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Marissa Meyer is the author of the Renegades Trilogy, The Lunar Chronicles series, the Wires and Nerve graphic novels, and her first standalone novel, Heartless. Meyer created and hosted a podcast called The Happy Writer. She lives in Tacoma, Wash., with her husband and their two daughters. Her YA graphic novel, We Could Be Magic (Feiwel & Friends), is illustrated by Joelle Murray.
Jenny L. Howe has published several titles for adults, including On the Plus Side and The Make-Up Test. As a professor, she teaches courses in college writing, literature, and children's media; when she's not teaching, Howe spends her time cross-stitching her favorite characters and taking too many pictures of her rescue dogs, Tucker and Dale. Love at Full Tilt (Delacorte Romance) is her young adult debut.
Here, Meyer and Howe talk about their YA romances, which are both built around Disney-style theme parks; plus-size protagonists; and creating a world entirely for their teen selves to enjoy.
Jenny L. Howe: I was so inspired coming back from a trip to Disney World that I thought, "I'm gonna write this" on the plane. Love at Full Tilt has evolved since then. It's about Lia, who is a total and complete superfan of my made-up Disney World, Fableland. They are doing this superfan 50th anniversary scavenger hunt where 100 people are picked and, over the course of six days, they have to solve riddles and find Easter eggs in the parks. The 100 get whittled down until there is one winner who wins $50,000. While there, Lia meets another contestant, Mason, who is very cute, and they form a little bit of an alliance as they fall for each other.
Marissa Meyer: I love it! You just listed all my favorite things in a book. There's romance, there's competition, there's theme parks, there's puzzles, there's a scavenger hunt--you've hit on everything I love in one summary.
We Could Be Magic is also set in a made-up totally not-Disneyland park, Sommerland. The story follows a girl named Tabby who has dreamed her whole life of working at Sommerland. In particular, she desperately wants to be a princess character actor. She gets accepted for the summer internship program but, when she gets there, she is politely turned down by the audition judges because she doesn't fit the "right" body type for a princess. Tabby is a go-getter so she just doubles down on how she can make this dream come true. She does that with the help of a close friend that she meets at the park who is also a really cute boy.
Howe: My main character is plus-sized as well, so I love that we both have these books that are coming for fatphobia in amusement parks.
Meyer: The body positivity! We need more of it!
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| Jenny L. Howe (Anastasia Aranovich Photography) |
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Howe: Absolutely! And theme parks are so bad when it comes to this stuff. And it translates into other aspects. In Disney's case, it's their films. The way that bodies are drawn... if you are round, you are one of like, four things, and it's not the princess.
Meyer: It's so funny you say that because Tabby does get a character actor role--she's cast as Kittywise, this very round, chubby, cheerful cat character.
Howe: I love that we're both taking on these elements that I don't think people think enough about.
Meyer: It's the book where I was thinking 100% about Teen Marissa and the story that she needed to hear. A lot of the inspiration for this book came from a specific moment in my teenage years. I loved drama and I had been doing that for many years. My school was having auditions for Little Women and of course I'm like, "I'm Jo! I'm the writer, I want to be Jo so bad." I was so confident going into the audition and I went to read the script and the teacher in charge of casting said, "We don't want you to read for one of the sisters because you don't fit the right look for the sisters. Why don't you read for the aunt?" And I was devasted. It broke my heart. And of course, as an adult, I can look back and think, "Shame on that teacher." But at the time I was just so hurt and crushed by it.
This book came out of that and wanting to say to Teen Marissa, "Don't let those people tell you what you can and can't be. You want to be Jo, you can be Jo. You want to be a princess, you can be a princess."
Howe: This is amazing because I dedicated Love at Full Tilt to 16-year-old me.
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| Marissa Meyer (photo: Connie Riggio) |
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Meyer: I dedicated We Could Be Magic to Teen Marissa!
Howe: I was plus-sized as a teen, too, so I never saw myself in love stories. I saw girls who looked like me who were the comedic relief. When I saw Lennie Kaufman's cover for Love at Full Tilt, I sobbed because it could have made so much difference if I had seen a girl with a body like mine on a romance book when I was younger.
Meyer: It makes such a difference to the way we see ourselves and what we think we can be.
Howe: This is the book I needed. I hope it finds the kids--or adults--who need it.
So, why an amusement park? What made you want to set it there?
Meyer: I was at Disney World, and we were watching the evening parade. In front of Cinderella's castle, they had maybe six dancing couples. As these couples were dancing, I thought, "What if two of these people really hated each other. And every single night they have to dance and pretend to be in love?" But it did not end up becoming a hate-to-love romance.
Howe: Booo!
Meyer: They can't all be! Though it is totally my favorite trope.
Howe: Friends-to-lovers is good, too.
Meyer: Plus, I'm a Disney girl. I love going to the parks, so it was really fun to create my own.
How about you? You said you were on the flight from Disney?
Howe: Right. I've always been an amusement park junkie. When I was little almost every summer my mom would pile me and my brother and my grandparents in the car and we would drive to Florida. I have very distinct memories of being eight and having caught something and thrown up on the jungle cruise.
Meyer: So, it was YOU who shut down the ride?
Howe: It was me, at least once. Every time I go on it now, it brings back that memory.
I wanted to build my own park. For someone who writes contemporary, I love to world build, and what better world to build than a theme park!
Meyer: But it's funny you mentioned worldbuilding because building a theme park... it's the best parts of contemporary combined with the best part of fantasy. You can really play around with both.
Did you choose to do much research, other than going to the parks?
Howe: I feel like I spend so much time in amusement parks that I had a pretty clear sense of them. Maybe I should have done more research? I don't know!
Meyer: For me, I wanted to know what it was like to work at a theme park. I interviewed someone who had been a character actor and then I found a series of books that were journals from teens that worked at Disney during the summer internship program.
Howe: Good point: my characters are guests.
Meyer: Yeah, it is interesting to look at it from the side of the employees. From the guest perspective, everything is wonderful and you're having the best time. But it takes a ton of work on the side of the employees to make that magic happen.