Back in the summer, I’d mentioned about my book genre preferences. And as that entry stated, even though I’m open to all genres, I prefer certain ones over others (as does everyone else). For awhile, I hadn’t wanted to venture into Chick Lit mainly because I honestly felt like “Well, I already know what it feels like to be a girl, so why read about all that angst?”
That was before I started reading Megan McCafferty’s Jessica Darling series.
I was yoked in immediately through the first book, feeling like I was going down memory lane, re-living a parallel universe of my high school years. Albeit mundane, the plot has drawn in so many readers, because they can relate to the protagonist, Jessica Darling. McCafferty’s skill at writing the series is what impresses me the most though; anybody can write about the tumultuous years of high school through college, but can they do it as well as McCafferty?
Earlier this year, I read an article about what Sesame Street can teach writers to do: to write in “the monster at the end of the book”. This is where a writer knows how to draw readers in with a bit of a promise of a “treat” by the end of the book. McCafferty has honed this craft well with the 5-book series, making skeptical readers (like myself) keep on reading, trying to search for that monster at the end…
I flew through the first few books in the series within a few days of starting the books; that’s just how easy yet well-written they are. The language is simple (as if I myself were Jessica Darling writing the diary entries out), and, well, the story is one that many of us can relate to.
I’m looking forward to reading the last of the books in the series, and I hope to hone my craft as well as McCafferty has.