Love Those Love Lists: Road Trip Wednesday

I don’t tend to take part in a lot of weekly activities, but this week’s Road Trip Wednesday on YA Highway is too awesome to pass up.

Inspired by Stephanie Perkins’ post on Natalie Whipple’s blog, what is your novel’s “Love List”?

From Stephanie Perkin’s original post about Love Lists:

“Whenever I begin a new project, I also begin a list called “What I Love About This Story.” I start by writing down those first ideas that sparked the fires of my mind, and then I add more ideas to it as I discover them during my push through early drafts….I use this love-list as a touchstone to remind myself during the hard times why my story is worthwhile. It’s easy to forget the GOOD STUFF when I’m wading through the muck, and the end is still months away, and it feels pointless and hopeless to continue. This list becomes a crucial reminder: Yes! This is a story worth telling! If I saw this sitting on a shelf, I would want to read it!”

Such a great idea! What a great way to keep yourself going, and to have a point of reference for all the stuff in your story you’re working toward or focusing on. My current project’s love list so far:

  • haiku
  • humor
  • concerts
  • Judaism
  • pie
  • grocery carts
  • tradition and identity
  • Bat Mitzvah
  • poseurs

Make sure to check out the comments in YA Highway’s post, because people link to their own love lists. Share yours, too!

7 thoughts on “Love Those Love Lists: Road Trip Wednesday

  1. Keri Peardon says:

    I’m like that Truman Capote quote: When I think about how wonderful my book can be, I can hardly contain myself.

    I love my characters. When I sit down to write, I often go back and read favorite sections first to get in the mood. It’s like visiting my friends.

    Even now, after reading my first novel all the way through more than a dozen times (and reading pieces-parts of it hundreds of times), I can still pick it up or open the Word document and fall into it all over again. I know how it ends, but I still get a thrill reading the suspenseful parts.

    How the hell does that happen?

    If I had to make a list for my trilogy (it’s hard to separate the books out in my mind), my favorite parts are (in no particular order):

    love
    courage
    loyalty
    sacrifice for others
    triumph of good over evil
    maintaining goodness in the face of evil
    maintaining composure in truly adverse conditions
    mental and physical toughness
    generosity
    faith in God
    various Jewish themes, including “who is a Jew?”
    justice

    Surprisingly, this is a vampire series; all of the good guys are (or become) vampires. The bad guys are vampires, too, and I play with the idea of what truly makes someone good or evil.

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