The Devil's Dreamcatcher by Donna Hosie
Publisher: Holiday House
Release Date: October 1st, 2015 (Today!)
Hell is full of thieves. But only one has dared to rob The Devil.
The Devil’s accounting office is hiring an intern, and sixteen-year-old Medusa Pallister wants the job. Badly. Not only would she report to the coolest boss in the Underworld, she’d also be working alongside Mitchell Johnson, who, she’s certain, is the key to solving a mystery that’s been haunting her since her death.
Landing the internship is easy, but answers about her past will have to wait. Medusa has barely made Mitchell’s acquaintance when Hell goes into lockdown. Someone has robbed The Devil of his most precious possession: a dreamcatcher so powerful it could be apocalyptic in the wrong hands.
In this gripping sequel to The Devil’s Intern, Team DEVIL reunites for a quest for stolen property that will lead Medusa to a showdown that no one, not even The Devil himself, could have foreseen.
I really love stories that feature really solid, amazing friendships because for so long, all I truly wanted was a good group of great friends. I didn't care as much about dating or whatnot, and I think that even if you are dating someone, friends are so important to have. I really love seeing strong, well-developed friendships, and I think that they can be just as great as, or possibly even better than, romance in novels. I'm so excited to have Donna on my blog today, talking about friendship and romance!
~ Guest Post ~
No Love Triangles Here! Writing About Friendship Groups and Love
I’m not adverse to reading a good love triangle. I adore Kiera Cass’ SELECTION series, and yes, I was a passionate advocate for Team Gale, but I can’t write a compelling love triangle myself. I need more. THE DEVIL’S INTERN and my latest release, THE DEVIL’S DREAMCATCHER, are novels that have four dead teens from various points in history at their heart. There’s modern-day Mitchell, 1960s Medusa, Alfarin the Viking Prince, and Elinor the peasant from the 17th century. And whilst there is romance in the depths of Hell, there definitely isn’t a love triangle – or love square in this Team’s case! Team DEVIL is all about the friendship, and the extraordinary lengths that friends will go to protect that, even when they’re dead!
The dynamics between friendship groups is my absolute favourite plotline to read in any novel, whether it’s young adult, fantasy, or literary. Think of the brilliant Marauders in the HARRY POTTER series, or the mismatched yet endearing friends who come together in the LUNAR CHRONICLES, or the bond between male school friends in Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s astonishing THE SHADOW OF THE WIND. These books all have unique plotlines, violence, romance, humour, and horror, and yet at the heart of each story are the friendships.
Concentrating on friendship rather than romance gives a writer more scope, in my opinion. When I’m writing, I like to stretch the boundaries of loyalty and see how far friends will go for one another, because in reality and fiction, friends will put up with a lot more crap than a love interest! They can fight and it isn’t the end of the world. They can hug and not have emotions take up ten pages! You can still have the kissing in there – although my dear Mitchell is a little clueless when it comes to that in my books – but you get more plot, more excitement, and more jeopardy when you concentrate on the bonds of friendship.
Using the dialogue between friends is also a great tool for exposition. Where would Harry have been without Hermione? The Boy Who Lived wouldn’t have been alive for long if it wasn’t for her! J.K. Rowling has said that she used two characters in the Potter series for explaining plot lines: Dumbledore and Hermione. If you have a friendship group, you can give each one different, yet complimentary, personality traits. It’s believable that in a group of friends, there will always be one who knows everything. Because most YA literature is in first person, the bigger the friendship group, the easier it is to work out a plot line without having to resort to deus ex machine or an info dump.
Friendships in literature are endearing and enduring. Make them the focus, and everything else comes naturally.
~~~
About the Author:
Donna's first foray into writing came about from her time working on a Harry Potter website. Warner Bros and EA Games asked her to be a fan consultant on the Order of the Phoenix computer game. Her reports and podcasts were relayed around the world as fans of the books patiently awaited the next installment. From writing reports, she turned to fan fiction, eventually writing her own time-traveling novels while studying for an BA(Hons) in Modern Languages.
Donna is the author of THE RETURN TO CAMELOT trilogy, THE CHILDREN OF CAMELOT series, THE DEVIL'S INTERN (Holiday House, October 2014) which was named a Kirkus Teen Book of 2014 and a YALSA 2015 Best Fiction for Young Adults book, THE DEVIL'S DREAMCATCHER (Holiday House, Fall 2015), and THE DEVIL'S BANSHEE (Holiday House, Fall 2016).
Donna is represented by Beth Phelan, The Bent Agency, New York.
(Photo Credit: Emily Hosie)
~~~
LINKS
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for visiting and reading! I appreciate all comments, and I always comment back if I can. :)