Tuesday, June 14, 2011

The Hunger Games as Inspiration

I just finished The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Wow, that book reads fast. I wanted to read The Hunger Games for a while now, and have already purchased the second book in the trilogy. I knew I wanted to read The Hunger Games right before I really threw myself behind my second Hazy Souls novel, because I've heard such good things about it and stand by the advice that you need to read something well-written right before you write.

One drawback for me is that The Hunger Games is written in first person. My book is written in third person. I love reading first person books, it's just a little more difficult to adapt my style and pacing alongside my inspiration. I definitely respect The Hunger Games' sense of action and the immediacy of what's going to happen next. It's a real page turner. I'm hoping that my next book will be a faster read, particularly in the beginning as that is a section I've struggled with in the first book. It was also nice to read about Peeta, a good-natured boy who I didn't find the least bit boring, because I want Jeremy's character to grow to be more compassionate.

I think The Hunger Games will help me with:
1.) creating haunting locations
2.) streamlining action sequences
3.) bringing out the best in Jeremy

2 comments:

Sarah said...

I had never heard of these books before, but I just read an interesting article about them in Bitch. The article was discussing these books and the Twilight books, and the arguments some people make that The Hunger Games are books that teenage girls would be better off reading than the Twilight books. The thesis of the article was, "Come on! Smart girls are allowed to have fun and read Twilight if they want to!" She mentioned that comparing those two series would be like comparing the Sookie Stackhouse books to Margaret Atwood books. I don't know about you, but sometimes I'd much rather read Sookie Stackhouse than something like Surfacing or Life Before Man. Sometimes The Handmaid's Tale is a little too intense! This got way off base from your original post! This is more like "letter to a friend" than "related blog comment." Anyway, now that you've mentioned them too, I think I will add The Hunger Games books to my To Read list.

T.S. Debrosse said...

Hmm, well that's an interesting thesis. I definitely think smart girls can read whatever they want and aren't hurt by reading a "guilty pleasure" type novel. I believe every book has something to offer. I loved The Hunger Games series -- very fast paced and addictive, but I would have loved more interpersonal relationship drama. I've only read Twilight, the first book, and thought it was meh. That said, I'm considering reading the next couple of books because I've heard they get better.

I've never read any of the Sookie Stackhouse books, but maybe I should. I've been thinking about watching the TV series.