Mundie Moms

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

BIR2010 Day #2-Author Guest Post by Sarah Rees Brennan

Team... TEAM, you guys.

Some people don't like Team This or Team That. Team Edward, Team Peeta, Team Damon. Or what have you.

I do. It comes naturally to me: my family and I used to while away the hours on long car journeys picking our favourite people. In the family. In order.

... At the end of a long enough car journey, sometimes we wouldn't speak for days. 'No! I'm not talking to you! How could you rank Mom above me?' 'Be reasonable! She had the jellybeans!'

I was trained young. Then when I was fifteen or sixteen, I read all of L.J. 'Queen of the Love Triangle' Smith's books. She was my Stephenie Meyer, you guys, and to this day I can still recall with extreme accuracy which side of every love triangle I was in. (Team Julian! Team Nick! Team Gabriel! Team Damon - oh look how I've looped around, ten years later...) While I don't actually remember much else of what I was doing when I was fifteen. (What is this 'geo... graphy class' of which you speak?)

Being emotionally involved enough to have a preferred outcome is what every writer wants from a book.

But then, sometimes the meaning of 'Team...' means not 'who do you want to win the love triangle?' but 'who is your favourite character?'

And that's when things get sticky. Because it seldom seems to be the girl. I remember a poll I did as to who people wanted to see in snippets of my four main characters: deceptive minx Alan, bossy wench Mae, constantly homicidal Nick or total coward Jamie. (I don't like to praise my characters too much... makes them uppity! Plus I think a character's faults are just as interesting as their virtues.) Mae was bottom of the poll by a lot of points, my poor lady!

Now I'm always happy no matter what Team My Character people are on, because it means they care. But I admit, I'd like to see more Team Lady, whether the lady is my Mae, my Sin, or someone else's lady entirely.

One solution to balance the scales: more love triangles between one dude and two ladies!

Another solution: try to mention the Team Girls you do have, when you mean your favourite character in a book. For instance? I'm Team Tessa in Cassandra Clare's Infernal Devices series. Tessa! She should have both the boys, and a castle made of books. Who doesn't love a nerdy Victorian lady?

Team Lucy, in Tessa Dare's Goddess of the Hunt. God help the poor young lady pitted against Lucy in a love triangle. She'll wear a revealing evening gown to breakfast! She'll eat everything on the table for energy! She'll make out with other dudes just for practice!

Team Shay, in Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series. And Team Felicity, in Libba Bray's A Great and Terrible Beauty.

And then there's the question of Team Favourite Species. Team Faerie? Team Vampire? Team Werewolf?

Well... there I think I'd go for Team Human. (Team Selfish By Nature, that's me...)

So what Team, in the sense of favourite things, do you guys have? Favourites from my books? Favourites from other books? Favourite creature to read about?

I await your thoughts...

21 comments:

  1. This is a fantastic post! I'm totally team Tessa for a strong heroine female!

    If it comes down to team vampire, team wolf or team shadowhunter, I'm with the shadow hunters! Followed by team wolf.

    For genres, I'm team YA paranormal books. I totally admit I enjoy reading a good book that allows me to escape reality for bit.

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  2. I'm going to have to look up Tessa Dare's Goddess of the Hunt!!! LOL. Love when SRB visits Mundie Moms -- she just distills it down to the absolute truth!!! LOL.

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  3. I don't really care for the whole "Team" thing. I think it has gotten a bit out of hand. But I will say I a Team Alan from Demon's Lexicon.

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  4. Sarah!!! I'm Team Charlotte in Infernal Devices. Got to give the lady a credit for running the household and dealing with shadowhunter politics. And I am still Team Alan from TDL all the way!

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  5. Love this post! I've been Team vampire since I was a little girl watching Dark Shadows with my mom and Buffy, so don't judge me people! So here are some of mine for favorite character that are girls: Team Bella, Team Tally and Team Claire (MV)!

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  6. Can I be Team Alan and Team Mae all at once? Because that is my preference.

