Lately I've felt extreme frustrations regarding my writing patterns. I've been feeling quite creative in recent times but my "Grown Up Anani" schedule has been seriously hindering me and it's pissing me off. To try to soften the blow of it all, I recently started rereading my own books in the split seconds I have available (i.e., between meetings, waiting for class to start, eating meals.) and it's helping. I don't mean to sound arrogant at all, but it makes me feel better in comparison to reading other books I enjoy. It makes me feel accomplished.
I've always particularly enjoyed the DMSR series, even more after it was edited by adult eyes. So... This is me reflecting on some things in the first book that I really like. Little to no spoilers involved in case ghostly eyes viewing this aren't familiar... But also maybe a little because a lot of these posts are me talking to myself in the public and I get carried away.
Who cares? I need to babble. Let's go!
A main thing I recently noticed while daydreaming and also reading is Lyric's funny. 😂 I know most creators find their MC's funny but, not like that! I'm saying, in this fictional world, she makes people laugh. Most of it is semi unintentional in the beginning as she's fairly naive but she still makes people laugh. Her making Prince, in particular, laugh is a main piece of that puzzle I recently solved. I was initially thinking of Iris and how often he laughs at her (and others) more so in a state of amusement rather than anything else. Haha, you're dumb. Haha, you're cute (likely because you're dumb). Haha, you're clueless. I also have him laughing in response to inside jokes told by people, but he's part of the creation of those joke. Hardly is something original being said or done that he genuinely finds funny...
Except for Nelly.
And I really like that. It wasn't on purpose. It just came organically in the midst of creating this young woman that I envisioned would complement him. I thought that was really cute. Their story is mainly told through her eyes so, naturally, a lot of it is him picking at her but there are glimpses into his perspective. In the first book you can kinda see him go from the amusement of innocence and lack of knowledge being the main push behind his laughter to him sincerely laughing at parts of her finds sincerely humorous instead of amusing. She laughs at a lot of what he says but he laughs at a lot of what she does. I think that's another showcasing of their balanced dynamic and it's really cute to me.
I also like that she doesn't lose herself in him as she's finding her true (first.💀) adult identity. He's a big personality, humongous even, and has a major niche for crafting people's images/personalities, the kind that literally last forever. He tried and tried but she didn't budge. You see her become more similar to him over time but as a result of gaining the same experiences rather than him implanting those traits into her. It was her all along but being broken down and rebuilt while in that career is what forces her to put on some protective spikes, these metaphoric spikes being what shapes her into a clearer reflection of him.
Another thing that's kinda attached to that previous point is her age and the eras they're in when the book starts. 21 is old enough to be malleable and have parts of yourself you're not ready to showcase to the world for whatever reason but still having enough individual thought to stand up on your own two feet. Fresh out of college, coming into the real grown up world, and bright-eyed. She's practically begging for someone to teach her and support her. Yet, though he's 25, his career is making a major shift. So, though he's passed her stage, he's experiencing those same emotions. He doesn't want a teacher but he wants to learn stuff and he also wants support.
He can't groom her because one, she has a certain maturity established and two, the learning is mutual. Lots of push and pull in harmony, you know?
So, now, you got these two being thrown into their separate deep ends at the same time with a lifesaving amount of support from one another. Reminds me of that one chapter where she's stressed because she's realizing the execs are jerks and he's stressed about having to oversee some stuff for a fancy, upscale event and they're both on the phone like "hmph.😡" while the other gives helpful suggestions. That dynamic continues throughout the book as the problems only get more drastic, leading up to that big blow up in the beginning of book two because they became codependent— Not to mention... I HADN'T EVEN STARTED PLANNING BOOK 2 YET. THIS JUST HAPPENED ON ITS OWN.
