Or rather, it feels like it.
Why FML? Why not a nice, sweet dystopian? A story about a world where all the adults inexplicably torture and enslave their children, who are, inexplicably, the only ones who can save the world from it's current path toward certain destruction. I could have written that. In fact, I tried.
But the fun part about being an adult who writes about teens is that I can remember how being a teenager felt like I was living in a dystopian reality. Every social blunder felt like I'd nuked my world. Every time I had a pimple, I felt like there wasn't a person alive who wasn't watching me.
Being a teenager is equal parts awesome and unimaginable horror. Why would I need to create a horrific new world in which to torture my teen protags when the real world is so much more cruel?
That's why I love contemporary fiction. It's not a metaphor for the suck that our lives can sometimes be, it shines a flashlight into those places we'd rather forget. It makes us squirm with the memory of the time THAT REALLY HAPPENED TO ME! It makes us look at the younger generation and realize that they're no more screwed up than we were, and, in fact, may be a hell of a lot smarter.
Why FML? Why not? FML isn't just about my life, it's about yours, and theirs. It's about all our lives. I hope it makes people groan as they recall scenes of their own embarrassment. I hope it makes people shout at Simon and throw the book across the room as he moves from blunder to blunder.
Simon is people. And you are too.
Teenagedness for me was 50% horror, 25% awkward, 15% that cannot be remembered, and 10% totally freaking awesome. I find that your books reflect my experience of reality quite well, and yes, it is our own personal dystopia. I've never thought about it that way, but it works.
ReplyDeleteI like your breakdown better than mine. Time may have smoothed over some of the rougher edges of my memory. Like the time, during the winter, when I had really bad case of dry scalp, and these two obnoxious popular kids sat behind me and made fun of me, knowing full well I could hear them. I wore a hoodie until the Head & Shoulders kicked in.
DeleteYeah, that was pretty horrible. How any of us survive to adulthood is a mystery.