I'm sure a lot of us could learn a thing or two from reading this new Young Adult novel, A Bad Boy Can Be Good For A Girl, by Tanya Lee Stone, which I discovered the other day while reading Martha O'Connor's blog. You can read all about the novel at Martha's site or Tanya's site, but the gist is this: one bad boy, three very different girls, high school hormones, BIG-TIME drama!Sounds like fun.
And like just the sort of book people (like me, oops did I say that?!?!) could probably relate to. White-picket-fence boy/girl meets project boy/girl. Degreed girl/boy meets street-smarts girl/boy. Sparks fly. Families get upset. Modern day Romeo and Juliet dramas.
What is it about the bad boy/girl that some folks who weren't raised a bad boy/girl find so darn irresistable? Including myself. Yeah, I admit it. That's enough confession for now.
I think that's where the motivation for my next novel (Summer 2007) came from -- Right Side of the Wrong Bed.
I mean, people aren't entirely good or bad. And people aren't entirely smart or stupid about the choices they make. Those are subjective terms, open to interpretation. We're all shades of gray and have our complexities. Some folks who look the bad-boy part may not even be bad. They're just performing gender. Advertising. Portraying an image. All the while holding a 9-to-5 downtown exec job and USC/Morehouse/Pepperdine degrees. And those are things that interest me as an observer and writer.
Still... many of us are drawn to the short-term excitement, real or imagined, of the perceived bad boy/girl. Some of us grow out of it. Some of us dive right toward it the older we get. And I'm wondering what you think is the appeal?
For a look at some boys who may be good, bad, or all shades in between, check out one of my fave blogs: Hoodsworld.
Happy Tuesday!
fs
2 comments:
I was never a fan of the bad boy/girl attitude. Then again, I'm into nerds.
that sounds like good reading...
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