Happy Writers Society: Love Lists by Stephanie Perkins

Oh, do I have some treats for you, Happy Writers. I have gathered a bunch of my writer friends for HWS guest posts over the next few months! These people are way cooler and smarter than me, and many are published or soon will be.

First up we have THE Stephanie Perkins, author of Anna and the French Kiss. If you didn't know, this book is making some serious waves, and rightly so. It's freaking awesome. Steph is an amazing writer and person. I feel lucky to know her. She challenges me as a writer. She gives me hope as a friend. So, without further ado...

Love-Lists

by Stephanie Perkins

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.

Sometimes, my list stays short and simple:

a beautiful boy
Paris
cinema
boarding school
funny


Sometimes, my list grows long and detailed:

ghosts
crushes on cute baristas
a dead city
carousels
the scent of grapefruit bringing back memories
velvet waistcoats
a bald heroine
loose change in unfamiliar currency
cats who know too much
secret radio stations
longing
honeysuckle vines
mysterious round stones
a funny pop song that can’t be escaped
eyes rimmed in kohl
strawberry-frosted sprinkled donuts
a lost painting
revenge
elaborate cages filled with orange birds
a stranger with a limp


(I'm not actually writing that second book, but now I want to!)

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!

Making a love-list also serves a second—and perhaps even more important—purpose. By taking conscious note of the things that I love about my story, I have a handy guideline during the revision process about what ideas I should be building up (this good stuff, of course) and what I should be slimming down or cutting entirely, a.k.a. the stuff that didn’t make the list. (Like, oh, that depressing sub-plot about the protagonist’s brother’s junk habit.)

A good rule of thumb: Anything boring or un-fun for you to write will be boring or un-fun for your readers to read. Enrich your pages with ideas that you love, and someone else is bound to love your pages, too. Your enthusiasm will shine through.

If you keep a list of ideas in your novel that make you proud, you will CREATE a novel that makes you proud. My love-lists help to keep me a happy writer.

They might help to keep you a happy writer, too.