    To be honest I have a hard time ordering your characters because as soon I proclaim Mae to my favorite Jamie gives me a hurt look. Then I claim Jamie and I see that small look of disappointment on Alan's face and when I've finally settled on Alan I notice, intrigued, just how much Nick doesn't care. And then Mae says something witty and I'm back where I started x.x
    See? I have a hard time even being Team anyone in your book. Therefore I claim Team Alan and Mae (romantically or otherwise) we shall be known as TAAM(ROO)

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  7. Yup, totally love Tessa "I going to say something awkward because I have no idea what's going on". I'm not much into Teams. Except Team Unicorn. That's because I try to read between the lines and see who is the most likely to end up together. I get more joy trying to call the two characters who are going to do this, and getting it right, whether I like them or not. So I'm Team Romantic Chemistry. Or something. <3

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  8. Such a good post! I really don't mind the whole "team" thing. It's just another way for people to express themselves.

    In regards to favorite character I am Team Rose when it comes to Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series but I'm Team Adrian when it comes down to who should win her heart.

    And then lately I have found myself to be Team Demon. First there is Nick from TDL who will always be my first demon love and then came along Luc from Lisa Desrochers' Personal Demons. I'm not sure what this says about me as a person but I'll go along with it! :)

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  9. I'm Team Sin and Team Nick all the way! I love your idea of more triangles involving two girls. That might get more YA guys reading too!

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  10. Love the post. Gonna RT this one Twitter. I completely agree!

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  11. Great fun post!!! I love Teams, I'm definitely Team Nick all the way! from your books, and I'm not sure about vampires,wolves, demons and faeries, I love them all so I would have to be Team Supernatural!!! =D

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  12. Team Faerie when it comes to creatures.

    I think there is an overabundance of love triangles. I'm tired of it.

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  13. "Who doesn't love a nerdy Victorian lady?"
    of course we do. And you are right. love triangles with two girls should totally be more explored. I was thinking about that for the book I'm trying to write, and I believe you just gave ma a good idea, because I don't like love triangles but this suits my story just fine.:D
    As for my favorite character. I think it's Jace, form Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments. Don't get me wrong, I love Will Herondale too, but he's a lot to handle, Jace is just perfect :D

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  14. I agree, girls in books are underestimated! i find difficult to be on Team whatever, cause I do love different aspects of every character's personality. For example, how can I decide between Alan and Nick? I mean, I love Alan for trying to save his brother in spite of everything and hate him for his lies (but I understand him for that). Does that make me Team Alan? But then Nick says something like 'sometimes I want to be human for you' and I'm like 'OMG, love him'. See? Hard to decide.

    Girls have always been easier for me...I mean, I totally support Mae. She's pretty, witty, looks fragile but she's tough and not afraid of responsabilities. She cares about Jamie. She does everything for him. She's GREAT! And same goes for Clary in TMI. Loved her in City of Glass ending... Girls are strong! So go girls!!

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  15. Loved this post! Awesome! I totally agree with the love triangle solution: one dude and two girls. That'll shake things up, lol. ;)

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  16. in CofA I was Team Jessamine because she knew what she wanted and would do whatever it took to get it (even if what she wanted was not the most badass thing in the world.)

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  17. I think I am probably Team Everyone from Demon's Lexicon. I love all the characters for different reasons, so I couldn't possibly say who I like the most. And I'm also not sure who I want to end up with who so, there goes and claim to teams I have in that sense.
    I'm not sure I read many other books that prompt me to have a team. I also can't remember reading many good books that do have a female protaganist (other than almost every book I've read by Tamora Pierce). You raise an interesting point though, about a love triangle between two girls and one boy. I'm not a big fan of the love triangle as it is, but I think I would enjoy it much more if it had some sort of unique twist to it.

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  18. I will forever appreciate you signing my copy of The Demon's Lexicon to me with "Team People Getting Punched in the Face". For I like being on that team!

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  19. Lol, misread "Infernal Devices" as "Infernal Divorces". That just might make an interesting title...

    Anyways, I agree somewhat. But Team Girls aren't always pleasant. Case example being the Bleach manga, where we have a total beefcake man with a bossy-yet-kickass-but-really-has-a-heart character and an airhead-without-a-cause-yet-can-heal. The fans pair up the man with either woman, and then have huge mud-slinging fests of calling the other woman things not befitting this blog entry.

    Always enjoy reading your work, though, Ms. Brennan!

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  20. Tell you something, while I'm more Team Everyone In The Series for your books, I am totes Team Katniss in The Hunger Games. She is awesome up to eleven.

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