#1 Source of Inspiration: John Proctor Is The Villain

I just got back from a family trip to NYC, where we took in a Broadway show. John Proctor is the Villain stars Sadie Sink from Stranger Things, and she was great. But what’s with the title? John Proctor is the protagonist of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, a play I taught multiple times to eleventh graders. It takes place during the Salem Witch Trials, and Miller wrote it as an allegory to McCarthyism.

I like The Crucible, but it bugs me that with dozens of real-life women murdered for supposedly being witches, Miller chose to canonize one of the few men found guilty of witchcraft. In addition, he villainizes the young girls who were accusing people, rather than depicting them as also being victims of the oppressive Puritan society.

John Proctor is the Villain is about a group of kids in an honor’s English class, mostly girls, who study The Crucible. Spoiler alert: they conclude that John Proctor is a villain, rather than the hero that their English teacher professes him to be. But there’s so much more to this story–high school drama, gender politics, post #MeToo fallout, and the tricky balance between feminism and girly pop culture, which coincide more than you might think. And if this play sounds like it’s cerebral and dry, well, it’s not! It’s both funny and poignant, and builds to an amazing and emotionally satisfying climax.

 

#2 Source of Inspiration: Sunrise on the Reaping

Sunrise on the Reaping is the fifth book from Suzanne Collin’s Hunger Games universe. About a year ago, I’d heard it was coming out. But I wasn’t paying attention to when it would be released. Then, I went onto Instagram, where the majority of accounts I follow are book-related. In post after post, readers declared that Sunrise on the Reaping destroyed them, but in the best way. In reel after reel, readers recreated their tearful and shocked reactions to this nearly perfect novel. Then, came posts with favorite Sunrise on The Reaping quotes or with connections from the other Hunger Games books. They shared their revelations about characters and plot points that they hadn’t understod until reading Haymitch’s story, when he won the games during the Second Quarter Quell.

So, I bought my copy ASAP. I agree with all the Bookstagrammers, that Collins did an amazing job writing this novel. But a large part of what I find so inspirational is seeing the reactions to Sunrise on the Reaping, how hundreds of thousands of readers are finding a community and expressing themselves through a shared experience. Their consensus? Reading is political. Sunrise on the Reaping is labeled as young adult lit, but really, it’s thoughtful and profound, with social commentary that’s sure to appeal to adults as well as teens.

Kudos to Susanne Collins – Sunrise on the Reaping is exactly the book we didn’t know we needed for this exact moment.

 

#3 Source of Inspiration: Reckless Girls 

I love, love, love anything by Rachel Hawkins. She is one those authors whose books I wish I wrote. Occasionally, when I’m in a generous mood, I tell myself that our books are kind of similar. She does contemporary gothic lit and re-imaginings of classics by female authors so well! When I realized that she had a back-list title that I’d never read, and that I could read it for free on Kindle Unlimited, I was thrilled. Reckless Girls has a shifting POV, but we mostly hear from Lux, a twenty-five year old woman who lost her way after her mother died. She follows her boyfriend Nico to Hawaii, and then to a secluded island when two college girls charter his boat. Once they’re all on the island, they meet two more people (and then another) and things get super-intense. It’s like Agatha Christie meets Gone Girl meets Survivor. 

I’m always inspired by reading the type of books I strive to write. Reckless Girls was gripping and the ending was a jaw-dropper.

 

#4 Source of Inspiration: The Life List

I downloaded The Life List from Netflix, and watched it on the flight home from NYC. I didn’t realize until I started watching that the story is set in New York, so that was a cool bonus. The screenplay was adapted from Lori Nelson Spielman’s novel, which I haven’t read but will  definitely check out, as well as her other titles. It’s the sort of romance I love–flawed characters, real-life situations, funny moments but sad moments too, and self-discovery and personal growth mixed in with the love story. The movie was very well done and well acted. And, like I said with Reckless Girls, The Life List is also the sort of thing I strive to write. It inspired me and got me thinking about some fun ways to develop my current work-in-progress.

 

#5 Source of Inspiration: Laid

If it wasn’t for unseasonably crappy Minnesota weather, I probably wouldn’t have discovered Laid. Why is that, you may ask? It’s because often, by late March/early April, I’m able to take my morning run outside. It’s been too cold for that this year, so I’ve stayed inside on my treadmill, and I look for TV shows to distract me while I run. When I found Laid on Peacock I decided to give it a shot, but I had my doubts that it would be any good. Those doubts disappeared after, like, two minutes. Laid is about Ruby, a thirty-three year-old serial dater. One day, the first guy she ever had sex with dies in a mysterious way. That’s bad, of course. But then, every person she’s ever had sex with starts dying in weird, sudden ways, and all in the same order of when she slept with them. Ruby’s best friend AJ is a true crime fan, and she sets out to solve the mystery. It’s a dark, quirky comedy that pokes fun at rom com tropes in a hilarious way, and the comedic performances by Stephanie Hsu (Ruby) and Zosia Mamet (AJ) is amazing.

 

So, that’s it…

I am grateful to have had so much inspiration in the past few weeks. I wish for all of you to find inspiration as well!

 

“Ali Hazlewood meets Jane Austen in this super-sweet rom com.” – A Contemporary Novella Inspired by PERSUASION

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The post Things That Inspired Me Lately first appeared on LaurelLit.com.

The post Things That Inspired Me Lately appeared first on LaurelLit.com.