I read, and from the way the synopsis sounded, this sounded like a perfect self-discovery book for someone my age to read.

I've had my own confusions about my sexuality, and sometimes I turn to books to see how authors write their own characters in situations like my imagination. So, without much further thought, I put Cut Both Ways on hold at my library and waited patiently for it to come in. Once I got it, I was already flipping through the pages.

Now comes the difficult part. How was Cut Both Ways? Was it a moving book that was written well and had a character that I could like? Or was it the exact opposite of what I wanted?

Luke's Book Reviews #2: Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan

I really like gay romance in fiction. I just find a relationship between two people of the same gender (mostly two boys) absolutely fascinating, and I really love that some people in real life have chosen to stay true to who they are and not live up to the straight status quo and pretend to be someone they're not. However, I don't feel as if these kinds of books have ever really been part of the mainstream reading world outside of young adult. Sure, you have titles like Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, More Happy Than Not, Lies My Girlfriend Told Me, and others from the past five years or so in young adult, but I almost never really see it in the adult romance or fiction sections at the bookstore (maybe that's because I mainly focus on young adult and hardly spend my time elsewhere, but no matter how many times I've looked, I've never found a new adult or adult gay romance published from major companies (they're published a lot more independently)).

I don't know if this is because gay romance is a harder thing to sell in a different market (like adult or children's), or if publishers think teenagers relate to sexuality the most and don't think other people experience it too. I think that's not true, because I'm pretty sure there are kindergartners right now who may have different kinds of feelings (feelings for same sex, want to be different gender), but don't feel as if they can read anything that supports that.

Young adult fiction had that phase too, and this was one of the books that changed it. Boy Meets Boy was first published in 2003 (another well-known YA book with LGBT characters, Geography Club, was also released in that year) and was very blunt about what it was. When you see the title of the book and relate that to the candy hearts, you immediately know "This is a gay romance". Some people would turn away at this point, but I was very much intrigued. Like I said before, I love reading about guys kissing (the fanfictions have affected my brain), but I also knew that this book was going to be a light and fluffy read filled with fun times (my brother also absolutely adored it).

So how was this book? Were the 185 pages (yes, that's how long it is) cute and fun, filled with a cute romance, real teen issues, and things I could relate to? Or was it a disappointment?